Written by: Yuting (Erin) Zhang, MATLM ’25
Localization in the Mist: Observations from GDC 2024
As a game enthusiast and a student majoring in Translation and Localization Management, I attended GDC 2024 not only to stay informed about the latest developments in the gaming industry but also to explore where localization stands within it. While many companies discussed globalization and their strategies to expand into international markets, “localization” remained a rarely mentioned keyword. In conversations with some game developers, I noticed that localization often wasn’t a priority for them—or, in some cases, wasn’t even on their radar. In my understanding, translation and localization are essential for a game’s success in international markets. I was glad to see more gaming companies considering globalization in earlier stages rather than treating translation as a later task. However, the relatively low presence of “localization” in industry discussions still surprised me.
Based on what I’ve seen in the gaming industry, some companies are going beyond their home markets by setting up regional branches with dedicated development, operations, and marketing teams, which is a step beyond the traditional way of simply outsourcing game assets to language service providers (LSPs) for localization and then selling the game in target markets. But if you look at all the job postings from these companies, there is limited job information directly related to the keyword “localization.” So that was when the question arose: Has localization become marginalized, minimized, or even somehow “invisible” among the mist of globalization? For students like me who are interested in game localization, how can we find our career opportunities when localizers’ roles seem to be shrinking or shifting?
How Can a Game Go Global?
To better look at localizers’ roles in the current gaming industry, we need to look at how different types of game companies bring their games to the global markets with different approaches. Based on my own observations and some initial research, I’ve identified several general models that companies follow when expanding globally:
1. Companies That Initially Do Not Prioritize Localization
a) Small-scale studios or indie developers:
They primarily focus on creating quality games for their home market first. There is little to no globalization vision involved in the initial development process. If a game achieves success and gains international attention, they then turn to LSPs to help localize their fully developed and finalized games (the traditional outsourcing method). Localization in this case is more of an afterthought driven by demand.
b) Mid-to-large studios:
Some larger, more mature studios may have established relationships with LSPs that provide localization solutions for their games. However, their primary focus remains on development and marketing within their home markets. The localization workflow on the LSP side is often limited to receiving near-to-finish game assets, translating in-game text, scripts, UI, and app store descriptions rather than a deeper adaptation for international audiences.
2. Companies That Make Games with Global Audiences in Mind
a) Small-to-medium-sized companies with limited budgets:
Some studios operate from a single base but may have multilingual talents on their development team, ensuring that they bear globalization in mind during the designing process. Some may handle internationalization and localization in-house, leveraging their multilingual skills. However, they might still rely on LSPs or single-language vendors to build a more scalable localization solution when expanding to new markets.
b) Large, mature, and globally ambitious companies:
With an established reputation, accumulated experience, and sufficient budgets, these companies often have dedicated regional teams managing development, operations, and marketing for different markets. Their strategy involves tailoring content for each locale, sometimes leading to differences in release schedules (e.g., a game’s primary server for the home market may update first, followed by later updates with adaptations for international servers). Localization in such cases is not likely to be an outsourced service but an integrated mindset within game development and operations.
3. Community-Driven Localization: When Players Take the Lead
Some games, whether they come from indie developers or a large company, whether they initially aimed for global reach or not, end up expanding internationally through the passion of their player communities. A game might gain unexpected popularity overseas, leading fans to create unofficial translations that developers later adopt and refine. Alternatively, some studios launch games in a single language, relying on community efforts or volunteer translators to localize them before selecting and polishing translations for official release.
Where Do We Stand in the Shifting Landscape?
With the overall gaming industry remaining a diverse environment, there is still a trend that more and more gaming companies are aiming to go global, shifting away from the traditional outsourcing localization model by building separate regional teams in target markets (like described in 2-b).
This is good news for localization professionals, as they are finally seeing more and more people designing with internationalization and globalization in mind—a growing awareness of upstream global readiness. However, on the other hand, “localization” in a narrow sense as a distinct process becomes less visible—it is integrated into a broader globalization strategy, with roles and positions seemingly becoming more blended.
In this trend, I see both challenges and opportunities, which I will discuss in future articles after conducting more in-depth research and consulting with industry professionals. Of course, typical localization needs in the gaming industry still exist, with many notable LSPs (especially those with a gaming focus) carrying out excellent solutions for fantastic games. You can still find typical localization roles and workflows on the vendor side, but they are also evolving! As larger gaming companies target global markets with different approaches, another challenge is: how can we, as localizers, find our roles on the client side (in the gaming company)?
This article is just the beginning of an ongoing exploration of localization’s role in an increasingly globalized gaming industry. If you’re someone who has observed similar patterns, shared similar feelings, worked in the gaming or localization industry, or are a fellow student trying to understand where we fit into this evolving landscape, I invite you to join the conversation! Have you noticed similar trends? What challenges and opportunities do you see for localization professionals in the current gaming industry? I hope this series of articles can provide insights for students and professionals navigating this fascinating industry and helps us all discover new ways to contribute our expertise in localization.