Game Localization Resource Roundup — 2019 Edition

2019 proved to be another great year of insights for video game localization. It’s great to peek behind the curtain and learn from some of the industry’s biggest names!

Here are some of the best articles, videos, and interviews published in 2019 around the topic of game localization.

Happy reading!

Wordbee

Reporting processes in game localization — Panel

Technically, this was published in 2018, but so late in the year (December 17) that we found it appropriate for this year’s roundup!

Game localization projects can be so complex that they can be difficult to report on, but these four localization experts share their processes in this panel.

CAPCOM

Ace Attorney: Grave wordplay localizations and their gravy consequences

What happens when your attempt at localization wordplay goes wrong?

Janet Hsu from Capcom, who worked directly on Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Trilogy, dives into the complexity of translating Japanese puns to English. This is an entertaining yet insightful read that shows why context matters in localization!.

Polygon The bizarre, true story of Metal Gear Solid's English translation

Coming directly from the man who did the Japanese to English translation of Metal Gear Solid, Jeremy Blaustein, is this compelling behind-the-scenes look at what it’s like to collaborate with Hideo Kojima—from a localization perspective.

Blaustein describes how he worked to keep the “feeling” as well as the meaning across the translation, which shows exactly why the value of a talented translator is priceless.

PlayStation Blog

How the Yakuza spinoff reinvents localization

Judgment, which launched this summer, is a spinoff from the popular Yakuza series. Last year, we linked to a Q&A on the main series’ localization, but this year the localization producer behind the series discusses the new approach they adopted with Judgment. With two audio languages and two English subtitle tracks, they decided to push localization to another level.

Nice Games Club—A Gamedev Podcast

"All your maps are belong to us"

This podcast episode is jam-packed with insightful tips about localization! Plug in and listen on your next commute to the studio to hear about puns, Google Translate, and other helpful discussions surrounding video game translation.

Game Informer

A conversation with SEGA's localization team on censorship, consistency, and comedy

Censorship, consistency, and comedy: three important topics to consider when localizing your game across the globe.

In this interview, Sam Mullen and Andrew Davis from Sega discuss localizing their games for the United States, including the importance of finding funny translators and localizing problematic content.

Level Up Translation—2019's most popular post

The various costs of game localization

From free game localization to specialized agencies, through fan and freelance translators, we detailed all the options that are available for you to localize your game in this post.

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And that's it for this year!

If you’re hungry for more localization tips and best practices in 2020, be sure to check out our blog!