Do you know that Japan is the third-largest gaming market in the world followed by the US and China? 77 million people in Japan play video games making it a lucrative market for game developers. Moreover, 80% of avid gamers in Japan buy accessories related to games and spend $371 on games annually. Many of the iconic games have been generated in Japan. Avid gamers in Japan are very enthusiastic and they love to play mobile and console games. This shows that the Japanese gaming industry provides many business growth opportunities for game developers.
People like to play the games, if they are translated into the language that they understand. Here is where video game translation services come in. The gaming culture of each country is different. Therefore, only game translation will not help you in capturing the gigantic Japanese gaming market. Here, you also need to take assistance from game localization services.
Video Game Localization for the Japanese Market
Game localization is more than just game translation. Keeping the cultural and regional intricacies in translation makes it a game localization. When e-commerce companies enter any foreign market, they take assistance from website localization services. Similarly, for tapping into the Japanese gaming market, game localization services can be of great help.
You must take these factors into view in the game localization process.
Optimizing the Game for Mobile
Due to mobile penetration in Japan, game developers must go for mobile game optimization. This makes mobile games easily played on low-end gadgets. Moreover, it makes the user interface of the games according to the mobile screen. One good game example is Mobile Strike. This game is successfully optimized for mobile users. Avid gamers can easily play it on mobiles because of easy touch controls. This practice generated a revenue of 50.1 million US dollars in Japan in 2022.
Video Game Translation
People can enjoy the game if it is translated into their native language. The Minecraft game is translated into the Japanese language with all its menus and texts. Additionally, it also translated in-game messages and tutorials which makes this game resonate with the Japanese language and culture. Moreover, It helps Japanese players understand and enjoy the game better and provides them with an immersive game experience.
The Japanese language changes continually, and the official spellings get updated every year by the Japanese Ministry of Education. The three writing systems of the Japanese language are kanji, hiragana, and katakana. Therefore, to ensure smooth translation and localization, it is essential to hire a professional translation company.
Avoiding the Sensitive Topics
In Japan, games related to violence, murder, and torture are prohibited and censored. Game developers are instructed to avoid such content in the game. Another thing that is prohibited in Japanese games is the use of drugs. Although some drugs are legal in other countries, Japan follows strict rules regarding its prohibition. If any such content is found in games, they are removed immediately.
The religions that are followed in Japan are Shintoism and Buddhism. The important thing to note is that Japanese people are not very religious. But still, game developers generally avoid depicting or promoting any particular religion in their games.
Abiding by the Regulations
If you want to release the games in Japan then game localization can make your game successful. Let’s suppose, you want to release the game on Sony’s PlayStation consoles then you must abide by the CERO rating. You must be wondering what is CERO rating? It is the Japanese game rating system.
Cultural Nuances
Consideration of cultural nuances is one aspect of game localization. Therefore, game developers must be aware of the storylines, characters, and cultural references so that they can make the game resonate with Japanese culture. To resonate the game with Japanese culture, the games like Modern Warfare 3 and Call of Duty were changed. The changes were made to avoid showing the conflict between the USA and Russia.
Conclusion
In this era of digitalization, game developers must develop and localize the games so that they can thrive in the competitive gaming market. It adjusts the game according to regional and cultural differences.
Sometimes these differences become very challenging for game developers. Therefore, to combat these challenges, many game developers and gaming companies have to take assistance from professional translation companies. They have a team of native translators that understands regional and cultural nuances and provides you with robust video game translation and localization services.
For game developers, Japan is a very rewarding market. Therefore, don’t miss this opportunity and enter the Japanese market successfully with the help of translation and localization services. The above-mentioned factors can mitigate the barrier to entry into the Japanese gaming market.
