The real effect of localization on game discovery (with real numbers)

I’ve found this article from Simon Carless, founder of The GameDiscoverCo.

By the way I’m not affiliated in any way to any of the studios in the article, nor the writer of the article.

Anyways, I thought I’d share this with you as it can give a real tangible example on the impact of localization on game discovery with real data from real games.

The article analyzes the effect on localization on 3 games, two of them published by Hooded Horse: Slay the Princess, Against the Storm and Nebulous: Fleet Command.

Before jumping into the numbers the article points out a few things, which I agree with. These are all quotes I’ve taken directly from the article:

- If you don’t select a language tickbox for an unreleased or released game, then in that country’s localized Steam store, discovery options may be more limited. (You won’t find the game as much via tag browsing, Discovery Queue, etc.)

 - However, many players in foreign countries may end up picking English as a secondary language on Steam, so they can more fully see all games available. So perhaps this particular effect is more muted than you would naturally think.

 - Nonetheless, we think ticking target languages early is more important than you would think: if people want to play the game and see it’s not in their language, they may not wishlist. (But don’t promise a language & then remove it later!)

 - One important note: if you’re not sure it’s economical to localize, and you have a very large game, it’s possible to localize the Steam page without having the language box ticked, and ask questions to gauge interest. BTW, Steam page localization operates independently of that ‘what the game will have’ tickbox.

I’ve highlighted this section because many developers have asked if localizing the Steam page without localizing the game is scammy. It is not. It’s very common and can be a great way to gauge the interest of various markets, as said in the article as well.

Now for the numbers:

 1. Slay the Princess: the devs behind the game surveyed their pre-release audience (the Steam page was localized) and asked who would still play the game if only in English. Before going further we have to note that the game is played entirely via reading text, but still. 

 - German: 39% No - 61% Yes

 - Spanish: 42% No - 58% Yes

 - French: 44% No - 56% Yes

 - Italian: 55% No - 45% Yes

 - Brazilian Portuguese: 34% No - 66% Yes

 - Korean: 78% No - 22% Yes

 - Japanese: 77% No - 23% Yes

 - Chinese: 68% No - 32% Yes

The total result of the survey was that 62% of all the players surveyed wouldn’t have played the game if only available in English, compared to the remaining 37%. In numbers we are talking about 3384 No vs 2007 Yes.

 2. Against the Storm: the numbers for Against the Storm were provided by Tim Bender, CEO of Hooded Horse. The numbers are before the 1.0 release, and show how the Asian market, led by China of course, accounted for 32% of total sales (China, Japan, Korea, Taiwan). Sure, the most sales were achieved in the US, but still, other sales are worth noting.

 3. Nebulous: Fleet Command: Nebulous: Fleet Command is a very interesting comparison. Despite the Asian market being aware of the game with a Japanese streamer interest and a Chinese fan translation, it accounts for only 2% of sales (only in China). While as pointed out in the article, this could be partly due to the lack of visibility on the Asian version on Steam, it’s also very noteworthy that Nebulous: Fleet Command is available only in English. 

To be fair, Nebulous: Fleet Command is still in early access, and in general, Against the Storm has been more successful. However, localization does make a significant difference, and it’s hard to ignore it. When you look at the differences of the market splits you can clearly see the effect that localization can have.

For Against the Storm, we’re talking about over 130,000 sales in China alone. 

Comparing the two games, it’s clear how localization has played a major role. Against the Storm, with localization, has achieved significantly more sales than Nebulous: Fleet Command, which is only available in English.

This difference is not due to a lack of awareness, as the CEO of Hooded Horse Tim Bender pointed out: What makes Nebulous an interesting comparison… is that there's not a lack of awareness in those regions. There is a fan translation into Chinese, for example, and Japanese streamer interest.

Cheers!