Today, the world’s video game market is truly global. With platforms like PS Plus, Steam, and the Microsoft Store and others, you can buy any game anywhere. Hence, there is a need to make sure a game can speak to an international audience; literally. This is where gaming localization QA comes in.
It’s essential to use gaming localization services when marketing games to a broad audience. It doesn’t just involve translating a game to speak to an international audience, but also to test its appeal.
Here is everything you need to know about its benefits.
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What is Gaming Localization QA?
Gaming localization is one of the most essential processes when you’re marketing a game to a wide audience. It involves a focus on linguistic and translation testing. It’s a quality review which involves covering not just the dialogue and the story, but also the UI/UX. This includes everything from compliance testing, functional tests, internationalization, culturalization, etc.
In short, the native speakers playing the game need to feel as if they’re being spoken to as the game designers intended. A lot can’t be lost in translation, lowering appeal completely. If the game is about to be published in multiple languages, as most games are, this is imperative.
At least, a video game needs to have 2 or more variations. This could include European and Brazilian Portuguese, or European and Canadian French, or even European and Latin American Spanish, etc.
What Does Game Localization QA Include?
Game localization QA includes functionality issues, bugs, etc. It includes checking grammar, spelling, punctuation, numbers, financial symbols, geography mistakes, voice overs, etc. There is also a lot of visual QA involved including fonts, overly long strings, platform compliance, and inappropriate graphics placement.
Basically, the game has to appeal to an international audience while also making sure not to raise controversy. This means that any cultural taboos, phrases or language has to be taken care of beforehand.
How Does Game Localization QA Work?
Game localization QA has 4 main steps:
- Setting a Goal: The Localization QA manager has to determine the needs of the game depending on the number of languages it’s releasing in. There needs to be a test plan and schedule in place.
- Pre-test Preparation: All game testers receive a brief about the genre of the game, the previous versions, and a localization kit. There are also style guides and the gameplay time associated with a standard run. All other relevant info is also included.
- Testing: The testing includes playing the game and assessing the linguistic quality as well as the bugs and inconsistencies. The testers then provide screenshots of everything that they find and weigh in on how to improve the game. The wrong translations are specifically rooted out to correct.
- Implementing QA: After the review is done, the implementation of the localization QA commences. The localization manager then helps to implement the updates.
The gaming localization QA process can take many rounds. However, this is determined by the game designers themselves. The developers or owners of the games will decide which levels the testers have permission to check. They will also define how many rounds they can take.
This customization of a process allows for the process to be a more accurate evaluation of the effort needed. It often saves time and costs.
Benefits of Game Localization QA
These are the benefits of game localization QA.
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Higher Sales
With gaming localization, there is a higher chance that you’ll sell more copies of the game. This can continue throughout many years since games are available on stores for years.
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Greater Rankings On Game Stores
With a larger audience to appeal to, you can get a higher ranking on a game store or app store. This means that you can get high ratings on the game stores in every country. Research has shown that video games in English merely reach 27% of the global gaming market. With a translated UI/UX and design, you’re likely to reach many more gamers.
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A Wider Target Market
Of course, through localization QA, games can be marketed to a wider market. This means that in essence, you can market to an entirely new region.
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Experience Personalization
As outlined above, the main benefit of game localization is the personalization of customer experiences. Gaming localization personalizes the playing and the emotional experience for a gamer and thus appeals to a larger audience. This is a more effective method than creating one template for a game and marketing it to a general audience.
Key Takeaway
Gaming localization QA is an incredibly useful tool when marketing games to a wide audience. It allows gamers from many different regions of the world to understand and experience what is usually for a narrow audience. This doesn’t just boost sales, it also connects gamers throughout the world.
