What is Video Game Localization Services? • AxiomQ

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August 25, 2023 Marketing

Imagine playing your favorite video game that is set in your own country, produced in your language, and relates to your culture. Sounds like a dream for many gamers who have never experienced playing games in their native language.

That’s where video game localization services come in, which localize video games, making them more appealing and accessible to a broader audience.

In this article, we will look at how video game localization can transform your game to be global friendly making it accessible to users worldwide.

What is Video Game Localization?

Video Game Localization is the process of adopting a video game to different regions and cultures. It involves transforming the language used in the video game to the audio content and localizing graphics to target specific locales.

Game Localization includes transforming almost everything from changing the language used in the game script, menus, and game command list, instructions manuals, to altering the graphics and sound effects to better connect with the local culture and its language.

The main objective of localizing any video game is to create a seamless gaming experience for gaming enthusiasts all around the globe by enabling the game to be tailor-made specifically for their region.

Not to mention, game localization is more than just translating the content of the game. Game Localization services also help you with voiceovers with transcriptions, culturally driven game direction, game assessment, testing the localized version of the game, and more.

Why is Game localization important for Game Developers?

The gaming sector is a thriving and ever-changing sector that makes billions of dollars and adapts rapidly to the industry’s improvement.

Video games are becoming increasingly popular all over the world, with people of all cultural backgrounds adopting video gaming as a hobby.

While many others such as gaming streamers are opting for it as their career and earning a significant income from their live streams and videos.

High interest in video games has made it necessary for console and Android video game developers to localize their games to attract wider audiences.

Significance Of Video Game Localization

Localizing your video game is the most important step in Android and ios game development.

Video game localization is not just for targeting a new audience and more revenue, but it also plays a major part in improving the player’s overall gaming experience across all different cultures and regions.

Furthermore, it’s important to note that Localizing video games doesn’t improve or decrease the quality of the game, the main purpose of localizing your video game is to ensure the translated content retains the original meaning and gaming immersion.

Also, Localizing video games ensures that the game’s graphics and visuals match different cultural norms and expressions.

One of the essential reasons why Localizing video games is important is to successfully create an experience that resonates with global audiences. By hiring gaming localization services, game development companies can make sure that their final product will appeal to audiences worldwide.

Moreover, this significantly helps in building a large, multinational game fan base which helps to increase the game’s reach.

Also, successful Localization of video games helps to market them to different regions and gain access to multiple gaming markets.

Video Game Localization: Why It Matters and How it Helps Video Game Development

Localizing video for various markets is the key step in boosting your video game to the next heights. Video game localization is more than just translating the audio content, it includes many important factors such as cultural adoption and technical optimization to ensure that the game reaches a large audience.

Here are some of the reasons why you should localize your video game:

1. Culturalization

Adapting to different cultures is the most vital factor to being successful in global markets. Localizing video games goes beyond the limits of translating and altering images.

To achieve a culturally neutral game, developers collaborate with video game localization services to understand the expectations of their global audiences and create a gaming layout that fits well for video game lovers from different countries.

Video game localization services make video games more culturally relevant by transforming them according to the market.

For instance, changing specific gameplay graphics or map locations to fit local conventions can fill in a gap for every player and allow the game to experiment with a new market.

Example:

Pac-Man was originally introduced by Bandai Namco Studios in Japan and was called “Puck-Man”. The classic gameplay was distributed in North America with a localized name “Pac-Man” to avoid any confusion with English Slang.

2. Increased Reach

The main goal of localizing video games is to reach out to new audiences and gaming markets to increase the reach which highly contributes to maximum sales. By developing the game for different languages and regions, it becomes a lot easier to tap into lucrative markets such as Japan, China, Germany, and Turkey.

This can lead to expanding your game’s existing following and fan base to other regions for more excellent sales.

3. Internalization

Video game localization also focuses on game internalization that allows the game to be accessible for different regions. This is a great way to expand your market without necessarily Localizing to specific regions.

Game internalization includes changing currencies, measurement units, date and time formats, and other such settings that need to be carefully adjusted to make the game ready for international markets.

4. Localized Quality Assurance

This is the most important step in localizing video games. Testing and evaluating the game ensures the translated text and audio are accurate and all the localized sections of the game are appropriately adopted for multiple languages and regions.

Running the video game for quality assurance ensures their products will meet desired expectations when released to different markets.

5. Differentiation

What makes video games important is it makes its product different from other similar games by attracting a wider audience.

By Localizing the game for different regions, game developers can create an immersive, and accessible gaming experience that appeals to specific audiences.

Example:

A screenshot of Assasin’s Creed Odessy that was released in Arabic Language for the Middle Eastern Region.

6. Increase in Downloads

Localizing video games opens the door to unlimited success. Players are more inclined to download a video game that is culturally relevant and available in their local language.

Most of all, Localized games attract more loyal gamers who give better reviews, which boosts marketing and sales along with high downloads.

Conclusion

Video Game Localization is an important process for any gaming company looking to expand their game into lucrative markets for higher sales.

It involves the process of adopting video games for different regions by localizing language, audio, theme, graphics, currency, and other elements to match cultural preferences.

With a Professional video game localization service, you can access more potential customers and enhance your sales performance.