What Is Game Localization? (And Why It’s Different from Translation)
Game localization is more than translating dialogue - it’s adapting UI, voice, jokes, and even content for a market. See real examples, from Animal Crossing to Silksong.
Most of the business revenue in gaming today comes from players who don’t speak English as the first language, in a global market presently valued at over $200+ billion. In short, that’s the commercial case for game localization - but localization itself gets confused with translation constantly, including the teams already doing it. This article breaks down what game localization actually covers, how it differs from simply translating a script, and what happens - with a very recent, very conspicuous example – what happens when a studio treats the two as the same.
What Exactly Is Game Localization?
Game localization is the process of adapting a game’s text, audio, art, and even mechanics or content so that it feels 100% native to a specific language and region - not just converting the dialogue from one language into another. Text is only one layer. Voice-over and lip-sync, UI and menu space, fonts for non-Latin scripts, currency and date formats, age-rating compliance, and the cultural references that make sense, all fall under localization’s scope. Ubisoft Massive Entertainment’s Narrative and Audio Producer, Patrick Görtjes, has summed up the goal simply: the aim is for the gamer to feel like the game was made in the player’s own language, not translated into it.
as if the game was made in the language that the player is playing
How Localization Differs from Straight-forward Translation (A Real Example)
Translation converts words while preserving the meaning; localization changes whatever needs to change - jokes, character names, holidays, visual content - so the game feels like it was built for that market in the first place i.e. to make it sound native. Nintendo’s “Animal Crossing” is one of the clearest documented examples. According to localization lead Leslie Swan, series producer Takashi Tezuka told the localization team directly that a translated script alone wouldn’t be enough - the game would need comprehensive changes before it could sell outside Japan.
you have to change everything
The western release replaced Japan-specific holidays and cultural references with Western equivalents and reworked jokes that wouldn’t have landed outside Japan - none of which a translator working from a spreadsheet of strings could have caught alone. Series director Katsuya Eguchi later admitted the original team hadn’t even planned for it, since development began with no thought given to localizing the game for an international market.
no idea about localizing it for the international market
What Actually Gets Localized in a Game? (Beyond Dialogue)
- In-game text - dialogue, item and quest names, tutorials, achievement descriptions.
- Voice-over and lip-sync - casting, direction, and timing for each language, not just a dubbed script.
- UI and menus - layouts that often need resizing, since translated text can run 20-30% longer than the English source.
- Fonts and character sets - rendering support for scripts like Japanese, Korean, Chinese, or Arabic, including right-to-left layout.
- Cultural and content review - symbols, gestures, colors, and references that read differently, or land badly, outside the source market.
- Compliance - age ratings, loot box and gambling-adjacent regulations, and region-specific legal text.
- Store pages and marketing - trailers, screenshots, and store descriptions, often the first thing a player in a new market sees.
What Happens When Localization Is Rushed (A Recent Example)
Hollow Knight: Silksong’s September 2025 launch is a live case study in what an under-resourced localization can cost a studio, even after the game itself was widely praised. Steam reviews filtered to Simplified Chinese dropped to roughly the low-to-mid 40s in percentage, far below the game’s overall rating, with thousands of reviews citing the translation specifically as archaic and inconsistent with the game’s tone. Localization expert Loek van Kooten described the effect bluntly, and Team Cherry’s Marketing and Publishing Lead, Matthew Griffin, acknowledged the problem publicly within a day of launch, promising fixes were already underway.
a high-school drama club’s Elizabethan improv night
We’ll be working to improve the translation over the coming weeks.
The episode is a useful reminder that Chinese-language players are now one of the largest segments on steam, and that a genuinely good game can still underperform in a market if its localization doesn’t hold up to the same standard as the rest of the release.
A Practical Process for Localizing a Game (Not Just Translating It)
- Internationalize before you translate - build the game so text fields, fonts, and UI can flex for languages that run longer or use different scripts.
- Do market analysis before committing - prioritize languages by genre fit and playerbase, not just population size.
- Localize text, audio, and art as one process - jokes, curses, character names, and cultural references need a localization pass, not just a translated script.
- Adapt for compliance and cultural fit - age ratings, loot box regulations, and content sensitivities vary significantly by region.
- Run linguistic QA (LQA) inside the actual game build - native speakers playing the real build catch context, tone, and text-overflow issues a spreadsheet of strings never will.
Game localization succeeds or fails on the same axis every time: whether a player in the target market forgets the game wasn’t originally made for them.
Frequently Asked Questions
Translation converts the words in a script from one language to another. Localization goes much further, adapting jokes, character names, cultural references, UI, audio, and sometimes content to fit a specific market - the goal is a game that feels native, not translated.
It depends on genre and budget. Text-heavy narrative games often justify dubbing in major markets, while many genres do well with high-quality subtitles alone.
LQA is the process of native speakers reviewing translated text inside the actual game build, not just a spreadsheet, to catch context errors, tone mismatches, and text that doesn’t fit the UI.
Game localization can typically cost 2-4 times more than a normal translation. Yes, definitely it’s a very challenging job.
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