In a previous blog post, we took an in-depth look at the practice of game localisation. For this edition, we thought we would hone in on the industry in the Nordic region. Both to consider some of the exciting companies shaping the sector from northern Europe, and to look at some of the specific challenges they face.

Gaming Goes Global – and Nordic, Too

For decades, video games were strongly associated with Japan and later the United States. Huge companies like Nintendo and PlayStation dominated a market which was largely centred around bulky console and home computers.

But the global proliferation of mobile devices and developments within computer and internet technology have changed that in recent decades. Today, there are well over 2000 games development studios worldwide and the industry as a whole is worth around $220 billion at present. This is forecasted to grow to more than $580 billion by 2030.

Within the Nordic Region, Sweden is the industry front-runner with around 300 game developers. Finland comes in a close second at around 200 studios, while Denmark and Norway each have somewhere between 15 to 20 prominent studios working within games development.

These companies have largely taken advantage of market developments in order to conquer corners of the sector that exist outside of the traditional industry core. Many produce games for mobile devices, for example, latching on to the growing demand for games that can be enjoyed in on-the-go settings like the bus or train, or which boast a connected element through integration with social media.

Many are also involved in cutting-edge and emerging technologies, such as VR and augmented reality gaming, as well as multiplayer games that fully exploit the capabilities of faster internet speeds and the global reach of the gaming industry.

Top of the Leader Board

But just who are the big players within the world of Scandinavian and Nordic gaming?

Let’s take a look at some of the companies racking up points and climbing the global leader board both in Sweden and beyond.

King

Initially launched in Stockholm as Midasplayer.com in 2003, this company had a shaky start before it underwent a rebranding and transitioned into social gaming around 2009. Identifying an emerging trend for games on social media platforms – where players can share scores and use games as a conduit for interaction and connectedness – the company launched its popular game Bubble Witch Saga in 2009.

Building on its initial success and the innovative saga model it had created, the company later launched the mobile gaming sensation Candy Crush Saga on Facebook in 2012. This game quickly took the world by storm, racking up four million players in just a few weeks. The game remains popular even today and enjoys iconic status as one of the most successful mobile games of the modern era. As of 2021, it had more than 250 million users.

Rovio

Rovio is a Finnish video game developer which first began to take shape when three students from the Helsinki University of Technology entered a game development competition sponsored by Nokia and Hewlett-Packard. The students went on to sell their winning game, King of the Cabbage World, which was rebranded as Mole War and is recognised today as one of the first commercial real-time multiplayer video games.

Like King, however, Rovio is most well-known not for their first game but for one that came further down the line – in this case, their 52nd creation. In 2009, they released the colourful puzzle game Angry Birds on the iPhone App store. By 2012, it had reached a whopping one billion downloads and later went on to spawn no fewer than two movies, reams of merchandise, a mini-golf park in the US and even an Angry Birds Land in Särkänniemi, Finland.

Today Rovio focuses mostly on making games related to Angry Birds. They have five studios and employee around 480 people.

Resolution Games

What unites both King and Rovio is that they were quick to spot emerging markets within the industry and create fun and unique content for that corner of the market. Resolution Games is now set to continue that trend by focusing entirely on the latest facet of the games sector – VR and augmented reality.

Founded in 2015 and based in Stockholm, Resolution Games has won multiple awards over the years. It has been named one of the top-five hottest companies in Sweden and it has been celebrated for their innovation within VR and AR. In the words of the company itself, their mission is to bring players inside the game through a “world-class catalogue of titles that brings players into the richest VR and AR worlds possible.”

Bringing Nordic Games to the World

The Nordic region has proven to be a fertile environment for video games development thanks largely to its great digital infrastructure and creative heritage. But it takes deft translators to bring these creations to the world and allow them to flourish. And they will always face plenty of challenges along the way. To name just a new examples:

Conserving Creativity

One of the reasons why Angry Birds and Candy Crush are so beloved is they have their own unique and quirky identities and universes. But playful and idiomatic language is notoriously difficult to translate, especially when space restrictions may apply. One of the key skills a video game translator needs to possess is therefore a creative flair and an ability to think outside the box.

Untangling Code

Familiarity with code and how video game files are structured is also important. Agencies need to be able to cleanly separate in-game text from code so that nothing gets disrupted in the process. Otherwise, you run the risk of having bugs introduced or your UI layouts disturbed at the translation stage. So make sure to work with an agency that understands these pitfalls and has solutions in place.

Multiplayer Support

As well as challenges, the sector is also brimming with opportunities. One of the most interesting areas to watch is multiplayer support. Many games today host entire communities and social spaces, allowing players to connect with fellow gamers from across the globe. New translation tools and methods can help support this process and we are very excited to see what possibilities may open up here for translators and translation technology.

Are you a video game developed in the Nordic region or elsewhere? Why not get in touch to hear more about how we can help bring your creations to the world, or to chat about a possible collaboration? Contact us today!

The post Translation and the Nordic Video Game Sector appeared first on Comunica.

As a result, communication and language services have become central within the video game industry, and the need for game localisation has only continued to skyrocket.

But what exactly is game localisation? What makes it different from simple translation and is it really necessary in an era when English predominates online? Read on below for the answers and more!

‘All Your Base Are Belong To Us’

The video game industry had its eyes opened to the consequences of sub-rate translations early on in its history with the US release of 2D scrolling shooter Zero Wing on the Sega Mega Drive back in 1992. A line of confusing and grammatically questionable text from the game’s opening cut scene, ‘all your base are belong to us’ (meaning: we have captured all of your bases), quickly developed notoriety and became an early Internet meme which endures to this day.

Constantly reappearing in tweets and even on T-shirts, the phrase became a pervasive reminder to the industry as to just how quickly a shoddy translation can torpedo a developer’s reputation.

Not only that, it cemented the idea that language matters. It’s part of the experience and not only needs to be intelligible, but immersive, entertaining and familiar.

In addition, another case from the same era taught developers that not only is language important, but so too are cultural and political considerations. Pac-Man, that most iconic of ravenous pixel blobs from the 1980s, was almost named Puck-Man for the American market, based on an initial transliteration from the original Japanese.

Marketing executives quickly recognised, however, that this name could easily be doctored into an English-language obscenity (think about it!). The decision was therefore taken not to simply translate Pac-Man’s name, but to more extensively change or to localise the product.

Game Localisation Today

Following on from these early lessons, game localisation (or gameloc as it’s sometimes known) today is an industry all to its own. Video game localisers not only create crisp and natural-sounding translations, but they scrutinise every aspect of a video game and make changes that will help it slot seamlessly into its new context.

This is often a very challenging and creative process, requiring a great deal of imagination and ingenuity.

Take the Pokémon series, for example. Translating these games has required localisers to come up with funny and inoffensive names, often based on puns, for hundreds upon hundreds of different pocket monsters. What’s more, localisers on the latest release for Nintendo Switch, Pokémon Sword and Shield, were tasked with developing a dialect of British English that would give the game a quirky flair, but without causing offense and while remaining broadly intelligible across all English-speaking markets.

Besides a creative mind, the process also requires an acute awareness of local laws and customs.

In Germany, for example, the video game regulator enacts strict policies against blood and gore, as well as culturally sensitive symbols such as Swastikas. This has posed a particular problem to video game manufacturers which make games set during World War II, such as Wolfenstein 3D, which was banned in Germany from its original release in 1992 until as recently as 2019. Similarly, EA Sports MMA was banned in Denmark because it featured in-game advertisements for energy drinks, which are illegal in the country.

Religious and geopolitical sensitivities are also important issues to consider, especially when it comes to larger non-Western markets such as India and China.

This is a particular part of the process sometimes referred to as game culturalisation – that is, the process of adapting the product to a particular culture. However, there is a balance to be struck here as well, with some fans complaining that excessive culturalisation strips video games of the quirks which make them appealing in the first place. The trick is often to remove potentially offensive or nonsensical content, but without diluting the original spirit or identity of the game.

Is Localisation Always Necessary?

As we have seen, localisation was born out of necessity and has grown into a central part of the video games industry today. However, many mobile developers and newcomers to the industry might be tempted into thinking that game localisation only enjoys such a stellar position because historically, video games were born in Japan yet sold widely in the West.

But what about games developed in the US or Europe?

English is the global franca and American culture predominates in the digital world – so surely games developed in English can be sent off to all four corners of the world exactly as they are?

The fact is, only 27% of the video game consumer market speaks English, and the Chinese mobile and online video game market alone is valued at €25 billion. What’s more, many of these consumers, not just in Asia but in Europe as well, have come to expect localisation and will often eschew video games which make no effort to speak their language. This was the case for action RPG game Nier: Automata, for example, which performed woefully in China after the developer failed to release a launch version with Chinese language support.

Also worth considering is that when developers fail to localise, pirates often step in and fill the void.

There have been increasing reports in recent years (and even a few arrests!) of pirate translators who illegally localise video game content, undermining developers and cutting into their profit margins. Often this occurs in cases where developers fail to recognise the demand until it’s too late and the pirate product has already gained a foothold in the market.

So there you have it!

Localisation often extends beyond simple translation, helping video games to navigate different cultural norms and rules, all while retaining their charm and connecting with gamers in new countries.

If you are in the process of developing a video game and would like to learn more about how we can help you to localise your product, please feel free to get in touch for a chat about the possibilities.

The post Untangling the Wires of Game Localisation appeared first on Comunica.