Top 8 Game Localization Companies in 2024

The video game industry has flourished during the pandemic. While the world economy stalled due to the long lockdowns, the gaming industry immensely profited from these times of social isolation. 

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Experts project that by 2028 the gaming market will reach USD 545.98 Billion, growing at a CAGR of 13.20 % for the period 2021-2028. 

The way to increase your revenue is to reach global gamers and increase your game downloads with game localization.

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Asia Pacific is the region with the highest position in the video game market and is expected to remain a leader in the upcoming years. This boils down to the presence of gaming giants such as Tencent and Sea that operate in the region. In 2020 the region earned USD 86.96 billion in revenue. In fact, Asian countries make up to 40% of the world’s top 10 video gaming markets.  

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Europe showcases substantial growth in the past year. The European video game market has increased 22% in 2020, according to Gamesindustry.biz. The annual revenue of the region’s game industry was estimated at USD 26.57 billion, according to a report by the Interactive Software Federation of Europe and the European Games Developer Federation. Moreover, European governments are actively investing in this sphere – according to the Germany Games Industry Association in 2019 USD 55.99 million were invested in promoting video games in the region. 

Growth Of Gaming In India

Statistics show that Indian people spent around 7-8 hours a week playing video games prior to the pandemic. This duration increased by 53% during the long lockdowns.

According to a survey by Invest India, during the pandemic, nearly 45% of all mobile users in India started playing video games on their smartphones. 

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As a result, the gaming industry in India boomed, witnessing a huge upsurge in revenue in the last two years. 

Gaming is among the fastest-growing sunrise industries in India, with a 40% growth in 2019–2020. In 2021 the industry generated USD 1.8 billion in revenue and is expected to exceed USD 5 billion by 2025.

The World Economic Forum (WEF) claims that smartphones are “the primary vehicle for the gaming market in India”. The reason for this is the easy access to affordable mobile devices – a sector which is growing at 15% annually. Moreover, access to high-speed 4G internet with the lowest data tariffs in the world has additionally fueled the rise of the gaming industry in India. 

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In India, over 85% of all video games in India are played on smartphone devices, while PC and tablet users form around 11% and 4% respectively. 

Also Read: Top 10 Translation Companies In India

What is Game Localization and Why It is Important?

Video game localization is a process whereby game developers work together with professional game translators to ensure that the project is linguistically and culturally appropriated for the international market.

Video game localization is necessary to gain international recognition in such a competitive market. Here are some of the benefits it brings:

Increase Sales: Let’s face it, only about 25% of the world population speak and understand English, so offering your game only in this language means that you will reach only a limited audience.

By localizing your gaming projects, you will not only translate your product in different languages, but also adapt it to the tastes of different audiences. Once your gaming project is accessible and accepted by international gamers, your sales and revenue will inevitably soar.

Diversify Revenue Streams: The pandemic has taught us an important lesson – you never know what will happen next. So, putting all your eggs in a one basket might not be a good idea, especially in a dynamic and competitive market such as video games.

Especially in some countries with rapidly-changing regulations and strict censorship laws, the authorities can prohibit your game out of nowhere and thus, will impact detrimentally your revenue.

Localization, on the other hand, will help you gain an international presence, minimizing income risks.

Boost App Store Ranking: Mobile gaming alone accounts for nearly 60% of the USD 173 billion global video games revenue in 2020. Localizing your game will boost your visibility in the target market which will inevitably improve your ranking in the app store.

What’s more, a higher position in the app store ranking will make your game even more popular and will attract new users!

Gain a Competitive Edge: The gaming industry is a highly competitive sector, so quality content is the best strategy to reach out to a wider international audience and beat your competitors.

The only way to achieve a high-quality gaming project, however, is to localize. Indeed, video game localization will give a competitive advantage over other gaming companies since you will be able to offer more value to your customers. Without localization, you are basically giving up your market share to another competitor.

Still, you don’t need to localize your content in every possible language. For example, Grand Theft Auto V was localized into only 12 languages total while selling 130 million units for total revenue of USD 6 billion.

Prioritize Customers: Localizing your video games and providing your audience with content, that catered to their needs, will not be unappreciated. In fact, through localization, you can show your customers that you care about their needs and thus, want to provide them with the best experience possible.

In gaming, it is very important to make it possible for the players to immerse in the story and get into the skin of the character they choose. Localization is the only tool that you need to achieve such a high level of user satisfaction!

Increase Downloads: Increasing your downloads in different international markets is only possible with localization. In this way, you will be able to reach out to more international markets.

Of course, the only way to increase your downloads is by achieving a high level of user satisfaction. As you already know, this can be done through localization.

Without localization, Abe The Dragon’s downloads stood at 3,000. After localization, however, they increased by 767%, reaching 23,000 downloads.

Once your downloads have increased, your sales will also grow. As a result, you will achieve higher returns of the project’s initial investment.

Reduce Plagiarism: One of the biggest benefits of localizing your video game project is that you can prevent ROM hacking.

By creating official versions of your game for each target market, you will reduce piracy and ROM hacking. This in turn will have a positive impact on your brand image and revenue potential.

Be in Control: Partnering with a reliable language service provider (LSP) will ensure high quality output, which will lead to high customer satisfaction.

When it comes to localization, working with the right LSP would enable you to be in full control of the quality of the translation process.

Localization is an integral part of the development process of any video game, so you have to find reliable partners who will be willing to cooperate along the way.

Avoid Offensive Content: The same expression or symbol can be appropriate in one culture but offensive in another. Localization experts will make sure that all your content is adapted to the social norms and cultural beliefs of every single target market.

This in turn will boost your public image and build trust in your brand, attracting new customers and increasing your company’s revenue.

Boost Brand Image: A full localization strategy goes beyond the video game itself. It takes into account ads, social media posts, marketing strategy and website. In this way you can deliver a consistent customer experience across all platforms that aligns with your overall brand image.

In this way you can establish a strong presence on each local market which then can build up to a strong global presence. Indeed, if you want your brand to be recognized globally, you have to build a strong presence locally!

Top 8 Game Localization Companies

Here’s a list of the top 8 Game localization companies that can help you achieve the results you are looking for.

Level Up Translation

Level Up translations are at the top of our list as they are just dedicated to game localization. Located in France, they work with freelancers all around the world. Currently, they support 26 major languages only. They translate indie and AAA games for all platforms including Console, PC, MMO, browser-based and mobile games for iOS & Android.

Andovar Game Localization

Andovar is a global provider of multilingual content solutions. Their services range from text translation and content creation, through audio and video recording, to turnkey localization of websites, software, video, and games.  

They are headquartered in Singapore and have offices in Ireland, Thailand, Colombia, India, and the USA. Andovar focuses on emerging markets and technologies, such as mobile, gaming, multimedia, and cloud software.

Milestone Localization 

Milestone Localization is certified by the International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO 17100:2015) for having in place strong security of information and quality management systems for “End to end translation and localization services.”

Our localization experts specialize in-game sites and apps, social games, video games, gaming & more. 

Milestone’s game localization services include:

• Game translation  
• Game dubbing 
• Graphics localization 
• Game linguistic QA 
• Subtitling for games 
• User manual translations 
• Website translation 
• Legal document translations
• Marketing materials transcreations 
• Voice-over & Dubbing 
• Gaming regulation translations 
• Localization of gaming digital ads 

We offer video game localization services with support for more than 70+ languages and 1000+ language pairs.

Our expert linguists have native fluency and will make sure that your game is translated and adapted in a way that is natural and culturally relevant to the target audience.

No matter where you’re located and no matter where you’re looking to grow, Milestone Localization is ready to work alongside you to make every Milestone successful. 

Read testimonials and case studies from our happy clients here Or contact us for more info.  

Localize Direct

Founded in 2009, Localize Direct provides translation, localization QA, and CMS services for the game development industry. They incorporate a network of more than 400 native-speaking translators and game testers.

Localize Direct’s HQ is based in Helsingborg, Sweden with the development team operating in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.

Locnapps

Locnapps Media is a studio offering localization solutions for the creative industry. Based out of Gurgaon they specialize in the video game industry.  

They provide end-to-end localization services like Console, PC, and Mobile game localization, Video games marketing text, Video games webpages, Indie game Game script translations, Graphics localization, User interface localization, Localization of user manuals and print materials, Forum thread translation, and more.

Lionbridge

Lionbridge is one of the biggest LSPs (Language Service Providers) in the world. Headquartered in the US, they have offices around the world and in India. For more than 20 years, they have helped companies connect with global customers by delivering marketing, testing, and globalization services.

They specialize, in Game audio, Game testing, and Game localization testing. Lionbridge Games has worked with IP developers and publishers to create original voiceovers and bring them to gamers around the world.

Inlingo

Inlingo is a game localization studio based out of London, England.  They have been providing services like localization, voiceover, and localization quality assurance (LQA) since 2012.

Inlingo has grown from a small localization studio into a whole group of studios that provide game dev outsourcing services.

Game Scribes

Formerly known as GTL Media, GameScribes is a video game localization service provider offering translation, quality assurance, voice-over recording, and culturalization-related, services for over 13 years. While starting purely with translation, testing, and voice-over recording services, they’ve expanded to include culturalization consulting, desktop publishing and graphic design support, game writing services, and region-specific market research and product assessment services. 

As an international team, they have offices located in Los Angeles, North Carolina, Spain, and Hong Kong.

Also Read: Top Translation Companies In The UK

To Conclude

Overall, Game localization is a complex process since it consists of a number of elements such as Images, Characters, Locations, Videos etc. Localization cannot be done by a single person – a team of experts is essential for a quality end product. Therefore, you have to find the right localization partner who will turn all your wishes into reality!

If you are a Gaming company and looking for Localization & Translation Services, Fill out the form to know more about our services, process, samples & more.