Comments on: Is it worth localizing casual games?

By: Jake Birkett

Jake Birkett — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 10:18:52 +0000

I wonder if your BFG NDA contract will prevent you from saying how well German sales performed in comparison to US sales.

Fairway was localised into German, French and Spanish. It actually had quite a lot of text and graphics to change and took me quite a while even though I already had planned ahead and made a localised text file. The main problem was the space I left on-screen for English was too small for German, and also German needs that special B they use. There were lots of other sub-issues too. Anyway, it was worth it as the game did well on those other sites and generated considerable revenue. So I agree with you that it’s worth doing especially as BFG do it for free.

By: Roman Budzowski

Roman Budzowski — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 15:04:12 +0000

Actually, I know why you may think that they still pay you $6.99 instead of 5.99 EUR – it’s because of VAT. I said that the difference between euro and global channels is 30% which is close to 22% VAT in some Euro countries. Unless 5.99 EUR does not include VAT.

By: Roman Budzowski

Roman Budzowski — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 14:56:31 +0000

Well, we will see. I will know at least the potential of German channel, because my game was not released on other channels yet.

By: no_name

no_name — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 14:04:50 +0000

Even if they sell in euro, BFG still give you the same amount in $ (yes, this is a little bit of a rip off). Also, you will not know the different territories. They are all grouped toghether into “International”.

By: Roman Budzowski

Roman Budzowski — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 09:03:00 +0000

@Chris: I definately will share this info, but we all need to wait until August.

@Evil Dan: Why do you need a localization company? Just put all the texts in your game into one file (MS Excel or similar is prefered) and get someone to translate it for you. Then you can implement it on your own. Unless your game is adventure game (big) I wouldn’t bother with localization companies.

By: Evil Dan

Evil Dan — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 01:45:25 +0000

I took a look at the Localization companies listed on Gamasutra and got a bit overwhelmed by all of the options. Any suggestions on where to start?

By: Chris P

Chris P — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 11:58:36 +0000

I don’t know yet how much you can earn on those language versions

Do let us know if you can, I’d be interested to see how the market sizes compare. :-) No need for specific numbers; something like “X% of RoA2’s gross income was from the French version, Y% was from the German version” etc. would be very interesting data just on its own.