I'm so lucky to be involved in different industries and be able to have my inhands personal overview of how localization is maturing in different fields including Financial, IT and Life Science. Although these last mentioned industries are considered to be more "noble", I can confirm that none, including regulated industries, should be, as a whole, be considered as more demanding than the game industry. I will try to explain why in the following discussion.
The "Fan" factor: game players are incredibly tough critics:
Game users are fans. They play on a specific title because they chose to (and pay for it). This doesn't apply to any other non-entertainment industry localization.
The first consequence of this is that a huge community of users is analyzing, criticizing, suggesting better translation, voice over or feature in regards to any possible tiny detail in a game.
The second consequence is that players could really feel spoiled if a game translation, voice over or functionality in a specific language is not working properly. For major MMORPG games, millions of users are interconnected, not only in the game itself but in mega huge communities in continuous movement and discussion. In addition, these fans are fond of their games. And the news about mistakes spreads quickly... Really, really, very fast.
I can give an example of the fast spread of information. Just imagine... For a game I was involved in there was a localized voice over part recorded directly by the publisher to launch a demo, in a kind of amateur way. This demo reached journalists who were supposed to simply have a quick overview of the game months before the official release. Even before the scripts reached the studios to record the final version, we already had specialized journalists calling us and asking if we were going to record the voice-over the way it was in the demo... comments on their website was full of angry fans, not understanding why voice over of the second version of the game was not going to be as good as the first one.
The "Expert" factor: real experts will play your game:
Imagine you decide to launch a baseball game in France. Who will buy it? People who love baseball. Even if baseball is not an extremely popular game in the country. Users will know the terminology, and therefore will require that the correct terms are used in the game. If you are working on localizing such a game, you better send your linguists to a French baseball field if you don't want the result to be strongly criticized and have a very unhappy costumer at the end of the day.
The "Emotional" factor:
Game players are emotionally bound with their games. Consider the implications in regards to the quality standards required. The concept of a virtual life gaining importance in respect to real life is extremely well expressed in the following video (a bit long but worth it), presented by David Perry at the Ted Conference.
The "multidiscipline" factor:
The Game industry encompasses dozens of job disciplines. Just check the amount of Special Interest Groups from the International game developers association (IGDA) to get an idea. Localization, like it happens in many other industries was only considered at the latest stage of game development in the past. Today simultaneous shipment ("simship") is essential for any important game in the market. The consequence is that localization is considered already in preproduction and during the production stages. Localization is planned early in the process and, if outsourced, localization vendors are involved since the beginning, becoming real partners. Many publishers are highly conscious that the success of the product in the different markets depends on localization as much as on the quality of the game. To succeed in such a competitive market, Development, Marketing and Sales need to be involved. It is also very important not to forget an essential discipline playing a relevant role in a product aiming to be global, what the real experts on the topic call “Geoliteracy". Cross-cultural awareness is more than essential, to avoid unnecessary risks.
The "multimedia" factor:
For localization project managers (or producers, as they are usually called in the game industry), this field could be a very interesting and instructive experience (or a real nightmare). I'm not going to talk about how aggressive schedules can be, because I’m sure there will be examples of impossible turnaround requirements in all imaginable industries. The original factor comes from the fact that game localization usually includes audio localization (not that usual in other localization projects), and very often a very strong involvement with integration activities (integration of localized assets in game code). For localization experts or project managers coming from more "standard" localization (like myself), the game industry has lots of new experiences to offer and new knowledge to acquire. In addition to these activities, game localization is strongly related to testing. Of course this is not a 'game industry' only characteristic, but there is a very strong linguistic testing investment in games, especially in AAA games.
Let’s also not forget that the game industry is huge. In many countries, revenue for games is higher than movie and music together. Check the ESA (Entertainment Software Association) facts if you are curious.
As a last thought, my opinion is that creativity and science coincide in the game industry making of it a crucial technology laboratory.
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