All games surprisingly originate from a distinct culture. Developers arrive at a unique result by working on the cultural context of the game project. Thus, it is important that game developers localize such content to blend into the international market seamlessly. In this expository piece, you will understand the importance of game localization.
Video Game Localization
Video game localization happens when game developers partner with professional game translation companies to ensure the project breaks into the international market. The different stages of video game localization include video game translations, linguistic processes, and internationalization.
Without video game localization, many gamers would not fancy game projects that are not native to them. Thus, video game localization brings a lot of market improvements to game projects to ensure that they get adequate international recognition.
1. Localization Increases Sales
While a better part of the world speaks and understands English, an English game would only reach about 25-28% of the entire gaming market. Thus, your project would only be useful to a fraction of the industry. To reach out to more gamers and bump up your sales, you will have to localize your game to suit the major cultures across the globe.
Hence you will need the services of video game translation experts to work with you on the project. You can only make major sales if you have a widely accepted project across major languages in the industry.
2. Reduce Plagiarism
When you have your game project in different major local languages, you gain better control of your game and prevent ROM hacking. With your game in different languages, you control the quality of translation to improve overall user experience. However, you have to make localization an integral part of the game development process for you to achieve the desired results.
You should partner with a reliable game translation service to work with you as you develop the game. This step saves you time and money. You also enjoy the impressive feedback that comes with releasing your project in different languages.
3. Beat Competition
The gaming industry is highly competitive. The demand for quality content is on the rise, and one way to meet this demand is to reach out to a wider audience. You can only do this when you localize your content to gain a global audience.
With over 2 million gaming apps in-app store, you have a strong market to beat, and localizing your content will give you a competitive edge over other projects. If you do not take advantage of video game localization to break-even, another competitor may take over your market share in the industry.
4. More Downloads
If you are looking to take your gaming project to the highest stages, then you need to get the download numbers up. For you to do this, you will have to enlist a professional game translation company to carry out localization for your project. To completely break into several markets, you have to localize your game to reach out to more markets.
Increased downloads equal increased sales, which means an increased return on the project's investments and overall financial success. A lot of gaming markets prefer to enjoy their games in their native languages. Gamers from European countries like Italy and France, despite their high English proficiency, still prefer their game in their native language. Other regions with a large gaming market and low English proficiency are the Asian and the South American markets.
5. Prioritize Your Audience
Localizing your video game shows you have your audience in mind and would have them approve of your project. Developing a video game that matches the audience's culture allows users to flow with the story and be involved in it.
Video games evolved over the years to allow users to choose their best experiences. When your audience can relate to the dialogues on a personal level, it is easy for them to choose their own story, their best characters, and gameplay. You can only experience such a high level of user satisfaction when you localize your video game project.
Conclusion
You must take the right steps to ensure your video game project maximizes its potential. Localizing your video game project has so many benefits. Still, it doesn't come off easily - you have to work with a professional game translation company to get the best services in record time.
EC Innovations is a reliable localization company that offers a comprehensive suite of translation, video game localization, and multimedia services. We work with linguists who are professional gamers and understands the importance of communication and user experience in video games. We offer a wide range of services, including In-game text, voice-over, user manuals, legal documentation, and website localization, and marketing materials.
