Why does Game Localization Matter?
In this age of globalization, localization is the best way to connect with your audience. You have to offer a personalized gaming experience to your customers that resonates with their core needs and demands. Gaming companies are looking for new ways to dominate global markets and enhance their user base. However, it takes work to capture the attention of players when there are thousands of games available in the market.
You need to enhance your game visibility and give it a more personalized feel to scale your business in a foreign marketplace. From language translation to adding more cultural references to your game, you must be very careful about how you go about your game localization.
Let's have a look at some important factors that make game localization critical for your business's global success.
4 Reasons Why Game Localization Is Essential for Your Global Success
As a gaming company, if you want to hit international markets, you better localize it first using an LSPs platform or get help from an enterprise translation solution. Here are some important details on why getting your game localized is crucial.
Target Diverse Markets
Markets like China, Japan, the United States, and South Korea have the highest demand for games. It would be a dream of any gaming company to capture these markets. However, these countries are quite different in terms of their culture, social values, and the languages that they speak. Therefore, more than one version of the game might be needed for diversified marketplaces. Through localization, you can tailor your game's elements to the very needs of the target market.
For instance, PUBG has the highest player base in the Chinese market, but very few know that when PUBG was first released in China, it faced backlash as it promoted violence. PUBG realized the importance of localization and created a new version of the game modified for the Chinese market considering all cultural nuances. This time the game went very well, and now they have the highest number of players from China.
Enhance Gaming Experience
We create games for entertainment purposes, and the user game experience is everything. From choosing the right animations to dubbing the characters in suitable language dialects, it all adds to the gaming experience of your user. You have to make your game as relevant as possible to target audiences. It helps them easily understand different elements presented in-game and allows them to perform well. It would take time to create a game that your user will truly enjoy playing and to make it happen, you have to put in money and effort.
Good user experiences are the key ingredient behind every game that goes viral, and players literally spend hours on them. Professional game localization also resolves most of your problems regarding creating a relevant user experience. Though the primary language of most games is English to cater to wider audiences, there should still be some room for localization for globalization purposes.
Greater Cultural Resonance
When it comes to game localization, cultures play a major role in determining what your target users are actually looking for. The culture of a country tells you a lot about the fear and fascination of its people. So, to make more people engage with your game = you have to be very careful about the cultural intricacies and social values of target users. Ensure there is no element in your game that could offend your game users. For instance, if you are going to release your video game in the middle east, make sure you are not depicting female characters in short clothes. Not being mindful of cultural sensitivities may get your game banned in a country.
Culture-appropriate games can better resonate with target audiences and make players feel connected with your brand.
Increase Downloads and Drive More Sales
Localization makes your game more visible to the target audience because they know it is tailored to their interests. Through professional game localization, you can reach wider audiences and increase your game downloads significantly. For example, in Chinese markets, if you look at the most downloaded games, they are all in Chinese languages. Similarly, there are many other Asian countries where people don't understand English. You also have to translate your game into the local language using translation management software online or get a professional enterprise translation solution. A higher number of game downloads leads to more sales and higher profit margins in a particular market. For example, gaming companies have seen a rapid increase in their sales through game localization to Chinese and Japanese markets.
Get Help from A Translation Management Software Online
To seamlessly localize your game for diverse regions, you can get your hands on an LSPs platform or a TMS. It would make your game localization project easier and more manageable. You can try MarsHub, a full-service localization and translation platform with plenty of features. Using a professional platform makes your everyday localization tasks hassle-free and simple.
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