Lack of French Localization – Silence and Legal Concerns

Asdara · November 10

Hello everyone,

Following the issue with french translation pointed by this post : Rest In Peace French Translation

Here’s the situation:
The ESO Content Pass 2025 is officially advertised on the ESO Store as including full French localization (“Langues : anglais, allemand, français, russe, espagnol, chinois simplifié, japonais”). Yet, the latest 2 major updates were only partially localized (some light text translations, but no voice acting at all), and the recent “Writhing Wall” event was not translated at all, even though it was marketed as a unique, one-time-only narrative event that will never return.

That alone severely impacts the experience for French-speaking players. We paid for content that was promoted as available in our language, and we did not receive it.

Beyond disappointment, this raises serious legal concerns under EU consumer law:

Under the Digital Content and Digital Services Directive (EU 2019/770), digital content sold in the EU must conform to the description and quality promised to consumers.
When a publisher advertises full localization and fails to deliver it, this constitutes a lack of conformity, giving consumers the right to request repair, replacement, or partial refund.

Additionally, under the Unfair Commercial Practices Directive (2005/29/EC), it is considered misleading advertising to market features that do not exist or to omit material information that would affect a consumer’s purchasing decision.

These two directives are enforced in France by the DGCCRF, and by similar consumer protection authorities across the EU.
I opened a support ticket (#251016-003263, submitted on October 17, 2025) asking for infos, or a slight compensation, it has received no response despite multiple follow-ups.
The last communication I received was a generic message asking me to “submit feedback via /bug or the forums,” which I did. Since then, complete silence.

I would much rather not escalate this to formal complaints, but it’s difficult to remain patient when support has gone silent for more than three weeks on a ticket that’s simply asking for clarity and fairness. This isn’t about hostility, it’s about transparency, respect, and compliance.

If the French voice work is no longer planned, please just communicate it clearly and adjust the store listings accordingly, instead of continuing to sell the Content Pass under misleading conditions.

I’m sharing this publicly not out of anger, but because this affects all EU players who trusted ZOS’s marketing and paid for content in good faith.

I genuinely love ESO and want to keep supporting it, but players deserve honest information, consistent localization, and basic customer support follow-up.

Thank you for reading. I hope this post encourages an official response and some clarity for all French-speaking members of the community.

Asdara · November 10

Mandatory @ZOS_Kevin

MATH_COW · November 10

They ignored every post about that since August when the U47 get release.

Let's hope this one will reach them (or will not be ignored and get real answer) but I'm starting to lose what little hope I have left.

spartaxoxo · November 10

Yeah. I see French here on the 2025 content pass upgrade page, which only includes the content pass content. I hope this resolved sooner rather than later for you guys

Masteroshi430 · November 10

There was a voice actor strike against (being replaced by) AI which ended last summer maybe it delayed the French audio production?
I know a translator whom is working for the French side of the Arte TV channel and she said AI translation is destroying her profession.

aetherix8 · November 11

Masteroshi430 wrote: »

There was a voice actor strike against (being replaced by) AI which ended last summer maybe it delayed the French audio production?
I know a translator whom is working for the French side of the Arte TV channel and she said AI translation is destroying her profession.

Indeed, and this situation maybe affected ESO French version, but it really is up to ZOS to explain why the French translation / voiceover is missing despite being advertised as existing in the game. Whatever is the reason, it should have been explained yesteryear by ZOS, since they might find themselves liable, as highlighted by the OP.

MATH_COW · November 14

They deleted some of my messages on this post and another one for "bashing" but meanwhile we still got no answers.

This absolutely not confirming what I was saying heh...

lolinternet · November 14

There should be formal complaints even if they suddenly fixed the problem today. The situation has persisted for months, meaning:

False advertisement has already happened (yes, it is also still happening)
ZOS has already failed to respect the legal rights of EU customers when the product is not delivered as advertised (yes, it is also still happening)

Even a small "mom and pop shop" would be legally sanctionable under EU law in this case. The fact that the problem and behavior are continuing is merely an additional detail.

Jaimeh · November 14

It would be interesting to know why ZOS still includes French in the language list for 2025 when this is no longer the case. I hope it's not an asterisk *read the fine print* sort of reason...

kevkj · November 14

I don't know why you are waiting, please escalate this through official channels that are available to you as soon as possible.

Radiate77 · November 14

Don’t hold your breath, they’ll just have an AI narrate everything in French.

tomofhyrule · November 14

I am appalled that ZOS has not addressed this.

Francophone players have paid for the game just like everyone else under the promise that the game was delivered in one of its supported languages. It is disgusting that there is no communication on this front at all.

Players who use the French language versions deserve refunds as they paid for a product they did not receive, and - with the Wall event being a one-time-only thing - will never receive. That is a blatant example of a company promising a product and not delivering.

If ZOS intends to drop French support for any reason - even if the reason is something out of their hands like a VA strike - that still needs to be communicated to the customer. Players deserve to have answers as to whether ZOS intends to continue supporting French as an official language, including the voiceover, in the future.

baratron · November 15

A lack of French translation affects every country where players would choose French language to play in. Not only France and parts of Belgium, Luxembourg, and Switzerland, but also Canada, and much of Africa.

No voice over is one thing. It's annoying but the game is still playable. No translation at all? That is a huge deal. Even if you're fluent in English or another supported language, it's really hard to switch which language you play the game in. All of the names of moves, places, abilities etc. will be different.

I hope that you're in contact with the French and Benelux Community Managers, because this situation is appalling.

scrappy1342 · November 15

it is mind boggling to me the amount of posts that have been made and zos still has not given an answer on all of these threads. a lot of them, all ppl are asking for is an explanation.

ghastley · November 15

Just a thought: if the translation and/or voice acting were outsourced to another company, ZOS may be silenced by a legal dispute over it.

Malyore · November 15

If what ZOS has done is illegal, then you should escalate it to the appropriate legal authorities and see if they can resolve the issue since Zenimax is not.

@ZOS_JoBurba @ZOS_Kevin

ZhuJiuyin · November 15

Not only in the French translation, but also in the Chinese version, there are numerous instances of missing or completely untranslated text, a problem particularly severe in the last three versions. For example, Black Gem Foundry and Naj-Caldeesh were previously displayed as "Dungeons1" & "Dungeons2" in the Chinese version.
ZOS definitely needs to thoroughly review the translation quality across all languages.

scrappy1342 · November 15

ghastley wrote: »

Just a thought: if the translation and/or voice acting were outsourced to another company, ZOS may be silenced by a legal dispute over it.

at the very least they could acknowledge that they are working on it and legally cannot give details. that would be better than absolute silence.

Asdara · November 15

last attempt at establishing a normal dialogue @ZOS_GinaBruno @ZOS_Kevin @ZOS_JessicaFolsom @ZOS_JoBurba

MATH_COW · November 15

kevkj wrote: »

I don't know why you are waiting, please escalate this through official channels that are available to you as soon as possible.

I would like but in fact I just don't know to where and to who doing that.

SummersetCitizen · November 15

A European citizen (who has a standing interest in the case) would need to initialize legal proceedings. I am not European, but I would guess many lawyers specialize in consumer law violations there.