Mistranslation adds curse word to game title only to boost sales for indie studio Fix-a-Bug

Mistranslation turned an indie game title into curse word in Japanese, but the mistake unexpectedly boosted sales

An accidental mistranslation of an indie game title by Italian developers Fix-a-Bug has unexpectedly boosted the game’s popularity and sales in Japan.

The studio’s new title, The Crazy Hyper-Dungeon Chronicles, launched on October 23, 2025, after three years of development. However, the team’s early translation efforts led to an unintentional viral moment.

Before release, Fix-a-Bug translated the game’s Steam page into Japanese to reach a wider audience ahead of an official localisation. But the translation for “crazy” took an unexpected turn, resulting in the game being listed as Kuso Dungeon, which translates directly to “Crap Dungeon” or “Sh*tty Dungeon.”

The studio later explained the mix-up on Reddit, describing it as a completely unintentional mistake. “What happened was completely unintentional,” one developer said. “We immediately changed the title upon realising, but by then, the ‘damage’ was done.”

By the time the title was corrected, screenshots and posts about the mistranslation had already circulated across Japanese social media. The humorous error was quickly picked up by gaming outlets and influencers, sparking widespread discussion and amusement among local players.

Instead of hurting sales, the mistake turned into what the team jokingly called “accidental marketing.” The developers reported that more than 2,000 additional users added the game to their Steam wishlists following the viral moment.

“Truly, accidental marketing at its finest,” creator Paolo Nicoletti told Japanese outlet Game Spark.

The Crazy Hyper-Dungeon Chronicles blends turn-based combat and real-time dungeon crawling in a replayable roguelike format. While the translation mishap was quickly resolved, the incident has since become a memorable success story for Fix-a-Bug, showing how even linguistic errors can unexpectedly fuel global interest in indie gaming.