Localizing for the Arabic World: A Platform and a Game

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Localizing for the Arabic World: A Platform and a Game

April 8, 2014 — by Mariia Lototska

Hélène Poirier is the project coordinator at Red Stallion Interactive. She discusses localization in the MENA region and the RSI gaming platform in this article.

If the Americans have historically been at the forefront of video game development, logically providing games in English, they rapidly understood that the support of local languages was essential to perform in the global economy. Games were translated while game cafés (gaming-dedicated stores), and online gaming platforms emerged all over the world, serving gamers in different cultures and languages.

It would be unimaginable for a French or a German gamer not to find their favorite game in their local language! Yet, if this is true for gamers at large in the Western world, and to some extent in the Eastern European and Asian markets, gamers in other parts of the world have been largely forgotten, notably the Middle East and the Arab-speaking world. And with a lack of localized games also came the lack of a culturally and linguistically anchored gamers’ platform supporting the Arabic language, facilitating community exchange, and teaming in the local and regional fields, providing support for local payment methods and local currencies.

ScreenShot02376 — With a lack of localized games also came the lack of a culturally and linguistically anchored gamers’ platform supporting the Arabic language, facilitating community exchange, and teaming in the local and regional fields, providing support for local payment methods and local currencies.

RSI Gaming

Red Stallion Interactive was specifically created to do this for the MENA region [Middle East & North Africa]. Having recently launched in the Gulf (GCC) region, but available and operational from all MENA countries, the gamers’ dedicated platform is fully Arabic-English enabled, throughout game descriptions and other information, gamers’ profiles, groups, communities, chats, forums, etc., payment methods, and all else. Furthermore, it is Red Stallion Interactive’s intention to increase the availability of Arab-translated and fully localized games on its platform.

RSI Gaming launched in January and has already signed among its large portfolio the first game produced in Saudi Arabia by Semaphore, and derived from the Arabic Golden Age history - Unearthed: The Trail of IbnBattuta, Gold Edition, which will soon be launched on RSI platform, both in Arabic and English versions, for PC and Android. Also, as we are launching the international version of Blacklight: Retribution from Zombie Studios, we are cooperating with them to bring to market an Arabized version. Beyond these two flagship products, we are excited to announce that we’ve entered into a publishing deal with Imperia Online for the fully localized version of their most exciting medieval RTS game that goes by the same name, Imperia Online.

Imperia Online

We met with Imperia Online and were so thrilled by the full localization work they’ve done!

We met with Imperia Online at DWGE, and were so thrilled by the full localization work they’ve done! Such a great fully localized game: themes, textures, settings, references, language, of course, EVERYTHING! So we decided to sign a publishing deal with them, as well as to really get the opportunity to better understand their approach to localization, a virtually zero-fault exercise!

Here is an interview we had with Cvetan Rusimov, Imperia Online Chief Operating Officer.

Imperia Online (IO) has been a very successful F2P RTS game for some years, particularly in Eastern Europe and Russia, as well as Western Europe and Latin America. Why did you decide to localize the game for an Arabic audience?

Imperia Online is already translated in 26 languages and popular in over 100 countries. MENA has become the strategic region, where MMO games are developing real fast. So we decided it was the right time for us to go there! Several companies were interested in partnerships, and here we are, with a fully localized version for an Arabic audience, which will soon be available on the RSI platform!

Was the Arabic version your first localization experience?

No! The Arabic challenge immediately followed the release of the Russian localization, which was a huge success! We had clearly made the right moves for our game!

Our Creative Director first conducted significant research, taking into account cultural differences and feedback directly provided by our Arabic community, which we solicited.

Could you describe the approach you took to localize the game for an Arabic audience?

Our Creative Director first conducted significant research, taking into account cultural differences and feedback directly provided by our Arabic community, which we solicited. This led us to conclude that we needed to transpose our addictive game-play and inspiring story line to the MENA region specific settings and beauty.

You have been working not only on an Arabic translation, but also on localizing all textures, so that the game’s look and feel is really Arabic, including all the tools, weapons, buildings, etc..How did you achieve this?

Everything has been achieved in-house, through great teamwork. The research was initially conducted by the Creative Director, in cooperation with a team of developers, artists, QAs, who were all fully dedicated to the concept of Imperia Online Arabic Version. Clearly, our co-founders, with their many years of experience in online web gaming, also provided their experience and their guidance.

What were the most difficult aspects of the localization process?

There are many things that need to be considered before even starting the localization of an MMO game for the Arabic market. Of course, there are the buildings, the faces, the clothes, but the history really has to be researched… But, when you’re working in a nice environment, with a dedicated team, anything becomes possible! 🙂

What has been the reaction of Arabic gamers? How did they receive the Arabic version?

Reality turned out to be beyond our expectations. We took part in Dubai World Game Expo, and the “welcome” and “congratulations” were more than in our wildest dreams… We really loved what we experienced there, players really appreciating what we accomplished with the Arabic version of Imperia Online.

AE_screen_1_1 — Reality turned out to be beyond our expectations.

We don’t think that English is an advantage anymore. Of course, we still have players from countries, where their language is not yet supported, and they manage and enjoy participating in our medieval world. And I’m sure they appreciate the many efforts we’ve made to get players to feel at home by creating fully localized versions!

Do you have other localization plans? Where?

Yes, we do. We’ve already gone live for the Arabic and Russian markets, enjoying the success, and are now getting ready for a fully localized version of Imperia Online for our Turkish players! We like challenges, that’s how it goes…

The fact that Imperia Online is a “Civilization” type game makes the localization more important, in that it enables people to relate to their own history and culture. However, do you think that other types of games should also be localized? So far, only a handful of games have been localized in Arabic: what’s your view on this?

There are many good games with a similar gameplay to ours on the market. All the decisions we made in regards to localization were based on our gamers’ vision, on internal discussions and on a vision, which we wanted o bring to the world. Game companies should know what is best for them, and how they chose to apprehend the localization aspects.

Imperia Online and other Arabized games will be heading to the RSI gaming platform soon

Moving Forward

Imperia Online and Red Stallion Interactive are still working on bringing the game to the RSI gaming platform, where it will benefit from the various localized community services, payment solutions, and other Arabized games, as the site develops.

At RSI, we are SOOOO THRILLED to bring Imperia Online to the market! The localization is so amazing, and is a reference that we will definitely meter against for all our future (and many) localization projects!

Watch out for Imperia Online available soon on www.rsigaming.com.

Studio Spotlight

Animoca: Making Games on a Global Scale

November 21, 2013 — by Clelia Rivera

When mobile games exploded onto the market, many studios tried to cash in on this booming area. Animoca was built with the desire to develop and publish in this successful market. Founded in 2011 and incubated by Outblaze Ventures, they are a cross-platform app publisher and developer for smartphones and tablets. They have created over 300 apps with more than 170 million game downloads and reaches many different genres and demographics.

Where It All Began

Animoca was founded in January 2011 with a goal of making games for under-appreciated audience segments. Due to their past experiences with Outblaze Ventures and their companies, Animoca knew early what they needed to focus on. “For example, we knew that we needed a systematic, analytics-driven approach to allow us to understand user behavior,” says David Kim, CEO. “So we started tracking and measuring as much as we could from day one.” They started by creating games targeted towards women and girls. Their first game, Pretty Pet Salon, went on to be an international hit, and a top mobile time management game.

After their initial success, they went on to create many other games, such as Thor: Lord of Storms and Star Girl. They continue to pursue publishing great games, but they don’t let success go to their heads. “We have grown from a start-up into an established force in mobile games, but I wouldn’t say we have changed that much.”

Going Global

The company’s success is not limited to just the US, but has expanded into a larger scale. This was made possible due to how they approach their global work. Kim says, “We have a sophisticated process that we are always refining in order to help us translate apps, develop content for specific cultures, handle customer support in different regions, and do all the other things necessary to build a global audience.”

One of the details to pay attention to in a global market is regionalization. Kim believes that many developers work under the misconception that changing the language is all that is needed for a game to work in another country. “You also need to localize the app for different cultures, build in local payment options, develop a promotional calendar based on local events, find local distribution partners, hire local QA resources, offer customer service in local languages, develop content for the local culture, and more,” says Kim. He also advises people interested in other regions to take the time to understand the area they want to break into.

Ultraman is just one of the games in Animoca's portfolio — Ultraman Galaxy is just one of the games in Animoca’s portfolio

Building good relationships is also important to succeeding globally. Animoca learned “that it’s extremely important to have a very strong partnership in the regions you are targeting in order to help with distribution and monetization,” according to Kim. The company has had a lot of practice building relationships, both with distributors and developers. As a publisher and developer, Animoca learned a useful tip to keep in mind when starting a partnership with developers. “You can’t treat all developers the same, and there is no ‘one size fits all’ approach when it comes to publishing games,” says Kim. They work to create a unique, custom partnership with everyone they work with to meet everyone’s goals.

Publishing Today

With the change in distribution and the rise of self-publishing, the role of a publisher has undergone a change as well (a panel at Casual Connect discussed this change). Kim explains that it has become “less about driving new users and more about providing expertise.” “While the main role of a publisher is still to help drive users to a game, there is also a large component of expertise sharing on topics such as user engagement, game design, development, etc,” says Kim.

However, Kim says the usefulness of a publisher can vary from game to game. He believes there is not an exact way to decide if or when a publisher is useful. “For some games, a publisher may provide valuable assistance pre-launch, when the games is still in development, while other times, a publisher might make sense for an existing game that has launched, but was unable to achieve or sustain growth,” Kim says. It is important for a developer to consider their needs and decide what works for them.

Animoca is working to launch a lot of new games in many different genres. Follow their Facebook or Twitter to stay updated on their latest projects.

Video Coverage

Dan Prigg: Moving Forward | Casual Connect Video

November 1, 2013 — by Catherine Quinton

Dan Prigg joined a panel of publishers from around the world to discuss the state of the game publishing landscape at Casual Connect Kyiv 2013.

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Dan Prigg, Head of Studios for Spil Games, began his career as a tester in the games industry in the 1990s, an experience he describes as a leap of faith. The greatest challenge he has faced is figuring out what he wanted to do in his career. He dealt with this by remaining both flexible and open-minded. He says, “I continued constantly evolving myself and self-educating because trends in the industry moved so quickly.”

Spreading Out

Spil Games emphasizes the importance of creating localized games, not surprising since they have people playing their games across six continents and platforms with 180 million monthly active users. They have two studios in the Netherlands and one in Shanghai, for which Prigg is responsible. Because he has previously run studios and content road maps, he is very comfortable in this position.

Now, he is enjoying exploring Amsterdam after moving there from the US. His wide-ranging interests have him spending free time playing the guitar, writing and, when possible, indulging his music preference for 80s Hair Bands and becoming involved with photography.

Shifting Trend

The most important trend in the games industry today, according to Prigg, is the shift from traditional laptops to tablets, the device he sees coming to dominate our living rooms. He believes tablets on WiFi will have more impact than anything else for his company. At Spil Games, they plan to respond to this change by developing heavily on HTML5, which they believe will become more and more prolific in the future.

Video Coverage

Junde Yu on the Increasing Opportunities in Asia | Casual Connect Video

June 5, 2013 — by Catherine Quinton

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The biggest challenge to the industry is localization and distribution.

At App Annie, Junde manages the APAC business. His main responsibility is to bring in revenue, which in his case goes well beyond direct sales to include localized marketing, consulting, networking and building relationships. Junde tells us, “I’ve always been in start-up mode, so having a background that includes sales, product development and marketing has its advantages.”

The biggest challenge to the industry, Junde believes, is localization and distribution. He points out that there are excellent opportunities for companies with great games so long as they emphasize localization. He tells us that companies can reap enormous rewards of one to one and a half times their Western revenue. However, he maintains “Effective localization is much more than mere translation. There are specific themes and characters that Chinese, Japanese and Korean audiences appreciate. There are also specific hooks for in-app purchases and specific ways of handling local servers.”

China and Japan are growing rapidly on both iOS and Google Play whereas Korea and most parts of Southeast Asia are doing so only on Google Play.

Junde emphasizes the tremendous and constantly increasing opportunities in the Asia with huge mobile growth in downloads and revenue throughout the market. He notes that China and Japan are growing rapidly on both iOS and Google Play whereas Korea and most parts of Southeast Asia are doing so only on Google Play. Junde also notes that single tap app revenues in China, Japan and Korea are no longer less than in the US.

For those looking to enter the Asian market, it is most effective to do so with local offices and local experts. If short term plans do not allow this, he suggests using local partners and distributors to get a feel for the region, rather than diving in with big ad budgets. At App Annie, they take this challenge seriously. They have offices in Beijing, San Francisco, London and Tokyo, with a new office now opening in Seoul. They have local business and market experts, as well as relationships in every territory.