The gaming industry is undeniably growing as years go by. The community of gamers now is spreading everywhere. With that in mind, the necessity for translation is also growing to cater for the gaming community. Gaming companies are now investing in game localizations as much as the game itself. But why is gaming localization important for us as gamers and gaming companies?
I raised this question to different gamers from different countries and the answers were summed up to the next lines. Some were fond of how the game is being delivered to the audience of the target language. They loved how the gap between the source and target language is removed. Not only that, but also the culture gap which sometimes spoils the gaming experience for the players. Some of them answered that the availability of the localized games is making it easier to experience games from all over the world customized for them. One of the answers that I personally relate to was that the gamers of the localized game experience the game (especially if it’s a FBS game) much better as they feel like as if the game is especially made for the targeted audience in the first place. Another quirk that I found interesting while making the survey for the gamers is that they enjoy the dubbing in multiple languages. They say that they would rather try and mix between the language of the game and its dubbing which is quite amusing in my opinion.
For the game companies, the price of game localizing is worth the risk in exchange for the huge spread that their games will achieve. Not only will the game have an official translation, but also it will prevent the spread of the online non-official (that aren’t mostly accurate at all) translations. In addition to that, the game is likely to be recognized more by monolinguals in the targeted localized version. In fact, localized games are more likely to stay in the market according to gamers which in turn supports the gaming company. They also support local translators, voice actors and programmers which help exploring and finding new talents with each game release.
Game localization makes the gamers feel important that the companies want to spread their games to all cultures in every language. Gamers support the industry and are willing to try the localized versions of the games to help the gaming community grow. Gamers believe that games bring together people from different cultures to understand each other and with game localizations; the world is just a small arena for gamers.
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