With more than $200 billion net worth, the gaming industry has emerged as one of the most important industries of recent times. The entertainment industry is no more confined to movies, shows, and media. The dimensions of entertainment have been reshaped by technology. However, the significance of the culture and social norms cannot be denied. Little did the people opposing the Pong joystick and the Pacman back in the ’70s and ’80s know that the future would belong to advanced games. Also, this industry was going to overflow with opportunities, ideas, and market competitive games.
Game developers and companies can not boost maximum revenue generation without seeking professional gaming translation services. They need to translate their games as per the demands and market norms of the intended audiences. Operating systems of mobile phones and other devices are full of innovative games.
Streaming in the gaming industry has become quite popular as Twitch, the most watched game streaming platform with up to 1.5 billion minutes of watch time in 2021 has set the bar high and intends to increase only. All these statistics are shedding light on the significance and popularity of the industry making it evident that translation services are getting to be expensive for the developers.
It is important that gaming companies understand the worth of the games and realize how hectic it can become to seek gaming translation. Translating the games is not a simple task and rather technical and challenging work. This demands experienced subject matter experts to take care of the translation services as per the norms of the relevant markets.
Here are a few significant reasons which elaborate the facts and state why gaming translation costs and prices are skyrocketing.
Complex nature of games
The game developers have literally covered every niche and subject of games. Be it a basic puzzle game, a fighting game such as PubG, or games with adult content you name it and they have developed it. It is not easy to work on a game, it requires a lot of effort. Likewise, this complexity that game development involves also increases the complexities of translation. The translators have to navigate through multiple challenges while translating the gaming content. This could be a disclaimer, in-built text, the speeches and dialogues of the characters and it also has to deal with the translation of programming language which requires more effort eventually driving up the cost.
Growing demand for localized games
Game developers are not bound to their home countries and regions anymore. They keep room for localization even before starting their project and developing their games. The ongoing surge for more localized games has increased the competition globally compelling the developers to seek professional translation services for the game’s content which comes with a cost.
The shortage of qualified translators
Just like website localization services, the gaming sector has a constant demand for experienced and qualified translators. It is worth mentioning here that qualified translators are quite a few and there is a shortage of translators who understand the gaming text and content. They not only need to be subject matter experts but should also be proficient in the required language pair among the cultural factors of the target regions. This indicates that gaming companies and developers have to pay more in order to get their work done.
Limited use of machine translation
Machine translation which was once a big no in the translation industry has claimed its space and is being considered for a real translation now. However, there are certain areas that do not go well with machine translation, and gaming and website translation are two important areas of these. Though it is a more economical and affordable option, it does not provide the accuracy that gaming content demands. This implies that game developers can not use machine translation and have to pay human translators for accurate and consistent work.
The need for quality
Quality cannot be promised in the translation process and it is even more crucial for the games. The process of developing a game is complex and tricky and hence the translation also gets even more crucial. A great emphasis on the quality of the text and content of games makes the services more pricey. Game developers want the surety that their games are translated accurately and to the best of the marketing trends of the targeted audience. For this, they prefer hiring a competent professional translation agency and are willing to pay more even if they have to.
The competition for talent
The gaming industry is a global and competitive one. Game developers have to compete in the global market and hence they keep on looking for talented translators who have the insights and heart for games too. The scarcity of such translators also drives up the cost of gaming translation services making it expensive.
Going through above mentioned factors, it is quite evident now that gaming translation services are likely to continue to rise in the future. However, the benefits of localizing games into multiple languages are also increasing, so it is still a worthwhile investment for game developers.
Conclusion
Translating the gaming text is a challenging and hectic task. The complexities involved in gaming translation also make it one of the highest-paid domains of translation. There are multiple factors that include increasing the prices of gaming translation. A few of these include the complex nature of games, growing demand for localized games, shortage of qualified translators, and not being able to use machine translation among others.
