LAI Frequently Asked Questions

1. What does LAI do?

LAI is a full solution game localization, marketing and publishing firm. We provide a range of products and services to help game developers, publishers and platform companies achieve success in global markets.  

2. What products and services do you offer?

We have three categories of products and services, described below: Intelligence (for finding the best global markets), Publishing, and Technical Translation.

a. Intelligence Products and Services

If you're publishing games in global markets, these products and services can help you make better decisions when developing your go-to market strategy.

• GMA - a free mobile app that helps identify the optimal markets for your game (available for iPad and iPhone, you can download it from http://www.laiggs.com/getgma). GMA is also a matchmaking platform for third-party publishers, monetization and advertising companies, industry organizations. Through GMA you can reach a highly-qualified audience of globally-aware game developers and publishers. If you would like to find out more about this unique opportunity, please contact us for details.  Or, feel free to register your company by joining our matchmaking database.
• Customized market entry analysis reports that describe what adaptations you need to make to your game for it to be successful in the target market.
• A matchmaking service that enables you to find partners, publishers, third-party providers and additional resources in the target market to assist you in monetizing, promoting and publishing your game.

b. Publishing-related Services

Designed exclusively for game developers and publishers, these services provide everything you need to publish your game globally.

• Developing a customized marketing plan for your game.
• Localization and culturalization of your game's assets to make your game culturally acceptable in the target market to maximize user acquisition and retention. Examples include localization and culturalization of text, audio and art assets.
• Adapting other aspects of your game including branding, monetization, and even the gameplay to give your game the best opportunity for success in the target market.
• Linguistic and QA testing to make sure that the localized game is ready for launch.
• Promotion and press, including preparing press kits and writing/issuing press releases and reviews about your game, as well as pre-press coverage.
• Developing a global launch strategy, including soft launch in test markets in preparation for the full launch of your game.
• Optimizing strategies for user acquisition and monetization, which can vary quite widely across global markets due to differences in social media channels and local payment practices.
• App store optimization, including selecting the best keywords across global markets and target languages to ensure your game can be found by the largest number of gamers.
• Community management and live operations to provide support for your game after its global launch.
• Choosing distribution partners in territories where such choices can be critical, in particular in Asian markets, as well as assistance in complying with local government regulations (e.g. in China).

The above services are available individually as part of our A La Carte Publishing Solution in which you choose the specific services you need, or as a Complete Publishing Solution where we take care of everything for you. Choosing the Complete Publishing Solution allows you to focus exclusively on development, leaving the rest to us but staying fully involved in all key decisions.

c. Technical Translation Services

Primarily intended for platform and middleware companies, our technical translation services provide high-quality and highly readable translations of highly technical developer-level documentation.

3. How much does all of this cost?

GMA and the matchmaking service are free!  Market entry analysis reports customized for your game are USD $350 per market with a 10% discount when ordering 3 or more.

Localization and culturalization services, as well as branding and other adaptations such as monetization and gameplay, are billed on a time-and-materials basis.  Please see the description of our A La Carte Publishing Solution, or contact us to request a free quote or for more information.

Complete publishing solutions including localization, branding, marketing, promotion, monetization and distribution use a revenue share model. Please see the description of our Complete Publishing Solution or contact us for more information.

4. Can I choose the services I need?

Certainly. We're flexible, very agile and extremely customer-oriented. We don't have a lot of layers and rules, and are easy (and fun!) to work with.  We don't ask you to conform to our structure; we adapt our services to meet your needs.

5. I'm confused. Are you a publisher, or do you work with publishers?

Both. We will suggest the best strategy for you, depending on the target market.  In many cases we publish games directly and in others we work through established partners. By publishing, we mean handling all localization, branding, marketing, promotion, monetization and distribution for your game. 

6. I'm a game developer, what can you do for me?

Depending on your needs, we can offer an A La Carte Publishing Solution comprising services to help you publish your game successfully in overseas markets as described above in 2(b), or we can provide a Complete Publishing Solution for your game in which we handle all the details. The choice is completely yours.

7. I'm a game publisher, what can you do for me?

If you publish third-party games, we invite you to join our matchmaking database, so that other developers can find you that match the profile of games you publish, such as platform, genre and target demographic. Please contact us for more details.

8. I'm a third-party provider and I'm interested in marketing my products or services through your platform. How do I do that?

We invite you to join our GMA platform, so that you can reach a highly-qualified audience of globally-aware game developers and publishers. Please contact us for more details.

9. I see you also offer technical translation services. How does that fit in?

Many of our clients are game middleware developers and platform/console companies, as well as publishers who host online games. These companies are a key part of the global game publishing ecosystem. They often have a need to translate highly technical developer-level documentation. Providing this service allows us to truly be the one-stop solution for global game publishing.