Games Localization Services

Games localization

Games localization for video games, mobile games and board games

Players forgive a lot, but not a joke that falls flat, a quest item with three different names, or a menu that runs off the edge of the screen. In a competitive market, localization is essential if your game is to succeed and sell internationally, and our native-speaking game translators and localization experts help you capture and engage new audiences, whether your game is played on a board with a pair of dice or on a screen with fingers and thumbs.

Video games are one of the major forms of home entertainment, and the market is worth billions. From marketing messages and instruction manuals to in-game text and dialogue, we make sure no quality is lost in your game. We are experts in games localization, and we provide the best advice and support so that your players have a fun, thrilling gaming experience in their own language. When you use our games localization services, you will notice an increase in your brand value.

What we localize

• In-game text, menus and tutorials
• Dialogue and cutscene subtitles
• Voice-over scripts
• Item, skill and character names
• Store pages and trailers
• Patch notes and community posts
• Manuals and rulebooks
• Cards, boxes and components
• Marketing and press material

Culturalization, not just translation

Humour and wordplay have to be rewritten, not translated. A name that sounds heroic in English can sound silly in another language. Gestures, symbols, colours, maps and historical references can confuse or offend, and some content affects a game's age rating in a particular market: PEGI across most of Europe, USK in Germany, ESRB in North America and CERO in Japan. We flag these issues early, while they are still cheap to change.

The technical side

Variables. "{player} found {item}" looks simple, but in German, Russian or Polish the words around the item change with its gender and case, so the string may need several versions or a smarter template.

Space. Text in German or French is usually longer than the English, and a button or speech bubble has a fixed size. Character limits for each string save a round of fixes later.

Fonts. The game's font needs the characters of every target language, including Cyrillic, Chinese, Japanese and Korean where you ship them.

Our professionals help create impressive gaming features out of these, such as gender-aware text and localized fonts, so the localized game plays as well as the original.

Testing in the game

Nothing replaces playing the game. Linguistic testing checks every string in context for truncated or overlapping text, wrong variables, untranslated lines, and dialogue that no longer matches what is on screen. Console platforms also have their own terminology and certification requirements, which a localized build has to meet before release.

Board and tabletop games

Rulebooks have to be unambiguous in every language, because players will argue over every word. Card text has to fit the card at a readable size, and icons can often replace words altogether. Box copy has to carry the safety warnings required where the game is sold, in the local language.

Languages

Our game translators work in more than 350 languages, including the big game markets: Chinese, Japanese, Korean, German, French, Spanish, Brazilian Portuguese, Russian, Italian, Polish and Turkish.

Questions about games localization

Do you work with indie studios as well as large publishers?

Yes. Many indie games start with a store page and a few key languages, then add more as sales come in, and we can work that way too.

Can you work in our string tables?

Yes. We work in the formats games use, from spreadsheets and JSON to engine-specific exports, and keep IDs and variables intact.

Do you localize voice-over?

We translate and adapt voice-over scripts, timed to the original lines, ready for recording. See also our app localization and media sector pages.