Big Blog Fridays #2 - Dubs Vs. Subs

Hi, everyone, it's TheManFromMudos here, and today I want to talk a little bit about how video games are translated overseas. As you may be able to tell from the 'Ashbridge Industries' logo in my signature, I am currently learning Japanese (Don't even think about calling me a weeaboo, I've never watched an anime in my life). The real reason I am learning Japanese is because I hope to one day live and work in Japan as a game developer (because where better for a game developer to go than the home of Sony, Nintendo, and Sega, right?)

Anyway, I was recently watching a Japanese Youtuber playing the Japanese dub of Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee (or Abe a Go Go, as it's known over there). Afterwards, I watched the same guy play Abe 99 (AKA Abe's Exoddus), but was a little upset to find that he hadn't played Munch's Oddysee or Stranger's Wrath. After a little digging, though, I found that he had played New 'n' Tasty. However, when I watched, I found that the game was not, in fact, dubbed into Japanese. The audio was all English, with Japanese subtitles. And it's the same for many other languages, and in many other games. French, German, Spanish: all subtitled, rather than dubbed.

So my question for you today is this: If you live in a non-English speaking country, or English isn't your first language, then what do you prefer? Do you like a game to be dubbed into your language, or are you happy with English audio and some translated subtitles?