It’s good that someone took the time to contact the proper authorities about this. Even if I don’t really expect anything to come of it, who knows, maybe we’ll get lucky. It’s actually surprising there haven’t been more reports; I doubt French is the only language affected.

Anyway, the only thing they seem to know how to do here is arbitrarily censor people under the cover of their terms and conditions, which they interpret however they want. So ignoring a simple request, one that’s been made several times and, most importantly, about the missing voice-over, can’t be very hard for them.

It’s simple: if voice acting is no longer planned for whatever reason, just say so clearly and update the information on the product you’re selling. What’s the point of letting a legitimate request rot in a corner when this whole situation could easily be avoided?

I don’t speak French but I’m here to support those that do!

Nothing said during today stream, not a big surprise...

I think the only answer will be when the next new content will be released, if this is not voiced in french that would mean they totally abandon it, even if actually we already know with the new event quest of New life...

MATH_COW wrote: »

Got an answer repeating what we know already but also saying U49 will not be translated...

I'm conviced they will say the same for U50, and U51 and U52, and U....

Hello @ZOS_Kevin, @ZOS_GinaBruno, @ZOS_JessicaFolsom

A few hours ago, following the various announcements made during this period, I posted a message to share the current situation of French-speaking players and our concerns. Unfortunately, I have just discovered that the thread has been closed, with the justification that an answer had already been provided last August. However, that response is no longer relevant, and I find this reaction more than regrettable, as it shows an unfortunate neglect of the issue and of our community.

I would like to remind you that I am fully aware that my messages will not speed up the resolution of the problem. We, the French-speaking community, are simply waiting for an honest statement, while fully understanding that not everything can necessarily be shared for legal reasons. We just need to know what to expect, and whether we should definitively give up on French translations, or if this is a matter of several months or even years.

One user in that thread unfortunately chose to pursue legal action due to this lack of communication. It is regrettable, but I understand their reaction. Below, I am reposting my original message from the now-closed thread. I sincerely hope to receive at least a few words in response, as the reaction encountered in the other thread is absolutely disappointing.

As always, thank you to you and your teams for this wonderful game. I truly recognize the passion you put into it, and it is admirable.

Here is my original post :

Hello,

First of all, I want to say that the newly announced features and the many communication efforts are truly fantastic. I’m really looking forward to what’s coming next—keep up the great work.

However, here we are once again with no news at all regarding the French voice version of the game, aside from a brief mention in the patch notes. As I’ve already said many times, it’s normal and understandable for issues to arise in a game of this scale. You have my full understanding on that point. But today, it has been a good six months without any news on this matter, and this lack of communication is disheartening.

I was expecting—and I believe I am far from being the only one—at least a small statement on this topic alongside all the other announcements, but still nothing. I think I speak on behalf of the French community when I say that we feel abandoned and forgotten. This is a lack of commitment, and above all, a lack of respect, to leave us in such a situation without knowing whether the French translation will ever return.

We need answers. For six months, I have been waiting for the French version to return before doing the new quests with it. At the very least, please tell us what the situation is, or if we should simply forget about it. With your new communication policy, I sincerely hope to finally get some answers.

That said, thank you again for this wonderful game and for the passion you put into it.

Still checking the forum, hoping to have any feedback about that missing French voices, but nothing.

Still hoping that the French-speaking community will not be ignored again for ages and that we will finally have a date for the French voices...

@ZOS_Kevin , @ZOS_GinaBruno , @ZOS_JessicaFolsom , any information on your side ?

Llevndryn wrote: »

French has been removed from the supported languages ​​of the game.

It’s extremely worrying! And it’s even more so because no official statement has been made on this matter. And once again, I’m talking about a real, recent official statement, not just a repetition of what we already know, namely that the French voices are still missing, and that’s it. We need answers. Keep replying to and reacting to this thread; it needs to stay active with our complaints if we want to have any hope of getting a response.

It's hard to imagine what the reason is for not even telling us why there are no French voices yet.

Von_Zalius wrote: »

At this point, I no longer expect to receive an answer as to why, and in a way, disappointing as it is, I can understand it if it’s for legislative reasons…
But that doesn’t mean they can’t communicate. They could at least tell us the extent of the damage, how long this is likely to last, and whether we can still have hope or if we should just give up and accept that there will be no more French voices.

same. when i googled it, the ai tries to tell me that this is not true and eso DOES have french XD

found some reddit posts saying that other games are having this problem too and it was related to french voice actor strikes relating to the use of ai... it also says that the strike ended in july, so it shouldn't be affecting things now? or at the very least, they could have said "this is what happened. we can expect to have this back at such-and-such date." i'm also not 100% convinced that that would have so much of an impact as it is having. if they are striking against the use of ai, why would they not work with eso? is eso using a bunch of ai now? legitimately asking there as i genuinely don't know. and if the french voice actors are striking, does that mean that you can't hire other french speaking ppl outside of france to do the voice acting? i've never looked into this stuff, but i guess i always sort of assumed that they had multilingual ppl doing the lines. seems like the best way to make sure nothing gets lost in translation.

Hello @ZOS_Kevin, @ZOS_GinaBruno, @ZOS_JessicaFolsom

It’s a new week, and first of all I apologize for pinging you once again like this, but as players, this is our only way to hope to get your attention.

I won’t repeat my previous messages; the situation has not changed and we, as the French-speaking community, are still waiting for answers. I would like to clarify that a response simply reiterating that the French voice version is not available for the current updates and that you are working to resolve the issue is not what we are expecting. We already know this, and personally, I understand that such issues can happen and you have my full understanding.

However, we are expecting an explanation, and if it cannot legally be provided, we would at least like to know what we can or cannot expect going forward, namely:

How long will this issue continue?

Can we hope that this issue will one day be resolved?

Will the updates currently affected eventually receive French voice acting?

We need answers, even if the answer is “we don’t know.”

Thank you for your attention, and once again, thank you for this wonderful game, thank you for the updates coming this year which look very promising, and thank you for your communication efforts. They are greatly appreciated, and I hope they will also extend to our current issue.

Masteroshi430 wrote: »

Von_Zalius wrote: »

Hello @ZOS_Kevin, @ZOS_GinaBruno, @ZOS_JessicaFolsom

It’s a new week, and first of all I apologize for pinging you once again like this, but as players, this is our only way to hope to get your attention.

I won’t repeat my previous messages; the situation has not changed and we, as the French-speaking community, are still waiting for answers. I would like to clarify that a response simply reiterating that the French voice version is not available for the current updates and that you are working to resolve the issue is not what we are expecting. We already know this, and personally, I understand that such issues can happen and you have my full understanding.

However, we are expecting an explanation, and if it cannot legally be provided, we would at least like to know what we can or cannot expect going forward, namely:

How long will this issue continue?

Can we hope that this issue will one day be resolved?

Will the updates currently affected eventually receive French voice acting?

We need answers, even if the answer is “we don’t know.”

Thank you for your attention, and once again, thank you for this wonderful game, thank you for the updates coming this year which look very promising, and thank you for your communication efforts. They are greatly appreciated, and I hope they will also extend to our current issue.

IMO If they are improving transparency a lot these days and cannot answer to this that's because they are waiting for news and don't know themselves what the future will be for the French audio, they are stuck and can't find something to answer.
Maybe they have been taught that "We don't know" is an answer to avoid in that case.
Also they cannot say it will be back for update 50 if they aren't 100% sure, an announcement followed by a withdraw would worsen the situation.

I completely understand this kind of situation, and it is very likely that this is indeed the case, it’s what I’ve been thinking for the past six months. However, a situation like this cannot last for so long. It has impacted last year’s paid content, which many of us purchased when the French version was still planned and therefore included in the purchase. It affected the Writhing Wall event, which, regardless of what one may think of it, was a unique event that we will now never be able to experience with French voices. And now it is affecting the major upcoming changes, including new temporary content.

The only communications on this subject were limited to small notes in two patch notes, and a single reply on this forum months ago that did not provide any new information. This issue has been affecting thousands of players for months; expecting a proper official statement on the matter is the bare minimum, even if it is only to say that nothing can be shared and to apologize.

I understand and sympathize with this situation, which must be just as frustrating for ZOS as it is for us. But there is also a serious communication problem regarding this issue, and it needs to be addressed quickly.

I get the feeling that we’re finally starting to see the full picture, thanks to another game: Forza Horizon 6. This game will be released with voiceover support in 10 different languages… except French. Microsoft justified this absence on X by saying: “We hope to be able to resume negotiations quickly with French voice actors so we can continue creating content in French.”

On the French voice actors’ side, they mention Microsoft’s intention to include AI clauses in their contracts—clauses they consider abusive, as they would allow (among other things) the creation of synthetic voices based on the actors’ own voices. This therefore looks more like a general refusal to sign such contracts than an actual strike in the strict sense. And clearly, Microsoft does not seem willing to give ground on this issue, as shown by the absence of French voiceover support in more and more of their games.
_______________________
Sources (in French) :

• post on X about Forza Horizon
• statement from the French Union of Performing Artists (SFA) on the subject
• Bugland’s video about the Forza voiceover support issue

scrappy1342 wrote: »

"we don't know" (or "we can't/aren't allowed to say" which may be the case here) is a perfectly valid answer when it is the only answer and much better than saying nothing at all

I've been in certain business scenarios, especially around contracting, where the legal team have told us we can't even say "we're not allowed to say"... that the only answer is silence. This could very well be the situation here, and it's actually out of ZOS's hands.

As I noted elsewhere, I suspect there's internal/inter-company/legal/contractual issues at play, otherwise we would have heard something by now, especially given the improved communication we're seeing on other topics this year.

Psychopote wrote: »

I get the feeling that we’re finally starting to see the full picture, thanks to another game: Forza Horizon 6. This game will be released with voiceover support in 10 different languages… except French. Microsoft justified this absence on X by saying: “We hope to be able to resume negotiations quickly with French voice actors so we can continue creating content in French.”

On the French voice actors’ side, they mention Microsoft’s intention to include AI clauses in their contracts—clauses they consider abusive, as they would allow (among other things) the creation of synthetic voices based on the actors’ own voices. This therefore looks more like a general refusal to sign such contracts than an actual strike in the strict sense. And clearly, Microsoft does not seem willing to give ground on this issue, as shown by the absence of French voiceover support in more and more of their games.
_______________________
Sources (in French) :

• post on X about Forza Horizon
• statement from the French Union of Performing Artists (SFA) on the subject
• Bugland’s video about the Forza voiceover support issue

It would appear that this is also happening with the latest World of Warcraft patches. The situation is therefore widespread across a lot if not all Microsoft games.