The current era includes many gaming devices and platforms. Cross-platform gaming has further increased the reach of games. Mobile gaming in particular has dominated the market with many casual gamers actively taking part hence, the barrier of entry has widened. However, one barrier still exists and that is communication. However such barriers are shortened by most game developers by availing gaming translation services. Many mainstream developers such as Naughty Dogs, Ubisoft, EA, and more regularly partner up with translation companies and foster long-term relationships. For instance, FIFA 18 increased sales by more than twice when they opted to bring in Arabic commentary and interphase.
Currently, the most profitable gaming platform is that of mobile devices. The reason is the high accessibility of the device, which has helped foster a new genre of casual gamers. Moreover, this phenomenon has increased the population pool of gamers. For instance, Candy Crush and Subway Surfer are commonly played by housewives and doctors. A demographic that previously did not exist. Usually, mobile game developers hire the best translation agency to help them localize their games for various audiences.
Here are Various Ways Translation Services Improve Market Reach
Global Audience
When games are translated into different languages it automatically increases the reach of the game. People prefer to enjoy games in their native tongue. Since the gaming population pool includes all facets of society. There may be certain gamers that do not grasp the English language all that well. Without gaming translation services such people are ignored and game developers lose out on profitability.
Cultural Relevance
The best translation agency will not only translate your game content. But will transcreate it to make it more relevant for the target audience. It ensures that you have better engagement and that you do not offend your target audience. For example, in India, cows are considered holy and a delicacy in the USA. Hence you may offend Indian users if your game is about burgers.
Increased Profits
When you increase your target audience through game translation. You will naturally increase sales and profits because you now have a larger target audience. Moreover, your studio will also increase in reputation and more sponsors are likely to offer money to be in your game. Take the example of Angry Birds, who through translation have created an entire movie franchise thanks to its popularity.
Community Building
A community is vital to the longevity and profits of any game. For example, counter-strike has a cult-like following despite being 20 years old. To date, thousands of gamers love playing this game. Another example is to play to earn blockchain games that pay you for playing. But game profits for gamers and developers in this genre depend upon the size of the community.
Moreover there are related products to the games such as T-shirts, posters, mugs, and more. All of which require a big community to profit from. For example Pokemon rakes in millions of dollars on its products alone.
Positive Reviews
People appreciate when you offer games in their language. It helps increase your rankings online and fosters a positive user experience. This is important for developers who have multiple games or are releasing more in the future. It is good that game developers partner with the best translation agency for long-term relationships. Because people start expecting a similar tone of translations after playing your game once.
Future Prospects
The best way to improve future prospects for your gaming studio is through translations of games. This will help you increase your reach and your community size. Hence, your community will be in the wait queue before you release any future games. Take the example of Rockstar, it has such an amazing reputation that games make a profit before being released. Profits can come from social media earnings, pre-orders, sponsors, and more.
Game Translations for PlaytoEarn Games
There is a relatively new genre of gaming known as play to earn games or blockchain games. These games allow users to earn money for their gaming skills. However, profit margins for such games are based on user community size. If such games have more users the profit margins increase and this makes the game even more attractive to play for others. Now imagine if you had your play to earn games translated into various languages and the marketing materials for them. You will have a large population size that will ensure success for your game.
Conclusion
There you have it folks! Game translation services can help you increase reach, and profits, and can help create an asset for future assets. It is important that one partner with a translation company for long-term relationships. This will help keep tone and quality consistent. There are many examples where poor translations have actually had negative impacts on games. You can view examples from most mainstream developers of their translation strategy to further help you increase profits from your game.
