The gaming industry has developed significantly in recent years. What started as Nintendo and Atari, pixelated screens, and limited sounds have all dramatically evolved, becoming more lifelike than ever. Alongside the technological advancements, the gaming industry has also spread like wildfire from several developed to emerging economies, causing the global gaming industry to amount to 178 billion U.S. dollars in 2021. Thanks to this rapid growth, the need for language service providers to bridge the language and culture gaps has never been more urgent.
An Overview of The Gaming Industry
The gaming industry is one of the most innovative sectors in tech today. It’s no longer limited to a particular age group or customer segment. Instead, it has become a valid form of entertainment for players of all backgrounds and ages.
In 2020, the worldwide PC gaming market’s revenue was estimated at $37 billion, while the mobile gaming market generated over $77 billion. The 5 biggest gaming markets include China, America, Italy, Japan, and South Korea.
Game localization; What Is It?
As stated earlier, the gaming industry has gone global, and as such, game developers are looking to internationalize their products from as early as the conceptualization and development stage in order to deliver faster product releases, stay agile and create a wider product appeal. For a game to be accepted wholeheartedly, players in that region must be able to identify and relate to the gaming experience. Hence, the need for localization.
Localization is essentially the adaptation of its hardware and software to a foreign country’s language and cultural preferences. Contrary to popular belief, game localization exceeds just translating the game’s language. The process often includes altering art assets, creating new packaging, translating manuals, transforming hardware, censoring the game to meet cultural sensitivities and local legal regulations, and of course, translating in-game audio (Dubbing).
Localization aims to make the game enjoyable to players in the new region. You achieve this by taking cognizance of target consumer-specific cultural tendencies and preferences without losing the distinctive essence of the source material.
Benefits of Game localization
Localization helps game developers to:
Expand their Target Market
Game localization is a great way to reach new markets and break into foreign regions. Localization doesn’t only bridge the language barrier it also bridges the cultural barrier. Take, for example, a game that’s initially programmed in English. Although English is one of the most popular languages, it will be understandable to only a small fraction of the world’s population. Adapting it to more countries will expose it to more users, inadvertently boosting sales and downloads.
Increase Sales
A larger market means an increase in downloads, and an increase in downloads implies an increase in sales. The more individuals a game can reach, the more downloads and sales it will experience.
Amplify Customer Satisfaction
Localization is a great way to boost customer satisfaction. People appreciate having experiences in their languages. Experiencing the game in their language reduces in-game distractions and offers the player a holistic gaming experience.
Improve User Reviews
Gamers measure how enjoyable a game is by its reviews. A game’s review can positively or negatively affect its popularity. When presented with quality localization, players tend to give better reviews and higher ratings.
Stay Ahead Of The Competition
The gaming industry is fiercely competitive. Research shows that gamers are more inclined to download a localized game. Also, localized games make for a better gaming experience. And Localizing gaming titles automatically puts game developers ahead of the competition since it grants them access to different global markets.
Why Hire A Language Service Provider (LSP)?
Localization goes way beyond translating the game to another language. It also involves adapting the game to that region’s cultural preferences. To do this effectively, it’s best to hire a professional language service provider— one who knows their onions and is experienced in this segment.
Hiring an LSP to localize your game will help you avoid sub-standard translations and improve time-to-market as these entities have very robust quality assurance regimens. Errors and controversies in gaming content are common with games that are globally popular but unlocalized. These errors often negatively impact the player’s experience.
Hiring a professional will save you the risk of public embarrassment, financial and reputational damages from incorrect translations, improper cultural adaptation, or non-compliance with government regulations.
Conclusion
The gaming industry has come a long way to reach a global audience with many of the industry leaders now dedicating a sizable portion of their budget towards game localization.
Game localization is a great idea for game developers looking to expand their audience and take advantage of the booming global gaming industry. However, it is vital that stakeholders procure the services of a professional language service provider, as improper localization can cause more harm than good.
TranslationsInLondon is the ideal partner to help take your game title to the global scene with our professional translation and localization services. Give us a call or send a message to get started now.