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Localize games

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Video game localization requires an understanding of the game development process, storytelling techniques, and interactive elements, as the focus is on entertainment, engagement, narrative, and character development. These factors make game localization stand apart from other types of software localization, which primarily focuses on functionality and utility, and uses textual elements that are concise and neutral in tone.

Games often have extensive narrative elements, including dialog, prose, and storylines. Localizing these elements needs to capture the essence of the source content, including its humor, cultural references, and other elements that help to keep players enthralled by the game world. For example, if a game maintains a tone of family-friendly, dry humor throughout, the localized version should too. Humor is difficult in general: sometimes a joke just doesn't work in the target language, and it needs to be replaced by another joke that might even be moved to a different point in the dialog. Another thing to consider is the gender of the game's characters, who can be male, female, or non-binary. This might have implications with target languages that mark gender more thoroughly than English.

Localized text, audio, and multimedia in games must sound natural and genre-appropriate to maintain audience immersion. The game's marketing material, webpage, and other supporting material should also use the same style and register as the game itself to avoid breaking players’ immersion.

Audio and video localization for games is a crucial part, much more so that with software. It usually means re-creation of the source material: translation adaptation, casting, directing, and lip-syncing to match facial animations might all be needed. Various duration constraints are usually needed to enable target language audio to smoothly replace source audio. All this adds complexity and cost. It also means that localization needs to start early enough in the development process, or it will not have enough time for any rework caused by script changes or other reasons. Regarding rework, it is important to know how costs accrue. It is usually more expensive to have many small recording sessions with actors than to have a small number of large sessions. It it thus good practice to have a character's lines as complete and final as possible before the recording of that character's voice begins.

While most lines in a game can be recorded with as little as the source audio and script, cutscene video needs to be recorded with the video. Typically studios provide localization teams with the video and different separate voice, effects, and background tracks. This allows localization teams to edit and remix the video with localized voice.

The localization team is usually detached from the development team, so they might only have the original dialog audio files and a script to go on. The original voice actors might have worked closely with the development team, getting helpful feedback on how their lines should be delivered. Ideally, the localization team would receive a briefing of the content to be produced along with the script and audio files. Reviewing or testing each localized language version separately could be considered as well. If you can provide fuller documentation of the game including character bios, game walkthroughs, style guides, and even game builds, you'll provide the localization team with the information that they need to create high quality localized materials. Even if you provide these materials, the localization team might still submit queries so that they can better understand the characters and the context so that they can deliver the best localizations possible.

Some localization providers offer broad services to fully document your game, and many are able to provide their own game localization and translation experts in each language. These experts can advise teams and reply directly to translator queries. Sometimes these experts are sourced from QA teams that have both some linguistic expertise and hands-on experience with the title.

Special concerns

Video games have some unique concerns that don’t usually apply to software, starting with age ratings. As part of localization planning, you should consider the game's rating in the source market, the preferred rating in the target markets, and what adjustments might be needed to meet those ratings. As mentioned, localization needs to start early enough, so that rating guidelines for translators and voice actors can be established as soon as possible. There are two widely adopted age rating systems: ESRB in North America and PEGI in Europe. Some countries use their own ratings system instead, such as Germany’s USK. Ratings in different systems are broadly similar but not identical, so localization choices (mainly language-related) might be guided by the need to hit the right rating in the target market. Localized versions attempt to stay within the same age rating, although there are cases where a game receives a different age rating in different markets.

Here is a list of concerns that affect a game’s age rating. The more frequent, explicit, extreme, or gross each category gets, the higher the rating will be.

  • Frightening sounds or images (for very young children)
  • Violence
  • Language
  • Sexual content
  • Use of drugs or alcohol
  • Gambling

Of these issues, language is the main thing that can be affected by localization choices. Sometimes English profanities aren't felt as “strongly” as those in other languages, so the localization might need to tone them down to stay within the intended rating. In most cases, it's better to be conservative with the use of profanity if you're unsure. There are also some issues that require the visual assets of the game to be changed: for example, the swastika symbol might need to be removed for the German market.

Games also carry a higher geopolitical and cultural risk, especially if they take place in what is basically the real world. Many people don't like seeing their nation or culture portrayed as the villain or treated in stereotypical fashion, for example, treating all African countries as identical. Games with fantasy opponents, that is, something that doesn’t exist in our world, are safer in this regard. As with films, sometimes you might not want to release a game in certain markets due to geopolitical or cultural concerns.