There is no denying the fact that the Chinese gaming market is one of the most lucrative industries in the world. If you have the right product and the right strategy, you will be able to expand your revenue streams, unprecedentedly. However, you need assistance from Chinese game translation services that can help you penetrate the market effectively.

Proper Localization Strategy Is Required

The important thing over here to mention is that you need a proper localization strategy that can enable you to translate your game into the Chinese language.

China’s Gaming Market

If you’re still not convinced, let us share certain statistics with you. According to a recent research report, China constitutes around a quarter of the global gaming market, as far as sales are considered in terms of revenue of games. And this is just one particular statistic.

The Right Localization Strategy

Experts claim that if you have the right to localization strategy, and if you can cater to the specific needs of the video game industry, you can become a billion-dollar industry.

But the only thing that you need is the perfect translation and localization structure.

Best Chinese Game Translation Practices

In this article, we will be discussing some of the best Chinese game translation practices that you can adopt for the year 2023.

Targeting IOS Games

One practice that can elevate your localization practice in the Chinese market is targeting iOS games. China has one of the biggest market shares of iOS games and contributes about 1/5 of the total sales.

Google Play Is Restricted In Some Regions

The important thing that you need to understand is that Google Play is restricted in some particular regions of China. So it wouldn’t be able to provide a lot of benefits to the organizations. So if you want to enter the Chinese market, focusing on Google Play, and iOS would be the best thing to go for.

Apple Is Popular In The Chinese Market

These are the major platforms that can allow you to cater to the gaming market in China. Apple has attained a lot of popularity in the Chinese market. The strategy adopted by Apple has also allowed brands like Samsung to follow. Hence, if you are planning to penetrate the Chinese market, opting for iOS games will be the best strategy for 2024.

Understanding The Variation In Dialects

One important thing to consider when localizing for the Chinese market is to understand that the Chinese language has a lot of language variations and dialects. Hence, it becomes difficult when one has to target a market where there is not one particular segment that will satisfy the entire Chinese market.

Variation In Dialect Increases Complications

The variation and diversity in the dialect segments make it complicated. Hence, one has to consider all the options and then target a segment that will cater to a broader audience.

Comparison Between Chinese and English Dialects

In Western countries, dialects are different when compared to the Chinese dialect domain. For instance, English is spoken in a lot of European countries with different dialects, but everyone would be able to understand what the other person is saying, because the dialect may be different, but the language is the same.

On the contrary, the variation in the Chinese language, as far as the dialects are concerned, is so different that it changes the major language. So, one may not understand a different dialect, even if he speaks the Chinese language, and that is one of the most complicated things that businesses around the world have to consider.

Target The Dialect Spoken By The Vast Majority

So, if you are targeting the Chinese market, you have to see which dialect is spoken by the most number of people and then create content, especially in the video gaming industry, according to that particular dialect. This will cater to a broader audience and will enable satisfaction at a higher percentage.

Localize Video Game In Mandarin or Cantonese

Mandarin is the dialect that one should focus on because it is also the official dialect in the Chinese market. Secondly, you also have the option to go for Cantonese. However, there are certain differences as per the variation in regions, but it is still understood by a lot of people.

Variation In Writing Styles

Moreover, the Chinese written language is also very different. There are variations in how people write in different dialects. So if you are localizing and translating in particular dialects, you have to incorporate the variations in the writing styles. This will enable you to hit the bullseye when it comes to localizing.

Adapting Video Games For The Chinese Culture

One practice for game localization in the Chinese market is to tailor the content of the video game according to the cultural intricacies of the market. So if you are not incorporating the little nuances of the culture into your video game localization process, you won’t be able to get positive customer feedback.

Being Sensitive To The Chinese Culture In Your Video Games

And if you’re targeting the Chinese market, being sensitive to the culture is imperative. The Chinese people are very sensitive when it comes to the culture and if anyone tries to cross the sensitive cultural lines they are often faced with rejection.

So if you are introducing your video game to the Chinese market, ensure that you do not offend the cultural integrity of that region.

Video Games Need To Incorporate Chinese Mythical Stories

The important thing that you need to understand is that your video game needs to incorporate Chinese stories and mythical beauty. That is the only way you can become successful. It’s a very difficult task to do. But if you work with Chinese translation services, it can help you accomplish this task successfully and effectively.

Taking Assistance From Chinese Video Gaming Translation Services

Chinese video gaming translation services will not only help you understand the complexities of the culture but will also help you understand how the gaming industry works. They will ensure that all of your games have the elements, including all of the gaming roles in the storylines.

Moreover, the music and the conversations will be adjusted according to Chinese culture. This will guarantee the success of your video game in that market.

Abiding By The Chinese Government Rules And Regulations

The Chinese gaming market has a lot of potentials. Hence, we see that a lot of video game publishers are trying to penetrate the Chinese market. But the important thing to understand here is that to penetrate the Chinese market, you need to be able to be acceptable to the Chinese government as well.

If you’re not able to do that, you won’t be able to achieve much success in this department. Therefore, creating a strategy in which you satisfy the rules and regulations imposed by the government is essential.

Understand Chinese Government Censorship Laws

The first thing that you need to do is to understand what are the government’s censors, as far as the gaming industries are concerned?

Everything in the Chinese economic market is tied to the political and social construct of the Chinese government. So if you are doing anything that goes against that, you will probably be banned from ever conducting business in the Chinese market. Therefore, government regulations need to be abided by.

Abstain From Hardcore Graphic Imagery In Your Video Games

There are certain things that you need to be considerate of, for instance, if you are a designer, and you are designing a particular video game and planning to launch into the Chinese market, you have to ensure that you do not use any sort of graphic imagery in your video games.

This may include an excessive amount of blood or showcasing excessive sexual graphic implementations or showing gambling or any sort of R-rated content that is completely against the law.

Do Not Alter Video Gaming Content

If your video game contains all of this stuff, it won’t be successful in the Chinese market, so you might as well drop the idea of ever planning to penetrate the market because if you reduce all of this stuff, it might remove that level of thrill and excitement that is contained in a video game. You have to be careful as to which game you are planning to introduce in the Chinese market and hence localize that for that particular region.

Fonts And Typesetting

One important practice that needs to be incorporated when localizing Video Games in Chinese is to ensure that you are taking into consideration the fonts and typesetting.

Chinese Characters Are Concise

Elaborative is not a word that could be used to describe the Chinese language; it is rather concise. Hence, the characters used are very restricted. So, if you are translating these characters, you would be using fewer characters as compared to the original Chinese text.

But still, the complexity and conundrum of the genre of the Chinese characters are very high. Therefore, utilizing a bigger font size would be the better option to go for.

Using Larger Vertical Space

Hence, your games that will use the Chinese text would require a larger vertical space. The development team and translation teams have to work together to ensure that proper space is left for the translation and localization parts.

Focusing On User Interface

One practice that can differentiate your localization process from your competitors is by focusing more on the user interfaces. Chinese gamers are very particular when it comes to the user interface. They prefer video games that have a more colorful and denser appeal as compared to the games that are published by the Western gaming market.

The audience in the Chinese gaming market prefers icons that are designed attractively. Moreover, the buttons used to play the games need to be shot. The main keys and most importantly, the color palette needs to be adjusted as well.

Conclusion

If you do not have a passion for video gaming, you cannot localize your game for the Chinese market. It’s not about investing huge sums of money in the graphics of the video game, rather it’s about communicating your game and making it enjoyable and adaptable for a specific target market.

In this article, we discussed what practices you can adopt to ensure that your game is acceptable to the Chinese market. All you need to do is to ensure that your linguistic communication skills can satisfy the market. Moreover, ensure that you are culturally sensitive and do not portray any element that is discarded by the local people.

And your representation needs to be flawless in that you did not offend any traditional nuances. Moreover, also abide by the governmental rules and regulations so that your game does not get banned from the Chinese market.

These are the things that you need to ensure when you are localizing the game for the Chinese market in the year 2024.