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We decided to write this SPECIAL ARTICLE on game localization among prominent indie developers, because…
In just the past year or so, we’ve seen a tremendous rise in independent game developers –
- Realizing game localization leads to boosts in sales!
- Paying for localization in markets such as China and Russia.
This is a stark contrast to the past decade of indie development, where developers wouldn’t necessarily localize, or particularly PAY for quality localization.
We share our top picks of prominent indie developers who saw the advantages of localization – and enjoyed a sales boost as a result!
Not long ago, the go-to languages for localization were EFIGS – English, French, Italian, German and Spanish.
Now, we’re seeing a NEW TREND in game localization:
According to Sergio’s Steam Spy article “Steam in 2017,” the top 5 countries for players of independent games were:
- 1. USA
- 2. China
- 3. Russia
- 4. Germany
- 5. UK
This data is reflected in the numbers seen by prominent indie developers localizing for other countries in recent years:
JONATHAN BLOW – THE WITNESS – THEKLA, INC.
Check out Jonathan Blow’s video sharing China’s growth numbers for his game, The Witness.
The Witness came out in 2016, beginning with a low market penetration in China.
Just two years later, in 2018, China comprised more than half of the number of players (as compared to the USA).
Steam 2016 country breakdown for The Witness (shortly after launch):
As Jonathan Blow states:
“In just two years, we’ve gone from this [China at 4% of players, #7 country], to this [China at 15% of players, #2 country], and that’s quite extreme.”
“Many games in the West, both small, independent games like mine, and bigger AAA games, are seeing this same kind of pattern.”
Steam 2018 country breakdown for The Witness:
Jonathan Blow believes these numbers are at least partially due to accessibility:
“The market conditions changed in 2008 [...]
- First of all, we had a big audience, as console and PC games had been getting more and more popular for years.
- Secondly, all those people had access to fast internet, so they were able to download games, as in previous years, if you wanted to download a game you had to go to a store, and for a developer, getting a game into a store is very hard and very expensive.”
He also attributes this market shift to a decrease in the number of AAA games available (as production costs increased)…
…creating a hole in the types of games available for purchase – a demand that indie developers easily met.
As Jonathan Blow mentioned, the popularity of games has increased, not only in the USA, but in other parts of the world as well.
Internet penetration and speeds are increasing globally, and are catching up in emerging markets, such as the Middle East and Southeast Asia.
Thumbs up icon made by Icon Monk from www.flaticon.com.
Indie developers will not only see increasing user bases from China and Russia, but soon from emerging markets, meaning languages like Arabic will become more important in the future.
Just look at all the AAA studios localizing subtitles AND voiceover into Arabic now!
In this video, Jane Ng explains why popular indie game Firewatch opted out of the standard EFIGS (English, French, German, Italian, Spanish), and instead, localized into French, German, Spanish, Russian and Simplified Chinese and how this translated into game sales.
She explains why the traditional EFIGS (English, French, Italian, German, Spanish) no longer makes sense, attributing it to the current breakdown of Steam users by country:
In these charts, you can see that as of late 2017, the top 5 game markets for Steam are:
- #1: USA at 15%
- #2: Russia at 10%
- #3: China at 8%
- #4: Brazil at nearly 5%
- #5: Germany at 4.5%
According to Jane Ng, “Steam was only allowed to be in China in 2015, so in two years, [China] became [Steam’s] 3rd biggest market.”
Following Campo Santo’s decision to localize into French, German, Spanish, Russian and Simplified Chinese, the top owners of Firewatch on Steam were made up of these language users:
- #1: USA at nearly 34%
- #2: China at 9%
- #3: UK at nearly 7.81%
- #4: Canada at 6.6%
- #5: Russia at 6.2%
- #6: Germany at 5.53%
- #7: Australia at 3.72%
- #8: France at 3.15%
(Further down on the list, Spain added 1.14% of players, bringing the total to over 25%.)
In addition to EFIGS, consider localizing your games into Chinese and Russian!
With China and Russia in the #2 and #3 spots on Steam (under the USA), the market opportunity in both countries is significant and well worth the cost of localization.
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We compared Firewatch’s numbers by country to LAI & DFC’s Game Market Analyzer app (available for free on the App Store):
| Countries | Firewatch’s Top Language Owners on Steam | GMA Predictions (Adventure) |
|---|---|---|
| China | 9% (#2 Firewatch language market) | 16.6% |
| Russia | 6.2% (#5 Firewatch language market) | 5.1% |
| Germany | 5.53% (#6 Firewatch language market | 7.0% |
| France | 3.15% (#8 Firewatch language market) | 4.8% |
| Spain | 1.14% (#13 Firewatch language market) | *1.3% |
| Total | Actual: 25.02% | Estimate: 34.8% |
* Note that GMA recommends Latin American Spanish, comprising an estimated 6.3%.
** Note that in Jonathan Blow’s slides above, he listed China as 15% of The Witness owners. The Witness is also listed as an Adventure game on Steam, and this data is closer to the GMA app’s prediction for China at 16.6%.
Screenshot of LAI & DFC’s free Game Market Analyzer (GMA) app. GMA Localization Analysis run for the PC Adventure genre, with a rough word count estimate of 40,000 (similar to a small novel).
* GMA’s other top picks for the PC Adventure genre include Korean at 8.9% estimated market penetration, Japanese at 8.9%, Portuguese Brazilian at 1.6% and Italian at 1.5%.
The following facts are from LAI Global Game Services’ detailed insights on game industry statistics:
- China surpassed the US’ game revenue back in 2015 at $5.5 billion, back when Steam officially launched in the country.
- China remains the world’s largest market for PC gaming for 8 years in a row. The US ranks 2nd for PC gaming, though it lags far behind at $4.2 billion.
- Russia’s game sales are higher than Spain, Europe’s 5th largest market.
- Russia’s gamers are nearly double the size of the UK’s (40 million), France (44 million) and Italy’s (38 million).
Following the trend of China and Russia surpassing many other game markers, Raphael van Lierop chimed in with The Long Dark’s top sales – China was the #2 market and Russia #3 (after the USA).
In the below conversation, Jane Ng also concludes that piracy is no longer an indicator of market viability in these countries:
Last year, Cliff decided to add Chinese support (and other languages) to one of his most popular strategy games Democracy 3:
In December 2017, Cliff shared his growing numbers from China on his blog, “the % of revenue for Democracy 3 that comes from China each month has risen from 1% to 8%!”
Cliff has also been thinking about Russian localization for years:
According to the Game Market Analyzer, PC strategy games like Cliff’s may see the following market share by language:
Thumbs up icon made by Icon Monk from www.flaticon.com.
- #1 English at 24%
- #2 Simplified Chinese at 16.6%
- #3 Korean at 9%
- #4 Japanese at 8.4%
- #5 German at 7.2%
- #6 Spanish (LatAm) at 6.3%
- #7 Russian at 4.8%
- #8 French (Europe) at 4.6%
- #9 Brazilian Portuguese at 1.6%
- #10 Dutch at 1.6%
- #11 Italian at 1.6%
- #12 Spanish (Europe) at 1.3%
Screenshot of LAI & DFC’s free Game Market Analyzer (GMA) app. GMA Localization Analysis analysis run for the PC Strategy game genre.
* Full breakdown of language by estimated market penetration listed above.
Tanya Short reported a heavy dose of localization for The Shrouded Isle, including French, German, Portuguese, Russian, Japanese, and Korean.
She strongly recommends Japanese and Chinese localization:
Following the release of Kitfox’s Moon Hunters into Russian, Tanya released a detailed Gamasutra article on indie game sales in Eastern Europe, where she gathered information from 18 indie games.
Her conclusion:
“Localizing to Russian could double your revenue in Russia, but has no effect in the rest of Eastern Europe.”
Overall, indie developers are seeing the importance – and reaping the rewards of localizing their games across genres – from open world adventure games, to linear story-driven games, to strategy games.
While independent developers are still seeing the benefits of French, German and Spanish (not necessarily Italian, giving that the market share is smaller than the aforementioned language markets), there are 2 languages that developers are particularly excited about:
- Chinese (Simplified)
- Russian
China and Russia were among the top 3 markets for The Witness, The Long Dark, and Don’t Starve Together, and among the top 5 for Firewatch.
Something LAI finds particularly interesting is that China and Russia are consuming independent games across many genres – puzzle, story-driven, strategy and action/survival.
It is unclear from the collection of presentations, articles and tweets we found whether any of these companies specifically marketed their games to Chinese and Russian players, or whether these numbers were solely due to organic growth from localization.
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If you have any insights into whether any tailored marketing was involved for any of the above games, absolutely, let us know!
We’ll continue to share more insights with people like you! Don’t forget to follow us on Twitter & Facebook!
- Leave a comment below,
Tweet at us @LAIGlobalGame or,
Send us a message @LAIGlobalGameServices.
Some of our clients:
Recommended articles & podcasts:
AAA & Indie localization
- LocaLAIse This! podcast – Interviews with former IGDA Executive Director Kate Edwards, Christine Love, and Ubisoft Localization Project Manager.
- “A Unique Offer for Indie Developers & Publishers!”
Localization Interviews
Guides to Global Markets
- “Which Languages Should I Localize My Game to? – Here’s an Easy Step Guide!”
- “2017 Summer Trip across China: Chinese Indie Games, Publishers, E-Sports, VR & More!”
- “Want to Release Your Game in China? Find Yourself a Quality Partner!”
- “The Regional Differences of Languages and Their Impact on Game Localization: Exploring Spanish Localization across the Americas”
- LAI Global Game Services Team
Video game localization is one part of game development that often remains enshrouded in mystery. Why was place name X changed in the German version of a game? Why did that character’s name become something entirely different? It isn’t always immediately clear to gamers why localization teams make the decisions they do…