Japanese solo developer Eba Game is adding Czech language support to his upcoming Steam title Ball Boy Simulator after discovering that only one person from the Czech Republic had wishlisted the game. The developer announced the decision on X on August 1, explaining it was a way to honor the respect Czech fans have shown for baseball and Japan.
The gesture stems from a baseball connection between the two countries. Japanese fans reportedly grew fond of the Czech national baseball team after the two nations played each other in the 2023 World Baseball Classic, a game the mostly amateur Czech squad lost 2-10 but not before taking an early lead and having pitcher Ondrej Satoria strike out star player Shohei Ohtani.
In his X post, translated from Japanese, Eba Game wrote that upon checking his wishlist he saw only one person from the Czech Republic had signed up, and that he was aware of how much respect the Czech Republic had shown for baseball and Japan during recent international tournaments. He added, 'So for the sake of this one baseball fan in the Czech Republic, I implemented Czech language support. Wait for me, my Czech friend.'
Ball Boy Simulator, due out on Steam this month, is described in its Steam listing as a psychological horror game depicting 'the oppression and unreasonable treatment experienced in high school baseball clubs,' based on the real-life experiences of the developer and people around him.
The game's Steam page also includes an AI disclosure noting that AI-generated content was used for some asset textures, portions of the background music, development-related assistance and technical questions, and parts of the game's social media promotional materials. It remains unclear how this may affect the quality of the newly added Czech localization.
Kotaku noted that the story was first spotted via Game Spark, and that the developer's gesture served as effective, if unintentional, promotion—drawing new attention to the game from people who might not have otherwise heard of it.