Quick translation of games

I can guarantee that the phrase “on demand” is commonplace in everyone’s life when it comes to various forms of entertainment. Music on demand, movies on demand, TV on demand……people DEMAND that they be entertained right here and right now, it is just the norm! Well, this is exactly the same in the games industry too. Games need to be updated but people aren’t willing to wait until the next release 6 months, 3 months or even 2 weeks down the line. They want them to be updated NOW! Games companies are now expected to adapt to this new way of agile games development to ensure that their content is ready for their on demand releases.

Traditional Translation of Games

Most, if not all, gaming companies I speak to have the same process for their translations. Developers send files to their localisation team – Localisation team prep files for translation – Localisation team email files to translation agency – Translation agency runs file analysis for word counts – Translation agency Project Manager (PM) sends each file to each relevant linguist – Linguists work on file and send back to PM – PM updates the translation memory – Once the file has been completed the PM sends back to localisation team – Localisation team runs internal checks – Localisation team sends back to developers.

What if I told you that there was a way of reducing the number of steps whilst speeding up the translation process and reducing costs?

The Capita way of Game Translation

A way that we have been able to successfully reduce time and costs for our clients is by automating the majority of the process. It works like this:

Developer / localisation team sends file via secure portal to Capita system – Capita system analyses, prepares and sends files to predetermined linguists – linguists work on files then sends back to Capita system – Capita system updates translation memory, prepares file for return, sends file to localisation team / developer – Localisation team / developer receive completed file.

Not only are there fewer steps but there are also no human touch points (unless required) from sending the files to us and receiving them back again. We don’t wait for time zones to come online, nor for linguists to accept the job, nor for engineering to be completed.

A visual of how this works is below:

Benefits

Ultimately improvements are three-fold, namely faster turnaround times, lower costs and improved control of the whole localisation process – not to mention the integrated reviewer and stakeholder engagement.

From this way of working we are also able to collate data and report back on average turnaround times, cost per language, number of leveraged words, which type of games offer the better leverage and savings. It is much easier to plan for the future and to know that what you’re translating is worth translating. Demonstrating an ROI is critical is today’s tough economic climate.

Don’t let a cumbersome localisation process prevent you from giving your fanatic gamers what they want!