It’s not a secret that video games are an integral part of modern-day life for millennials. It is likely because they allow gamers to live a different life filled with adventure and challenges. Gaming is a globally renowned business today, a $60 billion business.
In 2010 the video game distributor from Brazil discovered that a game with localization to Portuguese increased its revenue 15 times! This underscores the importance of localizing video games as well as the need for high-quality translators and localization.
Despite the importance of localization in games, businesses fall into the trap of settling for cheap shortcuts that are expensive to fix, cause negative publicity and can affect sales.
What are the mistakes in localization that gaming companies commit?
1. Making a mistake in the translation
Some video game manufacturers believe they’ve made a profit by opting for machine translations or deciding on the cheapest translation instead of the most effective one.
Machines are a long way from the accuracy required. Tools for translation can be an attack on security by giving the ability to access video game data to hackers through the Internet.
Furthermore, anything entered into a translation tool is transferred to the translator tool provider and becomes their information and they can xbox and ps4 play madden 22 together.
The translation should not only be accurate but also retain the flavor and nuances of the original language to give life to the translation.
A mistranslation could make the game an unpleasant experience for the player or render the game’s creator to be a joke in the gaming industry. In the worst-case scenario, it could put the game developer in legal soup.
The cost of translation is a major factor. Cutting corners creates more cost and work. The best option is to use professionals who are not only competent and innovative but also discrete as well. Requiring the translation agency to sign an agreement to not disclose information can let the game designer relax while the localization process is safe in the hands of an expert.
2. Coding text in hard-coded files
This is a mistake that video game developers who have limited vision do. It’s a bad idea to include text elements such as the text in menus as well as the game’s title and printed dialogue on screen into the game’s main files. When the content is kept in separate resource files It will be simple to add a translated version by introducing a new variable and storing that translation within a special file. It’s much simpler than searching through source code for translation?
3. The game’s text is painted using the same brush
Certain games require specialized terminology. Consider football games, for instance. Terminology isn’t the same as basketball-tall language. Translators and translators for these sports require research. This calls for “research-oriented text.”
Games like the wildly popular addicting Candy Crush come up with innovative gaming concepts. They are classified as requiring “creative-oriented text.”
Game developers must analyze their game’s content and determine the type of text that is most appropriate. The text should be customized to match the game’s content, along with the work of translators should be able to meet this requirement.
4. Localization of games out-of-context
There is surely nothing to gain from giving reams of text in the hands of translators and localizers that know nothing about the game or its contents. What’s more, you’re expecting someone with no knowledge of gaming to do the job!
If game localization has such significance, the more a translator understands about this game the greater the result. Translators should be urged to participate in game development. Security and discretion are not negotiable demands, of course.
5. Ignoring Cultural Factors
Every market has its own culture. Cultural awareness is crucial when developing a game in a local setting or the creator could run the risk of alienating their intended audiences. It’s not just about the games’ content but also the stories, characters and even the situations.
Think about the following points:
A gaming giant was forced to cancel 75,000 units of the game that featured the singing of the Quran as its soundtrack after one player raised concerns about the use of the Quran in its soundtrack.
The image of the Japanese army advancing on South Korea may be a piece of history, but Seoul was offended by the game that revealed the opposite.
Localization-related misdemeanors vary from displaying alcohol to showing blood and gore on the screen. When localizing games, creators will be in good stead by conducting a thorough analysis of the market they intend to target. Cultural blunders should not be ignored, and the negative publicity that they bring about can end up destroying the game, not the developer.
6. Inability to test game translations
The proof is in the food!
The translation process can alter sentence length. Strings translated by translators may not match the layout or graphics of the user interface. Coding could also leave a few strings undefined. It is possible to avoid this when developers test their games on a real device.
Localization testing on devices can help you evaluate the general quality of localization in games while identifying any flaws in the process. If the game features printed dialogue on the screen, then auto-fitting the text to the text area is essential.
7. Poor management of content for translation
Game developers should manage all formats and documents – marketing copy, manuals packaging, descriptions of the app store and in-game interface text and subtitles. The administration of translations should be centralized to prevent duplicates and mistranslations across the different kinds of content.
8. The idea of treating localization as an added-on
The idea of localization as a last stage of the development process is a costly error that developers often make. They result in missing huge overseas opportunities. If copycat versions are released in your local marketplace, those businesses realize that they’ve put themselves in a bind. Then they start thinking about new markets outside of the country. The process of localization during that “end” stage means reworking the source code and creating materials for translation from scratch each of these takes both time and money.
Conclusion
The best solution is to wrap strings at the beginning of developing video games and then incorporate codes that conform to international standards.
There are a lot of gamers in the world. The market for video games is constantly growing. Expert and skilled translation services can be a huge help in the process of perfecting localization for video games.
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