Game Localization - Why We Need It (Part 1)

Today, with all kinds of Internet infrastructure in place, various new forms of entrepreneurial opportunities have emerged, and countless companies have launched their products overseas, hoping to achieve greater profitability by expanding their customer base. In this process, we can find that whether it is a successful company or a failed company, it is constantly repeating the importance of [localization] to the success of a product. When a product is successful overseas, the media might say: "The success of this product stems from its accurate understanding of localization." When a product fails overseas (or, rather, is not as successful as it is locally), the media and project leaders might say: "The main reason is that our product localization is not good enough".

So what exactly is localization? How do CEOs of different companies understand localization differently?

Before trying to explain this problem, we need to make a clear definition of localization, to make us discuss this problem under the same standard.

In the mouths of company CEOs, localization generally means this: translating products, dubbing them, and publish advertisements locally, sometimes hiring some local personnel to assist in promotion, and advising on product design. Among them, translation occupies a large part. When I was still looking for a job a few months ago, I saw a lot of job descriptions filled with content such as [familiar with the game localization process], [proficiency in foreign languages], [familiar with the use of CAT Tools], [familiar with local Culture] [overseas study experience] such a description.

But is it true? A product that got big revenue in the country, we just need to translate the text and voice on it, can it also be success all over the world? I'm afraid that is often not the case. In that case, you should name the position of the translation department.

Therefore, we propose a new definition of localization based on today's business environment:

Localization is the sum of efforts made by a company to achieve success (profit) in a [non-domestic region].

If you agree with this definition, continue to see how we feel about it.

Company, People & Products

Few of the companies I've worked for and worked with take the localization department as a top-level department. However, since everyone agrees that localization is the foundation of profit, we should re-examine which businesses are part of localization and which ones are worth taking seriously.

Company: Global Strategy

In a company, the role of the localization team should be determined by the company's development stage and future strategy. The self-examination and the formulation of the globalization strategy are an important part of the localization work. Before preparing to set up your own localization team, as a boss, you should think about the following questions.

1. What stage is my company at now?

2. Does my company now have a proven product and has it been successful locally?

3. What resources can I mobilize now?

4. What are the strengths of my company now?

After thinking about these questions, you can quickly know what localization means to you in the current situation.

For example, a start-up company has nothing but a few partners. And because of the fierce competition in the local market, founders have to go overseas to find opportunities. At this point, the meaning of localization to them becomes: How should I face the new challenges in overseas markets?

As entrepreneurs with nothing, the founders of the company quickly found their limitations.

1. Because of the lack of funds, the upcoming product must be a simple, cheap small product. Because the high salary of the development team cannot be paid, it is better to acquire an existing finished product and modify it on this basis to reduce the cost;

2. The target area is preferably a market that one of the founders is familiar with;

3. The promotion method of the product should adopt a clearer online advertisement that is convenient for calculating profits;

4. The smaller the type of product in the local competition, the better;

5. The technical level of the founder's local industry is preferably higher than that of the target area;

After thinking about these things, it is time for the [localization] work we usually talk about. The person in charge of localization targeted several areas with underdeveloped industries through public information, and then targeted local niche groups. Afterward, the localization team used questionnaires and online interviews to find out the living habits, payment habits, and user awareness of the product in the target area.

Using several products found by the company's business director, the localization director found vendors to replace the elements in the game, tested with a few simple DEMOs and advertisements, and obtained good results. Subsequently, through carefully designed questionnaires and interviews, the company reconfirmed the product's profit expectations. In addition to translating the game text, the localization department also invited local part-time staff to review whether there are cultural taboos or differences in usage habits in the game. After some hard work, the product was launched on schedule and got pretty good revenue. Although it is only a leisure product, the money earned is enough for them to continue to develop the next product.

This is the real story that came across to me. From the establishment of the company, all efforts made by the company to achieve success in overseas markets, including market and user research, review of the company itself, and planning from scratch, should be regarded as part of localization, including of course a series of operations for listing and issuing from scratch. Because the region where the product is launched is overseas, and the target users are overseas users, even when the product is re-developed, it is completely designed for local users.

This is an example of how the overall situation of the company affects localization efforts.

So when the company has achieved certain development and has some mature products, how should localization appear?

Again, one of the first things to do is describe the current state of your company:

1. The company has sufficient funds to conduct research and development of a new product;

2. The company has achieved great success in the country before, and its internal members are dependent on today's products and cannot make disruptive innovations;

3. The company has tried to translate and publish products overseas. But because it was originally for local players, there may be cultural differences. This is not an attractive subject for overseas users;

At this point, the content of the localization work we need has changed again.

The company initially planned to change the theme of the game and launch games with local themes. However, from the test data, the local advertising data of new themes are not satisfactory. After analysis, the localization department found that there was a huge difference between the market environment in which the product was successful in China and the current market environment. When it was successful in the country, the domestic market was in a period of rapid development, and the theme of the game was also a popular theme for film and television creation at that time.

The team quickly developed new scenarios based on these circumstances. The core gameplay and framework of the game still the original, but several measures have been taken for various overseas regions. Including the integration of their main gameplay with some casual gameplay that is popular with locals, the use of better local network anchors for promotion, etc. More intuitively, they also replaced the art elements of their games with styles more acceptable to locals. These changes were not simply applied or based on the imagination of the team leaders but were completed after long-term research and precise planning by the company's localization team. From targeting their target groups, to stratifying target groups, investigating local communication channels, contacting local promotion experts, investigating local players' art preferences, etc. All tasks could take an entire book to describe the details. But only after scientific and rigorous localization work can the game continue to bring a lot of revenue to the company as it is now.

So what about higher-level companies? I have not participated in it, but it can be speculated from the public information that the top companies that are conducting mergers and acquisitions around the world, of course, have to evaluate the profitability of the entire company, future strategies, internal organization, and company leaders themselves. Various evaluations not only involve language-related knowledge, but also trial to the logical thinking ability and product thinking ability of members of the localization department.

People

From the above, we can draw several points:

1. Language ability is critical, but not a decisive factor;

2. The person in charge of localization must have a global vision and understand the company's goals and business logic, otherwise they will be at a loss;

3. The leadership of the company and the localization department must discuss localization tasks under the same standard.

In this way, we have a preliminary understanding of the business that the localization department should be responsible for. Next, we can disassemble the current goals according to the state of the company itself, and finally come up with a clear and definite localized job description. Note that those very basic qualities do not appear below. We assume that the employees you find are good employees under normal conditions.

Required

1. Proficiency in a foreign language

In fact, this one is not so necessary. But since "people who know a foreign country often learn a foreign language naturally," add it.

2. Project management skills

This rule applies to all localizers in team. In addition to the need to organize and manage their own company, the localization team inevitably needs to contact a large number of external suppliers and make overall planning for a large number of businesses such as translation and dubbing. There are many conditions that define project management capabilities, of which professional competence and responsibility are considered to be the most necessary, followed by communication skills.

Highly conscientious but not doing things effectively will tire the organization; competent but unconscientious colleagues can throw the organization into chaos.

Communication ability determines the overall communication efficiency of the business. The most used ones are the ability to summarize, ask questions, and describe abstract things.

3. Passion for the industry

This job contains so many things that seem to fall into different fields, but are actually closely related. Only people who truly love the industry can stick with it and keep bringing you benefits. Otherwise, what he does will evolve into trying to figure out you, rather than trying to figure out the user and the market.

4. Keen insight

Well, you need it.

In addition to the three more critical elements mentioned above, there are other very common, but not so important factors.

1. Proficiency in translation

In fact, there are three levels of translation/dubbing in a game in our definition.

① Players can't play at all

② Players can play, withnot notice the copywriting you created

③ Players are hooked, enjoy playing with relish because of your exquisite copywriting

Among them, ② is a very broad range. From the stumbling translation to the correct standard translation, the labor cost varies greatly, but the perceived difference to the player is not large. When reading the articles written by other people, we will also feel that, except for those articles that are so poor and the articles with outstanding literary talent, they are actually not much different. But if you taste it carefully, some articles may contain a lot of language errors, typos and reversed word order. Even so, you read it. This is the same thing in game translation. It only takes a little energy and mind of the project manager to go from ① to ②, but it takes a huge amount of manpower and material resources to cross from the bottom of ② to ③. You need a well-prepared world view, a compelling story and charismatic characters for the game. Mistakes in any part will make people forget your carefully prepared text. Therefore, instead of spending a lot of energy thinking about how to find a large number of strong translators, it is better to cultivate a project manager who is good at dealing with suppliers.

(If you aim to be an epoch-making boutique giant, please ignore)

2. Overseas living experience

When we mention this, the target is best to be a pure foreigner. Because we can get a steady stream of information from him. But always remember what we need this information for, what information will help us and what won't. More important than the status of a foreigner is your ability to screen and use information.

As for those with overseas study experience, the help to us may be even lower. As a native, you have lived in your own country for so long, do you have the confidence to claim that you fully understand the living habits and preferences of various groups of people in this country, large and small, genders, and educational backgrounds? It is impossible to think. In the end, our judgment must be based on real data, rather than the one-sided words of one person, or even the imagination of several people.

3. CAT tool usage

So far, game text translation has not had a disruptive tool.

At all times we must remember that the tool is secondary, and the most important thing is its user and what the user wants to achieve. The person in charge must understand that I don't need a tool because everyone uses it, or because I want to keep up with trends. It is [in order to achieve a certain purpose better and faster]-[I need a certain function]-[a tool can achieve this function]. For the application environment of the CAT tool, that is, the translation, it is the language ability of the translator that has a decisive impact on the text quality of the game, not the tool used. So in order to improve the final quality, we need to carefully select people themselves. Secondly, through upstream development to create the most perfect creative environment for him. For example, if you want the translation to be smooth and beautiful, then your original text is at least smooth and beautiful. If you want your translation to be concise and clear, your original text should at least be clear and concise. You don't want to have a messy UI in your game, so you need to take that into account in the initial design. In the end, it is the translator himself who chooses the tools to speed up his efficiency and quality. The localization department just needs to remember this logic:

1. What kind of text presentation is a good text presentation;

2. What functions do I need for this presentation;

3. Whether the executor uses a tool with this function to ensure the effect I want. If not, change the executor, or buy him one.

Product

Now that we have defined the company's strategy and the type of talent, what are the products that the localization team needs to provide at each stage?

As the driver of your company's overseas business, you should always ask your localization department to provide you with the following services:

1. Research goals (market research, user research, profit expectation research, local competition research)

2. Announcement goals (advertising effectiveness research, advertising audience research, advertising material research)

3. Product goals (text translation, art localization, sound effect localization)

4. Operational goals (revenue-increasing means research, user research, player ecological research)

Each task contains several subtasks. Command your localization managers to understand what each task means to the company and form teams to accomplish it.

The first half of this article is over. In the second half, we'll try to explain how many of the localization team's outputs work and how they tie into your revenue.