Playing video games has become habit from generation to generation in any part of this world. Today, it is not only a time-killing activity, but some people are taking gaming as a lifestyle and a sport. In this digital era when gaming is more accessible for most of people, many companies are competing to create the most addicting game and deploying many strategies including game localization in order to win a large market portion.
Video Game localization becomes more popular in recent times than before when many game developer companies and start-ups are racing to create mobile and cloud-based video games that are considered more accessible than previous console games.
Many translators think that the process of video game localization is considered much more complex compared with other types of localization such as retail and legal area. The process is not only to translate the content into the target language but it involves several steps of consideration before the results can be released.
The localization process in other industries will only need cultural adjustment so that people can get quickly familiar with a product as they will believe that it is really made by their domestic industry. In the video game, the process is different from the regular case of localization since each video game has its specific UX which is different.
User experience (UX) in video games is a vital element designed to allow the game to interact with the users. The localization for any video games should guarantee the consistent UX scenario so users still experience the best game performance. In other words, the failure in localization shall bring a bad experience for the users and total failure of the game.
Therefore, there is a process in localizing a video game which is so-called familiarization in which the team project should understand the scenario of the game so they can build the context for terms and maybe dialog in that game.
Moreover, not every translator can carry out every game localization project. Every game type has different contexts which might require a special team consisting experts in related the area. For example, a FPS game with a military operation context will need a translator that understands military terms, as well as all items in both source and target language. In other words, the failure in localization shall bring a bad experience for the users and total failure of the game.
