Think of videogame translators. Give them a face. In my opinion, they are soldiers. If the post-production of a game were a battlefield, translators would be specialized soldiers in camouflage, sent for reconnaissance in an unknown territory with little information on the enemy outposts. Their knowledge of the war scenery will possibly condition the entire upcoming battle. Their mission: to be undetected, whatever the cost. Game translators perform strong mimetic actions, their work depends [...]

This week we feature an article by Mirco Carlini about how gender awareness also plays an important role in video game localization and we want to do so by looking at some examples of the Italian version of the iconic Tomb Raider. This article originally appeared in the March/April 2020 edition of Multilingual Magazine.  Gender related issues in video games are certainly a hot topic right now, and it is a topic that has [...]

The gaming industry and the localization sector continue to expand These industries are projected to keep growing at a pace of 8-9% in the upcoming years. New technologies such as cloud gaming and virtual and augmented reality may have an impact on the industry in the near future, making the number of gamers and games skyrocket. What if the Netflix of videogames is around the corner? Can you imagine a similar revolution in the [...]

This week we feature an article from Miguel Sepúlveda discussing how a startup can take its first steps into localization. This post serves as a handy guide for those starting to explore localization, and can be consulted time and time again no matter which stage of global development your company is currently in.  Startups aren't known for dreaming small. World domination is in their DNA, and global domination means localization. It’s critical for startups [...]

In this week’s article, Loreto tells us about her team’s experience localizing LEVEL-5’s Yo-kai Watch to cater to an English-speaking audience. This article originally appeared in the March/April 2020 edition of Multilingual Magazine.  A History of Yo-Kai’s The first Yo-kai Watch game was released in Japan in 2013. The Japanese sequel, released in 2014, had two different versions: Yo-Kai Watch 2 Honke (known as “Fleshy Souls” in English) and Yo-Kai Watch 2 Ganso (“Bony [...]

This blog post is part of a series of articles I wrote about communication, data, and how to speak the language of your stakeholders in the interaction between your localization department and the rest of the company. The right use of data is important, as is using the proper tools to manage your localization process and reporting.  Reporting strategy In my previous articles, it was established that reporting is crucial. Even more important though, [...]