Video games come in all shapes and sizes, and, thanks to the internet, they can be enjoyed by players all around the world. However, developers have to make sure that their games are properly adjusted to the cultural, economic, and legal requirements of different countries if they expect to achieve any success in foreign markets.
Today, we collaborated with the founder of Slot.Day, Michael Slot, to explain how game localization works, what makes it so crucial, and how it impacts player experience.
Table of Contents
What is game localization?
Game localization is the process of adapting a certain game to better suit a specific local audience. Most of the time, when we talk about localization, we mean translation into the native language — for instance, if we were to adapt a German game for a British audience, we would first and foremost translate it into English, and vice versa. However, while highly important, translation is only a part of the localization process.
In reality, the term is very broad. The more features the product includes, the more of them can be potentially localized. If we take casino games as an example, we will quickly discover that changing language isn’t necessarily enough for us to consider the game to be properly localized. Can you really call a casino game that only accepts US dollars localized for the Malaysian market?
As you can see from this example, localization is mostly about increasing accessibility — sometimes the lack of localization means that a certain group of players cannot play the game at all. Any provider that aims to reach global audiences has to take it into account, and there are lots of things they will have to address.
We have established that casino games need language and currency options, but that’s just the tip of the iceberg. If we were to create a more comprehensive list, it would look somewhat like this:
- Language translation
- Legal compliance
- Cultural adaptation
- Payment systems
Let’s talk a bit about each of these to develop a more comprehensive picture.
Language translation
As we’ve already established, language translation is absolutely crucial, and the only instances of localization that don’t involve translation happen when the two countries share a language. Most of the time this isn’t the case, however.
Often, localization is not about strictly translating the content of the game — it is about adjusting it to make it work better or sound more natural in a different language. For example, you wouldn’t translate an English pun into Spanish, because it simply wouldn’t work at all. Instead, you would try to find the local equivalent of this wordplay or come up with an entirely new one that would still fit the game.
As Michael Slot notes, this is significantly more difficult and time-consuming than a simple translation, but it is necessary to keep the game as enjoyable for a different audience as it was for the original one. Any casino game provider that aims to make a globally popular game has to localize it instead of simply translating it. Luckily, a lot of casino games feature minimum text, so it might not be as expensive as it would be for other types of games.
Legal compliance
Different countries have different legal requirements, and any casino game that aims to enter the local market has to fully comply with these requirements. For instance, China prohibits any blood depiction in games, and if the developer tries to access the vast Chinese audience with their Chicken Road gambling game, they would have to ensure that the game shows car accidents in a cartoonish way.
As you can imagine, there are hundreds and thousands of pages of legal documents one has to assess before they can localize the game properly for a certain country. This is an extremely tedious and difficult process that takes a lot of time and often requires consulting with legal experts, which isn’t exactly cheap either. However, while some developers might choose to not address some other considerations when it comes to localization, legal compliance is mandatory, and there is no way around it.
Cultural adaptation
It is no secret that people who grow up and live in different countries will be more used to different traditions and customs. Although the world is getting more and more globalized, we are still very far from a cosmopolitan unified culture. What that means is that games that feel totally natural to an American audience might feel a bit distant and hard to relate to by players from Turkey, for example.
Any developer wants to make sure that their game is fun and engaging for every player, but achieving this might prove to be difficult. A lot of the time, developers focus on simply ensuring that their game is at least not being offensive to other audiences, which is a bare minimum, but even that sometimes goes wrong.
However, some developers go further and change the theme of the game or some elements of it to make it feel more familiar to local audiences. This can potentially backfire as the depiction may not be culturally appropriate, stereotypical, or downright offensive, so any provider has to be extremely careful when trying to achieve that level of localization.
However, when the result is successful, the game can become even more popular in a new country than it was in the country of origin. The best way to localize games that way is to consult local cultural experts beforehand as well as during the development process.
Payment systems
Any casino game localization has to provide players with the most convenient payment options, which include using local currencies and payment gateways and accepting local credit cards. If the game cannot provide it, it will most likely be unable to gain any popularity in the local market because it will lose to its direct competitors who offer a seamless payment experience.
As Michael Slot adds, it’s not just about the convenience and accessibility, however. Different countries have different economies, and the best localizations have to address them. For instance, the minimum bet in a developing country has to be significantly lower than the one in a game designed for audiences in globally leading economies. Failing to address this disparity may result in the game flopping completely in the local market since most players cannot afford to play it without heavily damaging their financial situation.
Localization and engagement
Now that we understand what localization is and how it impacts the player’s experience, let’s talk about how casinos benefit from providing localized games.
First and foremost, properly localized games will simply be played way more than non-localized ones. The game’s popularity in the local market is heavily influenced by how well it fits in it.
Next, localized games will get better user reviews and will be shared significantly more by default, because they will be better understood. The entry barrier will also be way lower for players — non-localized games will only be played by people who are very enthusiastic about the game and have the necessary language skills to properly enjoy it, which is only a small part of the audience.
Localized games also offer higher session durations and return rates, as well as significantly lower churn rates since players aren’t confused about the game in any way and are less motivated to leave it as soon as something goes wrong.
To put it simply, localization makes all the difference — achieving success is incredibly difficult without it. While the gaming industry had examples of video games that were highly popular in countries that didn’t get a localized version of them, this is a very rare situation that only happens with revolutionary products and on very specific occasions. In reality, no developer should expect that their game will miraculously do well despite not addressing the local audience’s needs and requirements.
Localizing games serves as proof of the developer’s commitment to being as inclusive and respectful to different players as they can, and that builds trust, respect, and recognition, which are invaluable in the industry with such a high level of competition.
