Game Loclaziation Complete Guide

There are over 3 billion video gamers worldwide, that’s one-third of the population.

According to Statista, the revenue of the video game industry is expected to reach 5+ billion dollars in the upcoming few years.

The numbers are scary and yet exciting. They refer to only one thing: gaming is a universal language.

This begs the question: How does your game speak to these numbers?

What is Game localization?

It refers to a variety of processes that aim at adapting video games holistically, handling both textual and nontextual aspects, with the goal of making it familiar and easy to use by the target user/gamer.

What is localized in games?

User Interface (UI)
Menus
Game Instructions
Visuals/images
NPC or Non-Player Character Dialogues
Quest Descriptions
In-game Announcements
Manuals and Help files
Error messages
Audio and voiceovers
Cultural references
Packaging

Why Should You Localize Your Video Game?

Because there are hundreds of millions of gamers worldwide?

Or maybe because it’s a deal full of wins!

Below are only a few of the advantages that follow if you localize your game today:

Maximize profit and return on investment (ROI)

Although localization can be a long and expensive process, depending on your methodology, however, it’s a must-have investment for your product if you’re aiming at an unprecedented boost in sales, especially if the game is already wanted elsewhere and the users are waiting for the day it’s finally available in their native language.

Build a good reputation for diversity and inclusivity

Localization can crown you as a communications expert if you manage to talk to the target audience in a way that fully resonates with them, leaving no room for bias, discrimination, or offensive implications-which can happen often with games. This puts you at the top, gaining more competitive edge than ever.

Boost App Store and Google Play Ranking

The math is simple; if your game is localized into several languages, that increases the chances of it getting downloaded, and receiving great reviews. For example, In 2024, the Video Games market is projected to reach a revenue of US$282.30bn.

Do you what contributes by almost 50% of this revenue? Mobile games indeed!

In 2023, $184 billion was generated by all types of games, the mobile game market share was 49% or $90 billion.

It’s a race you don’t want to miss out on.

What are some Game localization examples?

Let’s bring some nostalgia here…

Pac-Man

Localized from Japanese. One major localization step was to change the name from Puck-Man to Pac because Puck in English was thought to have negative connotations.

Not only that, the names of the ghosts were originally based on colors, like red, pink, and blue.

However, the English version of Pac-Man doesn’t have the colors, but rather the names were switched to Pinky, Inky, Blinky, and Clyde, as the odd one out.

Source: Mobidictum

Uncharted

It was translated from English to Japanese, and yet, like most popular games not everyone admired the translation. However, it’s worth noting that the localization process actually began when the game was still in the development stage, and got better and better with every release. Making this a classic example of how early planning for localization can pay off in the long run. The dubwork is apparently really good.

Source: Neoseeker

Zero Wing

This game became famous because of its poor translation, Imagine that, but don’t rush to make it your cheaper way to get your game noticed

In particular, there was a big grammatical error in the sentence “All your base are belong to use” which you might recall as an internet meme.

Source: legends of localization

PERSONA 5

Another Japanese game. Opinions split on whether its localization into English was accurate. For the most part, Persona 5 is very Japanese-centric, translators tried their utmost best to localize it into the English language without completely sacrificing the authentic Japanese experience in the game. Despite that, it might entail a few translation fails that the users picked up on.

Source: Forbes

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2

Call of Duty was once banned in Russia because of a massive translation error. In one of the dialogues with the characters, one said “Remember, no Russian” as in ‘don’t speak Russian while we’re on this mission..’ but it was translated to “Kill them, they’re Russian”

Gasps!

Source: Fandomwire

Process of video game localization

Are all games localized the same way? Certainly not.

Localization doesn’t always cover all aspects of the game.

Box and Documentation Localization

Translating only the packaging, and manuals of the game for the target users. It’s used when the target audience is expected to already know the language of the game.

Partial localization

Here, localizers work with textual elements only and leave out things such as audio, video…etc. You can think of visual novels, where only the dialogue is translated but everything else seems to be put in place as is.

Full localization

The name is telling, this is where all game assets get localized, and it’s usually utilized by AAA game companies (major game publishers like Nintendo and Ubisoft) However, it’s different from internationalization.

Tips for optimizing your game localization process

Prioritize cultural relevancy and sensitivity

Nothing could repel a gamer more than snapping him or her out of their gaming mode by dropping in a culturally insensitive or offensive word, sentence, or even a visual. Gaming can be a universal language, but what you need to tackle is immersing them more into the experience by tweaking things such as salutations, idioms, catchphrases, proverbs, colloquial language…etc.

Think about this, you’re introducing a game that’s big on Norse mythology to a Japanese audience, how do you think they can immerse themselves in it if it looks so foreign to them?

You might want to reconsider and reimagine things such as voice-over artists, copywriting, in-game audio, and much more.

You’re localizing for a certain locale, not a country

There’s a big difference between a language and a country. People who speak English can be found anywhere in the world. Therefore, you don’t use a flag to refer to the language, because simply the users don’t necessarily live in the country to which the flag belongs.

Identify language locales instead. For instance, identify the English as Irish English, Australian English, or UK English.

Optimize for all devices and Ensure Compatibility

In the country of origin, the game could be available only on PC, or Mobile. However, this might change when localizing for a different audience, the devices they mostly use for gaming are best to be optimized. Device compatibility is another part of the process.

Compliance with laws and regulations

One thing you never want to let slip is for your game to get banned because it doesn’t meet the legal requirements of the target country. You want to consider things such as age ratings, limits of explicit content, and topics that are a huge cultural taboo and can’t be normalized in certain religious communities. This involves regulations around nudity, and violence as well.

Aim for consistency in localization

When a team of outsourced translators works on the same game localization project, things can get messy because each one has their style, tone, and ways of spelling certain words. This will lead to many inconsistencies in the end that can directly affect the immersive experience you’re aiming at.

The solution to this? A comprehensive style guide that everyone has their hands on that helps control inconsistency as much as possible.

Intensive testing before release

This is the same with any software product that’s either released for the first time or after encountering updates to the public. It’s crucial to test it as a user, with a critical eye, and to invite gamers and users to give their feedback on the localization. This feedback you will surely get from them can make all the difference!

How Fast Trans can help with Localizing your Game?

Matching top-tier quality with a rock-bottom price in Fast Trans.

Level up your game localization game with Fast Trans! Pun intended.

At Fast Trans, we nearly cover all on-demand kinds of localization. In the case of game localization, we get our hands on natives and experts either in-house, freelance, or outsourced. This means we can basically localize your game into any language needed. Currently, our team supports 120+ languages and we’re always expanding.

Get in touch with our team here.