The second Kickstarter for English translations of three more Third Editions specialist gaming history books reached its goal this morning. With 20 days left to hit a number of additional stretch goals, the campaign crossed the $74,000 threshold thanks to the support of more than 1000 backers who are eager to see this project succeed. Reaching that goal means that the three French-language books covering The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Bloodborne / Dark Souls III, and Final Fantasy VIII will be translated into English, but the campaign isn’t over yet.
Third Editions announced their stretch goals, with one being an additional book. Now that the goal has been reached, that book has been revealed to be The Work of Taro Yoko: From Drakengard to NieR: Automata. With the massive success of NieR: Automata—selling more than 2.5 million copies and earning top spot as our game of the year for 2017–it makes sense to bring that book to an English-speaking audience quickly using the success of this Kickstarter campaign. All the campaign needs to do is reach $123,000 funded before it concludes in the next 20 days, so if you have yet to pitch in, now is the time to do it.
The Work of Taro Yoko: From Drakengard to NieR: Automata features a forward written by the director himself and will be printed in both standard and collector edition covers (pictured above). If the campaign ends up surpassing that goal and reaches $172,000, a fifth book will be added in addition to the NieR: Automata book, based on the results of a reader poll. You can read the full announcement on the Third Editions Kickstarter campaign page.
Third Editions specializes in high quality books that explore specific games in a narrative structure. Each book covers the creation of the game and analysis of the mechanics, themes, and legacy that its specific game has. The first Kickstarter campaign successfully raised $170,000 to fund the English translations of five books (three during the main campaign, and two from stretch goals), covering the BioShock series, Hideo Kojima’s Metal Gear Solid franchise, Final Fantasy VII, The Legend of Zelda games up to A Link Between Worlds, and the Dark Souls series from Demon’s Souls to Dark Souls II. We’ll have a review of these books once we’ve finished reading the extensive texts, but our early impressions are very, very positive.
If you have yet to back Third Editions gaming history books Kickstarter project, you can check on all of the details and progress on the campaign page. You can buy books that have already been translated to English over on the Third Editions site.
