{"id":328,"date":"2019-03-25T22:14:44","date_gmt":"2019-03-25T21:14:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/translationgeek.de\/blog\/?p=328"},"modified":"2021-04-07T22:58:52","modified_gmt":"2021-04-07T20:58:52","slug":"is-video-game-localization-worth-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/translationgeek.de\/blog\/is-video-game-localization-worth-it\/","title":{"rendered":"Is video game localization worth it?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Whether you\u2019re an indie game developer or a big studio, one question you should ask yourself \u2013 ideally long before your game is finished \u2013 is whether or not you want to invest the necessary time and money to have your video game translated into other languages. Will localizing your game make you more money than the localization cost? In other words: Is localization worth it?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>While there is no guarantee for success, many developers do report higher sales in foreign countries after localizing their games for a foreign market. <\/strong> <strong>Whether or not localization of a video game is worth it depends on many factors, such as the word count and the effort for implementation.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In this article I&#8217;ll define localization and explain the difference between localization and internationalization. You&#8217;ll also find out what localization entails for a video game, what paths are open to you for getting your game localized and how much it\u2019s going to cost you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_69_1 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-grey ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<div class=\"ez-toc-title-container\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title\" style=\"cursor:inherit\">Table of Contents<\/p>\n<span class=\"ez-toc-title-toggle\"><a href=\"#\" class=\"ez-toc-pull-right ez-toc-btn ez-toc-btn-xs ez-toc-btn-default ez-toc-toggle\" aria-label=\"Toggle Table of Content\"><span class=\"ez-toc-js-icon-con\"><span class=\"\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #999;color:#999\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #999;color:#999\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span><\/div>\n<nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 eztoc-toggle-hide-by-default' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/translationgeek.de\/blog\/is-video-game-localization-worth-it\/#What_is_Localization\" title=\"What is Localization?\">What is Localization?<\/a><ul class='ez-toc-list-level-3' ><li class='ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-2\" href=\"https:\/\/translationgeek.de\/blog\/is-video-game-localization-worth-it\/#Localization_vs_internationalization\" title=\"Localization vs.\ninternationalization\">Localization vs.\ninternationalization<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-3\" href=\"https:\/\/translationgeek.de\/blog\/is-video-game-localization-worth-it\/#Examples_for_internationalization\" title=\"Examples for\ninternationalization\">Examples for\ninternationalization<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-4\" href=\"https:\/\/translationgeek.de\/blog\/is-video-game-localization-worth-it\/#Video_game_localization\" title=\"Video game localization\">Video game localization<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-5\" href=\"https:\/\/translationgeek.de\/blog\/is-video-game-localization-worth-it\/#Common_languages_to_translate_into\" title=\"Common languages to translate into\">Common languages to translate into<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-6\" href=\"https:\/\/translationgeek.de\/blog\/is-video-game-localization-worth-it\/#The_Process\" title=\"The Process\">The Process<\/a><ul class='ez-toc-list-level-3' ><li class='ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-7\" href=\"https:\/\/translationgeek.de\/blog\/is-video-game-localization-worth-it\/#Translation_Agencies\" title=\"Translation Agencies\">Translation Agencies<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-8\" href=\"https:\/\/translationgeek.de\/blog\/is-video-game-localization-worth-it\/#Freelance_Translators\" title=\"Freelance Translators\">Freelance Translators<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-9\" href=\"https:\/\/translationgeek.de\/blog\/is-video-game-localization-worth-it\/#Crowdsourcing\" title=\"Crowdsourcing\">Crowdsourcing<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-10\" href=\"https:\/\/translationgeek.de\/blog\/is-video-game-localization-worth-it\/#Localization_tools\" title=\"Localization tools\">Localization tools<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-11\" href=\"https:\/\/translationgeek.de\/blog\/is-video-game-localization-worth-it\/#How_much_does_it_cost\" title=\"How much does it cost?\">How much does it cost?<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-12\" href=\"https:\/\/translationgeek.de\/blog\/is-video-game-localization-worth-it\/#Is_it_worth_it\" title=\"Is it worth it?\">Is it worth it?<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-13\" href=\"https:\/\/translationgeek.de\/blog\/is-video-game-localization-worth-it\/#Conclusion\" title=\"Conclusion\">Conclusion<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"What_is_Localization\"><\/span><a>What is Localization?<\/a><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Localization is the process of adjusting content for a particular locale, or in other words, the process of \u201cmaking it local\u201d. This can include translation as well as design changes (modifying images, changing layouts, adjusting content) and is usually done to sell a product on a foreign market.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Localization_vs_internationalization\"><\/span><a>Localization vs.\ninternationalization<\/a><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Localization is not to\nbe confused with internationalization. While localization is the process of\nmaking a product local, internationalization refers to the process of designing\nsoftware in a way that makes localization possible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Examples_for_internationalization\"><\/span><a>Examples for\ninternationalization<\/a><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>In video game localization, internationalization includes, among other things:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><strong>Making sure that the text in your source language can be exchanged with text in other languages.<\/strong> If you\u2019re hard-coding your text into your programming code, this will cause problems down the line. (Apparently this is why <a title=\"Question on a Steam discussion board\" href=\"https:\/\/steamcommunity.com\/app\/247020\/discussions\/0\/598198356179354784\/\ufeff\">Cook, Serve, Delicious<\/a> was never localized.)<\/li><li><strong>Using text boxes with adjustable sizes or adjustable font sizes.<\/strong> A translation into Russian, French or German can increase in size by 15-35%. There needs to be space to accommodate all the additional characters.<\/li><li><strong>Using fonts that can display special characters.<\/strong> For example, if you want to support German, your font has to display German umlauts (\u00e4, \u00f6, \u00fc), for Spanish, you\u2019ll need upside-down question marks and exclamation marks (\u00bf\u00a1), for Russian you\u2019ll need a Cyrillic font. You\u2019ll also need a license for the font you\u2019re using, obviously.<\/li><li><strong>Supporting tag systems to account for grammatical differences in other languages.<\/strong> If you use sentences like &#8220;Thank you for bringing me the [item]s!&#8221;, this will cause problems in many languages. German has three definitive articles (der, die, das) and although sometimes you can create a plural by adding an &#8220;s&#8221; to a word (Auto =&gt; Autos), we also have irregular plurals (1 Haus =&gt; 2 H\u00e4user). Obviously, all of these issues are perfectly solvable \u2013 e.g. by creating a tag system that can take grammatical genders into account or by turning one string with a tag into many strings without &#8211; but this is something you should consider beforehand.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>In short, internationalization is a first step before you can start with localization<\/strong> \u2013 and the sooner you make your game ready for localization, the happier you will be when the process starts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Video_game_localization\"><\/span><a>Video game localization<\/a><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Let\u2019s look at video game localization in particular. Here are a few examples of what the video game localization process entails:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Translating game text and UI text (obviously!)<\/li><li>Removing culture-specific references not understood in the target locale or replacing them<\/li><li>Increasing size of text boxes to prevent text overflows<\/li><li>Removing positive references to alcohol or drugs in games intended for children<\/li><li>Changing culture-specific design elements (see <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/O_mark\" title=\"O mark on Wikipedia\">marujirushi<\/a> \u2013 a red circle in Japanese might have to be changed to a green tick in EFIGS).<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>If you hire an experienced translator for your video game translation, they will automatically flag everything to you that could cause issues in the target language \u2013 like those marujirushi. In order to do that, however, you need to provide them with a playable version of your game, a video of the gameplay or enough screenshots. Good translators will also ask a lot of questions (especially if you <em>don\u2019t <\/em>provide them with enough context) so you\u2019ll want to set up a way for them to send questions to you. If you\u2019re doing translation in more than one language, it might be useful to go with an online service like <a href=\"https:\/\/slack.com\">Slack <\/a>to bundle the information for translators and collect questions by translators.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Common_languages_to_translate_into\"><\/span><a>Common languages to translate into<\/a><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>In the localization industry, EFIGS is a commonly used term denoting the languages that are often considered as target languages (i.e. languages to translate into): English, French, Italian, German and Spanish. <strong>FIGS speakers are very accustomed to receiving content in their own languages.<\/strong> While in countries with smaller markets \u2013 the Netherlands, Norway, Finland \u2013 TV programs usually appear with subtitles, in Germany, France, Italy and Spain, movies and TV shows get high-quality dubbed versions. It\u2019s a bit similar to North America, where all non-English movies get grouped as \u201cForeign Language Films\u201d and even British TV shows get remade to appeal to a US audience (see The Office or Veep), only in Germany, all they do is switch out the voice track \u2013 they don\u2019t redo the whole show! So at this point, even though the <a title=\"The world's largest ranking of countries and regions by English skills\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ef.edu\/epi\/\">level of English proficiency<\/a> in countries like Germany is very high, German consumers expect products to be available in German and will be put off if they are not provided. (It might be worth pointing out that the German vocal minority in forums or on reddit insisting they play everything in the English version don\u2019t actually represent the complete German market \u2013 mostly because a large part of the German market doesn\u2019t hang out in English-speaking forums.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Other languages that are becoming more and more popular to localize into are Russian, Japanese and Chinese.<\/strong> Japan is listed as having an English proficiency of \u201clow\u201d, and yet the Japanese as a people are very enthusiastic about video games \u2013 and with 126 million inhabitants, Japan is a huge market. Similar things can be said about China and Russia, although they might have a lower spending power.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For a long time, it was common wisdom that you couldn\u2019t sell games in Russia or Poland because all games were pirated there. This, however, proved to be patently untrue when CD Projekt started localising games into Polish and selling them with added goodies not available in the pirated version \u2013 with massive success. So challenge your preconceived notions and consider unusual languages. CD Projekt\u2019s The Witcher 3 has recently been <a href=\"https:\/\/me.ign.com\/en\/the-witcher-3\/104732\/video\/the-witcher-3-the-process-behind-the-arabic-localization\" title=\"The Witcher 3 - The Process Behind the Arabic Localization\">translated into Arabic<\/a> \u2013 which certainly sets it apart from a lot of other games!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"The_Process\"><\/span><a>The Process<\/a><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>The localization\nprocess essentially consists of:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Finding\ntranslators or an agency<\/li><li>Getting\ntext translated\/proofread<\/li><li>Making\nlocalization adjustments<\/li><li>Localization\ntesting<\/li><li>Fixing\nremaining issues<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>You can follow\ndifferent paths in order to get your localization done. Let\u2019s look at three\nmethods in detail:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Translation_Agencies\"><\/span><a>Translation Agencies<\/a><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>The positive<\/strong>: Translation agencies will usually be able to take care of several\nlanguages at once, so if you want to do full FIGS localization (plus any number\nof additional languages), they might be able to handle that for you \u2013 along with\nproofreading and localization testing. This is the expensive but fairly\nhassle-free method. They can route questions by translators through a dedicated\nproject manager and distribute relevant materials to everyone involved. They\nare usually able to deal with large volumes of text in several languages, which\nthey do by outsourcing to any number of freelance translators.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>The negative:<\/strong> Agencies need to make money for all the project management they provide, so it\u2019s not unheard of that only half of what you\u2019re paying them will end up with the translator who is doing the actual translation work. If an agency underpays their translators, experienced translators will likely go elsewhere and you\u2019re left with the inexperienced ones. (Ideally, the agency will compensate with a good proofreader.) Also, a short turn-around time for a large quantity of text is possible only because translations will be sent out to a larger number of translators at once. Translation output varies between translators, with an average of maybe 2500 to 3500 words a day for simple text requiring little research. Too many cooks spoil the broth, and too many translators can ruin the consistency of your text. If a \u201csword\u201d turns into a \u201crapier\u201d midway through, your players will be confused. Of course, good agencies do a thorough proofreading pass and make sure glossaries are used to maintain consistency, but the old adage is true here as well: You get what you pay for.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Freelance_Translators\"><\/span><a>Freelance Translators<\/a><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>I\u2019m a freelance\ntranslator myself, so I think freelance translators are a great option \u2013 but\nI\u2019ll try to be objective here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>The positive:<\/strong> Freelance translators will usually be cheaper than agencies, as they\nonly cover their individual cost and won\u2019t charge you for project management.\nThey will try their best to impress you in the hopes that you will tell all\nyour friends about them \u2013 and because they\u2019re hoping you\u2019ll put them in the\ncredits of your game! If you outsource to one translator (or a group of\ntranslators that habitually work together) they will produce translations with\nconsistent style and terminology. Finding a translator online is easy nowadays,\nand while they only translate into their native language, they might have a\nnetwork of other translators they can recommend to you for your other\nlanguages.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>The negative:<\/strong> As mentioned before, a single translator is limited by how many words\nthey can translate per day. If your game is huge, translation will take\nconsiderably longer at a pace of 3500 words\/day than it would with an agency\noutsourcing to five translators and producing 17,500 words\/day. Also,\ntranslators usually only translate into their native language, so you will have\nto find individual translators for each language you want to cover and work out\nan individual contract with each of them. You\u2019ll also need someone to\ncoordinate and send the relevant files to everyone involved. Lastly, not all\ntranslators offer localization testing or proofreading services \u2013 so you might\nhave to organize that separately or find a translator who does.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Crowdsourcing\"><\/span><a>Crowdsourcing<\/a><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>The positive<\/strong>: Crowdsourcing will appeal to many, as this essentially means you\u2019re\nasking your community of fans to help you translate your game out of the\ngoodness of their heart (read: free!). Crowdsourcing is therefore a lot cheaper than both agencies and\nfreelance translators, so you can offer your game in many different languages\nyou might not otherwise consider. Also, the people who volunteer to translate\nyour game will already know it and like it and be enthusiastic enough about it\nto dedicate their free time to working on it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>The negative<\/strong>: While crowdsourcing might work, first and foremost you\u2019re having your work done by potentially unqualified people you can\u2019t hold accountable for meeting deadlines or quality standards. After all, what are you going to do if they deliver terrible work past the deadline? Start paying them? Bad translations are bad PR, and if your game has a lot of text and you have many volunteers, the end result might be an inconsistent mess. Another consideration is that crowdsourcing requires community building and so is usually done once your game is already out, which is more difficult from a marketing perspective (as opposed to advertising a game that is available in many languages at launch). Alain Dellepiane wrote an <a title=\"Crowdsourced translations in video-games: do they work?\" href=\"http:\/\/www.localization.it\/2012-10-16-crowdsourced-translations-in-gaming\">interesting article on the crowdsourced translation of Trucks &amp; Trailers<\/a> a few years back that is a recommended read if you\u2019re thinking about going in that direction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Localization_tools\"><\/span><a>Localization tools<\/a><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>If you\u2019ve been looking into getting your game translated, you might have come across mentions of translation memory (TM) tools like memoQ or SDL Trados Studio. These systems are also known as computer-assisted translation tools or CAT tools, and they support the translation process by showing matches or partial matches and keeping track of glossary terms. If a sentence appears twice in a game, the second mention will automatically be inserted (or show up as a 100% match). If there\u2019s a partial match, translators will be alerted to that as well and they can decide if they want to base their translation on the partial match or start from scratch. For video game translation, this is only partially useful, as for dialog or other creative text, you usually don&#8217;t want to have repetitions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Getting Started with memoQ for Translators - February 2019\" width=\"1290\" height=\"726\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/2KGkCxPHL9s?start=83&#038;feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><figcaption>TM tool memoQ in action (presented by Angelika Zerfa\u00df)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>In my opinion, TM\ntools are not something you need to worry about much \u2013 that\u2019s for the\ntranslator to do. XML or Excel files are common in the localization industry,\nand whether or not a translator wants to use a TM system doesn\u2019t need to\nconcern you as long as you get your target file in the desired file format.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Having said that,\nthere are two cases in which TM systems might be an advantage to you:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><strong>If\nyou have a lot of repeated text:<\/strong>\nIf for whatever reason, you have a lot of text strings that repeat or are high\nfuzzy matches, you might ask translators to give you a discount for those. Not\nall translators will do this, but you can always ask.<\/li><li><strong>If\nyou\u2019re planning a sequel:<\/strong> If\nyou\u2019re making a sequel to your game, it could be useful to get the TMs and term\nbases (i.e. glossary files for use with TM systems) of the first game to use\nfor the translation of the next game.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"How_much_does_it_cost\"><\/span><a>How much does it cost?<\/a><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Right, let\u2019s get down\nto juicy bit where we talk numbers! Translation can cost you anything between\nabout 0.08 USD and 0.20 USD per word and usually translators will charge you a\nminimum fee to cover administration tasks like sending you an invoice. This is\na fairly big spread, of course, meaning a translation of 10,000 words could\ncost you either 800 USD or 2,000 USD \u2013 so which is it?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Well, it depends.\nYou&#8217;ll likely get freelance translators working from English into FIGS on the\nlower end of this spectrum, then the price gets higher for rarer language pairs\n(e.g. English \u2013 Japanese) and for additional services like an extra\nproofreading step by another linguist. Agencies will also move the price\nfurther towards the middle of the spectrum. If you realize you need something\ntranslated ASAP and it&#8217;s Friday evening or a public holiday, there&#8217;ll likely be\nan additional rush fee and you&#8217;ll end up at the high end of the spectrum. Then\nagain, if your game is massive or has a lot of repeated strings, you might be\nable to negotiate a discount. Think about which services you need exactly and\nshop around.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As a concrete example,\nlet\u2019s say your game has 9,500 words and you have 500 additional words of\nmarketing text (e.g. a game description for Steam). If you get a freelance\ntranslator for 0.10 USD\/word, you&#8217;re paying 1,000 USD for one language, so\n4.000 USD for FIGS. Maybe an agency would charge you 0.14 USD a word so it\u2019ll\ncost you 5,600 USD, but you don\u2019t have to invest time in finding individual\ntranslators.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If you need a small\nchunk of 225 words a week or two after all the other translations are done\nbecause you changed a few descriptions in your text, a translator or agency who\nagreed to do translations for 0.10 USD a word might charge you their minimum\nfee of 45 USD (instead of 0.10 USD * 225 = 22.50 USD), bringing the price per\nword up to 0.20 USD. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Then again, if your game\nhas 200,000 words, maybe you\u2019ll find a freelancer who gives you a bulk discount\nand translates your text for 0.09 USD a word, but it might take them three\nmonths to do it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And lastly, if you\u2019re\nthinking \u201cOh, but I\u2019ve seen this guy on Fiverr who translates for 0.02 USD a\nword!\u201d, I\u2019ll say this: Get your game machine-translated instead. Both results\nwill be completely unusable, but at least you\u2019ll save 0.02 USD a word!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Is_it_worth_it\"><\/span><a>Is it worth it?<\/a><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>All that needs to\nhappen now is for you to make more money off the translation than you paid for\nit. Easy, right? Well, if you take your cost and divide it by the money you\nmake off each sold copy, you&#8217;ll get an idea of how many copies you need to sell\nin order to turn a profit. As a developer, ideally you&#8217;ll have an idea whether\nor not that is attainable. If your game costs 200 USD to translate into German\nand you make 7 USD off every copy you sell, you\u2019ll make your money back once\nyou sold 29 copies. That sounds a lot more attainable than having a game with a\nmillion words and having to sell almost 14,290 copies to break even.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>There are a few developers out there who have openly talked about what localization has done for their game, one of them being the makers of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gamasutra.com\/blogs\/SergeiKlimov\/20171106\/308879\/2_Years_of_Gremlins_Inc_demographics.php\ufeff\" title=\"https:\/\/www.gamasutra.com\/blogs\/SergeiKlimov\/20171106\/308879\/2_Years_of_Gremlins_Inc_demographics.php\ufeff\">Gremlins, Inc.<\/a> who have had very good sales results thanks to their localization. They reported in 2017 that about 70% of players of their game play in languages other than English. They\u2019ve been very successful with their Russian version, likely because part of their development team is Russian and so all their communication has been in English and Russian from the start. Plus, they&#8217;ve had huge success with their Chinese translation and one of the main points they took away from their experience with their game is that in order to reach the Asian market, you must localize your game into those languages.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Jonas W\u00e6ver of <a href=\"https:\/\/logicartists.com\/\">Logic Artists<\/a> talked at GDC about <a title=\"Indie Games Localization: Is It Worth It? (Video)\" href=\"https:\/\/www.gdcvault.com\/play\/1020508\/Indie-Games-Localization-Is-It\">localization for their game Expeditions: Conquistador<\/a> (see around 19-minute mark) and the substantial extra profit they made by having the game localized into German. He also talked about the impact it has on your PR if you release additional languages after the official English release: The gaming media will report on your game when it first comes out, but making other languages available likely won\u2019t be important enough for them to write about your game again. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>At another talk at GDC 2012 titled <a title=\"Conquering European Localization at GDC (Video)\" href=\"https:\/\/www.gdcvault.com\/play\/1015793\/Conquering-European\">Conquering European Localization<\/a>, Danica Brinton of LocLabs talked about how in mobile games, there is a 30-60% increase in downloads in the locale you localize for, followed by increased monetization. In the same talk, Nadine Martin of Sony Computer Entertainment Europe explained how for console games, users expect a fully localized game since they pay a lot of money for it \u2013 therefore localization is a given for them. I imagine she\u2019s referring to AAA games there, though \u2013 and speaking of which, there is also a very interesting talk by <a title=\"Crysis Management: Localization from a Developer's Perspective (Video)\" href=\"https:\/\/www.gdcvault.com\/play\/1015806\/Crysis-Management-Localization-from-a\">Judith Matz of Crytek at GDC 2012<\/a> in which she talks about the localization of Crysis. While that talk doesn\u2019t mention sales numbers, it mentions some of the issues they ran across in their localization efforts. So definitely watch that if you want to know all about what can go wrong in localization.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"aligncenter size-large\"><a href=\"https:\/\/translationgeek.de\/contactform.html\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"262\" height=\"244\" src=\"https:\/\/translationgeek.de\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/TGeekNewsletter_transparent.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-642\" srcset=\"https:\/\/translationgeek.de\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/TGeekNewsletter_transparent.png 262w, https:\/\/translationgeek.de\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/TGeekNewsletter_transparent-100x93.png 100w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 262px) 100vw, 262px\" \/><\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Conclusion\"><\/span><a>Conclusion<\/a><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>My conclusion to all of this is: <strong>Localization can potentially make you a lot of money \u2013 especially in the mobile market \u2013 as long as you plan with localization in mind from the beginning and the number of words used in your game is proportional to its expected marketability.<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p>If you&#8217;re ever interested in having your game localized into German, feel free to get in touch with me via <a href=\"mailto:info@translationgeek.de\">info@translationgeek.de<\/a>. I&#8217;ll happily tell you all about my video game translation services and give you a free quote on your project.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Photo credit: The image of the controller is by <a href=\"https:\/\/unsplash.com\/@chrisliverani\">Chris Liverani<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Let\u2019s take a look at what localization is exactly, what localization entails for a video game, what paths are open to you for getting your game localized and how much it\u2019s going to cost you.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":731,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","twitterCardType":"summary_large_image","cardImageID":0,"cardImage":"","cardTitle":"","cardDesc":"Let\u2019s take a look at what localization is, what it entails for a video game, what paths are open to you for getting your game localized and how much it\u2019s going to cost you.","cardImageAlt":"","cardPlayer":"","cardPlayerWidth":0,"cardPlayerHeight":0,"cardPlayerStream":"","cardPlayerCodec":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[80],"tags":[89,90,86],"class_list":["post-328","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-for-everyone","tag-internationalization","tag-localization","tag-video-game-localization"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":6}},"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/translationgeek.de\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/Is_Video_Game_Localization_Worth_it_large.png",600,400,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/translationgeek.de\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/Is_Video_Game_Localization_Worth_it_large-150x150.png",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/translationgeek.de\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/Is_Video_Game_Localization_Worth_it_large-300x200.png",300,200,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/translationgeek.de\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/Is_Video_Game_Localization_Worth_it_large.png",600,400,false],"large":["https:\/\/translationgeek.de\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/Is_Video_Game_Localization_Worth_it_large.png",600,400,false],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/translationgeek.de\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/Is_Video_Game_Localization_Worth_it_large.png",600,400,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/translationgeek.de\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/Is_Video_Game_Localization_Worth_it_large.png",600,400,false],"yarpp-thumbnail":["https:\/\/translationgeek.de\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/Is_Video_Game_Localization_Worth_it_large.png",120,80,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"Veronika","author_link":"https:\/\/translationgeek.de\/blog\/author\/veronika\/"},"uagb_comment_info":254,"uagb_excerpt":"Let\u2019s take a look at what localization is exactly, what localization entails for a video game, what paths are open to you for getting your game localized and how much it\u2019s going to cost you.","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/translationgeek.de\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/328"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/translationgeek.de\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/translationgeek.de\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/translationgeek.de\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/translationgeek.de\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=328"}],"version-history":[{"count":15,"href":"https:\/\/translationgeek.de\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/328\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":717,"href":"https:\/\/translationgeek.de\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/328\/revisions\/717"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/translationgeek.de\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/731"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/translationgeek.de\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=328"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/translationgeek.de\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=328"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/translationgeek.de\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=328"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}