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In this article you will learn which language to translate your game into depending on your game's platform. Should you translate your Steam game into Russian or Chinese? And what about your iOS app - is Japanese a good choice?
This blog was originally posted on Localize Direct's blog on Feb the 22nd, 2016.
No, you’re not just developing a game - you also need to be the marketing manager, sales director and localization manager. You need a budget for your marketing plan, you need a social media plan, and you need some awesome game reviews.
If time and cashflow is a major factor for you, we suggest something with an undeniable impact on marketing, social media, reviews and downloads.
Localizing your game will increase your downloads and generate positive reviews from around the world; triggers that rank your game higher when potential clients are searching for a new awesome game to play, because when they find your game, they are more likely to download it - assuming the potential customer understands the content.
Now, the next step: Where to start? Which languages to choose? Here are a few tips.
Before conquering the world - Start with localizing your app description, metadata and keywords. Then, when the positive effect is demonstrated, you translate the entire game text.
If your budget is a tight one - which languages should you translate into? Well, it depends.
Your hard work has finally paid off. You have been working day and night (most probably). In order to save money, you haven't been eating anything but ramen noodles. Now, the alluring Steam green light is inviting you to come aboard and be a part of the Steam community.
In addition to English there are five top languages you should translate your Steam game into. Translate today and have a 6 language game on Steam within a few days.
Russian is the second largest language on Steam. 18 % of all downloads on Steam are in Russian. PC games are more popular than console games in Russia.
9 % of Steam games are in Russian. A Russian translation, and a pricing adjusted to the Russian market, is a rather safe investment.
Learn more about the Russian game market by clicking HERE.
Almost 6 % of Steam Gamers use computers with Spanish installed.
Video Game sales in Latin America were 2014 US$1.86 billion, and are expected to reach US$2.7 billion 2019; an annual growth rate of 8.4 %.
Mexico will account for 33 % of the Latin American total game revenue 2019.
The Spanish language is spread throughout the globe, and a game translation into Spanish might even affect the US market.
A localization into Spanish should include at least two versions: 1 European Spanishlocalization and 1 Mexican Spanish localization.
Brazil will account for 39 % of the total Latin American revenue 2019. Brazil and Mexico will together account for 72 % of the total revenue in Latin America 2019.
Click HEREand learn more about the Brazilian Game Market.
Germany has the highest game revenues in Europe.
Is the word "simulator" included in the title? Then Germany is your game market.
There is a slow adoption to tablet gaming in Germany. Computer screens are most popular in Germany - 93 % of all gamers play on one.
German Steam gamers are loyal. 92 % of German Steam users registered in 2009.
After English and Russian, German is the third largest language on Steam.
At time of posting, there are 6767 Steam games in English, and 2553 in German.
To make it in the Asian market, translation is key. Potential customers hesitate downloading when the game isn’t translated. The market is huge, the potential massive, and to get access, localization is the first step.
The Chinese PC market is still the largest segment when looking at revenues, but the rate of increase is slowing down.
Read more about the Chinese market. Click HERE.
Globally, the mobile games market accounts for $25B and is predicted to reach $28B 2016. Asia, with 1.2B mobile gamers, has a market share of 55 %.
To get a piece of that market share, localization is key.
Q4 2014 was the first time the iPhones sold in the Chinese market exceeded the American market. Now this change is shown in the iOS download statistics.
China is ranked number 1 in the iOS App Store 2015 listing, ahead of the US.
In general, Google Play has historically had more downloads than iOS; but iOS on the other hand, higher revenue. The growth of iOS in China has a large impact on the iOS app market in total.
In 2015 it is estimated that China’s game industry will be worth $22.2B - The US’s game industry is worth $21.96 B. China’s population in total is 4x the US, and the population with internet access in China is twice the number of the US. The potential in China is huge.
Read more about the Chinese game market by clicking HERE.
The Japanese games market is massive, The gamer population is 67 million, and the revenue 12.3B USD.
The Japanese mobile games market accounts for 6.2 B USD.
Japan ranks highly in both revenue and downloads in App Store.
The PC Games market and Google Play Market are bigger than the iOS market in Russia; but as the Russian market is so big, Russia qualifies as the 5th largest country in the world by downloads.
Read more about the Russian games market by clicking HERE.
Brazil has the highest ranking in terms of revenue of the Latin American countries.
Brazil is, after the US, the second largest country when it comes to Google playdownloads.
Read more about Brazil HERE.
Hindi is the largest market in India. Other major languages in India are: Marathi, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Bengali, Punjabi, Oriya, and Assamese.
India is one of the fastest growing mobile markets in the world. There are 132 million mobile gamers and a strong mobile infrastructure.
Growing income, improved broadband, a growing game population, and largervariety of games to download, has resulted in a growth in the Indian mobile game market.
Game revenue in India is estimated to triple in the following years, to eventually hit 1.2 billion USD 2018.
The Russian app market is driven by Google Play. iOS and Google Play together makes Russia the 5th largest country for downloads in the app market.
The Russian mobile game market is young. The smartphone penetration is around 55 % and set to grow to over 70 % in the next few years.
Android has approximately 80 % of the market.
Read more about the Russian game market HERE.
Growth in Google Play has been driven by explosive markets such as Mexico. The Smartphone market has seen dramatic growth with 75 % in 2013, and will continue to grow.
65 % of all smartphones are Android.
Japanese consumers have a long history of buying mobile data. Google made a smart move introducing mobile content billing at the Japanese app market; something the Japanese mobile consumers were already used to.
Google Play has closed the gap with iOS in Japan.
South Korea is the home of both Samsung and LG. Naturally Android dominates.
Korean gamers are high spenders; especially on in app-purchases.
Geographically, South Korea is a small country, but revenues are impressive.
South Korea is ranked no 4 in the world - higher than traditionally large game countries such as Germany, UK and Australia.
Read more about the South Korean games market HERE.
Major European markets have iOS has the dominant player, but in Germany Google Play is the main player. The majority of all smartphones are Android.
Narrowing it down further, the annual spend per device is higher in App Store than Google Play, but as the number of Android devices is greater, Google Play revenue is higher.
The carrier billing through Google Play, just like the one used in Japan, fits the German market perfectly. For cultural reasons, the system for credit cards isn’t fully developed in Germany, resulting in German consumers not using credit cards in the same way many other European markets do. The carrier billing system gives Google Play an extra edge with the mobile games market in Germany.
The Taiwanese population is 24 million people - the online population is 20 million! 13 million are gamers.
6 million gamers spend money on games.
The Taiwanese games market in total has seen an increase of 18 % since 2014.
For every iOS device there are 4 Android.
Role Playing games (21 %) and Strategy games (18 %) are top categories in Taiwan.
Tips! Keep an eye on South East Asia. Thailand, Indonesia and Malaysia are climbing fast.
If you choose all languages mentioned above, then you will reach 942 million gamers, AND get a piece of the 72,103 million dollar revenue.
Try our interactive world map, developed by LocalizeDirect, and see how many gamers your game reaches. Click HERE.
PS. Only use human professional game translators
Don’t use automatic machine translators or Google Translate. This will end up being:
More time consuming
We have received jobs from game developers that had previously been using machine translations. Read more HERE about funny translations.
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