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Game localization for discovery: Trickier than you think?

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Game localization for discovery: Trickier than you think?


So, it turns out localization is a really important part of game discovery, since it opens up so many new potential markets for your PC/console games. How do localization and discovery interact? Well, for example, the Chinese market is massive on Steam. If your game isn't translated into Chinese, most of the millions of Steam players in China won't even see it as a default game in their Steam store.Get more news about Game Localization Companies,you can vist our website!

(Another way to look at it: if you do a Chinese translation, it's like you're competing in a different Steam store with 6,000 games instead of 34,000. Sounds like a good idea, right?)
Anyhow, above is a handy graph compiled by Nimdzi Research last year, crunching the numbers across all Steam games in 2019 and 2020 to see which languages are moving up or down.

And it can be quite dynamic -- Nimdzi noted that, "the proportion of Russian (which outpaced Spanish) and Simplified Chinese (which outpaced Italian) [games] increased, and Korean pushed Polish out of the top 10."

So whether you're a tiny indie or a massive company, how should you think about localization with regard to discovery? Here's some key points:
Try to get localization into your discovery story as early as possible: Don't just jam in localizations and tick the Steam page boxes at the last minute! Translate your Steam pages for launch, and even make translated versions of your Steam demos/Next Fest showcases for maximum reach. It can make a big difference.

● Move away from those historic 'EFIGS' trends: It used to be that you would translate your game into EFIGS -- English, French, Italian, German, and Spanish -- and then be done. But the added reach -- on PC in particular -- of adding other languages (particularly Chinese!) has become incredibly important in recent years. Don't start with EFIGS.

● Think carefully about cost/benefit for text-heavy games: If you're using professional translation for games with tens of thousands of words of text, your costs might get into six figures (USD!) if you do a lot of translations. So you do need to think: how many more copies am I selling with this extra language, and am I taking into account 'gross to net' when working out the upside?

● Consider using crowdsourced translations -- but beware pitfalls: You can read this 'how to' from Krumit's Tale on crowdsourced translations, in this case using Localizor. And if you're running with a low budget or want some very exotic languages supported, it's worth considering it.

But you get what you pay for. A smaller game may not get any translation interest at all. And when you do get helpers, sometimes the translations are Google Translate quality, sometimes they're OK. And it's difficult to work out which, until you show the public.
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