Video Game Localization for the Japanese Market: Do’s and Don’ts

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Today Japan – the third largest video game market in the world… That is why developers are increasingly paying attention to this region. And despite the dynamic changes in the Japanese market, game developers have a good chance of success in Japan. The main thing is to create a game that will appeal to the local audience.

In this article, we will discuss the state and future of the video game industry in Japan.

What’s going on with the Japanese gaming market?

Over the past 20 years, the market situation has been quite chaotic and volatile. In 2009, it seemed that the best time of video games was already in the past, but in 2017 there was a real breakthrough: games such as Resident evil 7 and The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Today, if a game development company wants to achieve real success in the Japanese market, it must clearly understand its latest trends. So what exactly has changed and what are Japanese players hungry for now?

The first and obvious answer to this question is now more than ever there has been an increase in the number of mobile applications. The secret of the huge popularity of mobile games among the Japanese population is that locals spend a lot of time traveling from suburbs to the city, to work and back. And, as you know, mobile games are just perfect “time killers”.

The second significant change is tendency to return to primary sources… Japanese developers create authentic games without excessive immersion (this is the style that is usually preferred in the West), but with an interesting design, numerous puzzles and old-school gameplay. Such games still attract Western audiences, but now they don’t mindlessly copy fashion designs and gameplay, but they have authenticity.

At the same time, everyone is entering the market more and more young indie game development companies… Moreover, these companies do not just occupy a small niche: they are already actively “pushing up” the industry giants. This trend is really worth paying attention to, given the fact that it took Japanese players quite a long time to “taste” indie games.

Now let’s move on to the nuances that should be taken into account by developers who decided to localize the game for the Japanese market. So let’s get started.

Video game localization ≠ translation

In short, translation is the transformation of text in one language into text in another language, performed in such a way that native speakers of another language can understand the meaning of the original source.

Game localization implies a much deeper revision of the text than just translation. Localization is about adapting the context to a different audience.
It’s not enough just to translate a video game and release it to a foreign market. Think about presentation style, date and time formats, color schemes, gender localization and many other aspectsthat need to be considered.

Take as an example localization of the game MyCafecarried out localization company Alconost… The game wasn’t just fully translated into Japanese for its target audience. It created an annual event dedicated to the season of Japanese cherry blossom – Cherry Blossom Season. For this event, the developers launched a special marketing campaign and updated the game design: for example, a cherry blossom appeared in the background, and a Japanese girl replaced the waitress character.

Do not forget that the languages ​​of Asian and Western countries are really very different. Here are some of the basic rules of Dos and Don’ts when preparing a game for the Japanese market.

Think about the most suitable genre

According to Statista in 2019, the top three most popular video game genres in Japan were action games, social games and RPGs (from English RPG – computer role-playing games)… Also popular in Japan are video game genres such as visual novels, fighting games, and dating simulators.

Of course, this does not mean that you should only develop a game within these genres if you want to present it to a Japanese audience. However, you can consider these trends if Japan is one of the main markets for your product.

And another interesting feature of Japanese users – they like games combining several genres… For example, an RPG might include puzzles. So, if you’ve already developed a game and want to gain popularity with Japanese users, do a little research to see if the game will receive a “warm” welcome or if you’d better consider other gaming markets.

Use the correct speech style and follow the language rules

The Japanese language is really difficult, especially for those who have never encountered Asian languages ​​before.

The Japanese language is characterized by the use of various gradations of politeness, the rules for placing words in a sentence, methods of gender differentiation during a conversation. For example, the first person pronoun “Boku” used by men, while “Watashi” has a gender neutral color. In addition, there are hundreds of other linguistic nuances.

Cherry on the cake are three different writing systems (Kanji, Hiragana and Katakana), which are reviewed annually by the Japanese Ministry of Education. Therefore, you will have to constantly check that your in-game texts comply with the current writing rules.

And one more feature of the Japanese writing style: words are not separated by spacesas in English. This means that text wrapping must be done manually and in strict accordance with the grammar. Otherwise, you run the risk of breaking the word into strange and grammatically incorrect components. An example of how to do this is Family Island localizationby the company Alconost… This game has a lot of text and each line was hand-crafted.

Add to this what manner of speech in English and Japanese is radically different. The imperative mood is often used in English, but is too strict in Japanese. On the other hand, a neutral phrase in English may sound too informal in Japanese.

Therefore, we recommend avoiding literal translation. Instead, just convey the meaning and context behind the phrase. And don’t forget about words and phrases unique to the Japanese language… For example, the word “Genki” means happy and energetic at the same time).

An example of a video game in Japanese with a really good translation – Ni No Kuni… Some of the dialogue has been rewritten or reinvented to keep the overall cheerful mood of the game.

Avoid potentially sensitive topics

As in any Asian country, there are taboos in Japan on certain topics, such as:
violence: The player should not play the role of an assassin who brutally kills innocent people or children. In addition, excessively cruel and aggressive behavior of the gaming alter ego is not encouraged;
drug use: in video games, it is recommended to completely remove such scenes (if possible);
religion: the game should not extol and praise a particular religious trend.

Consider, for example, a PC game Murder mystery… It was banned from releasing on the console, because as the plot progresses, the player discovers that he is the killer. And such a plot twist in video games is prohibited in the Japanese market.

And one more important detail that game developers should pay close attention to: double check that cultural elements of the game (if any) were Japanese, not Chinese: players may take this as a personal insult.

Provide translators with as much reference material as possible

Returning to the idea context and hidden meaning, even the simplest sentence can be translated in several ways. Therefore, to avoid misunderstandings and to ensure that the translation carries the meaning of the original source, we advise you to provide Japanese translators with as much reference material as possible.

Whenever it comes to omission, it comes to mind Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2… In one of the scenes of the game, the man looks at the player and says: “And remember: not a word in Russian”… You might be thinking, “Well, what can go wrong with the translation of this short phrase?” However, the Japanese translators misunderstood the meaning, so in the Japanese version of the scene an unfortunate line appeared instead of these words: “Kill them: they are Russian”

To get an accurate translation and avoid common language mistakes, give your translators the opportunity to ask questions directly. This can be done either through messenger (e.g. Slack), or via localization platformwhere there is a corresponding function, for example Crowdin

Don’t get rid of all the English text

A common misconception is that absolutely everything needs to be localized. But it’s not always the case. As surprising as it may seem, players expect to see English names or phrases in the game that they like. Therefore, do not cut out the English text entirely. You can leave English words in menu or in certain common phrases… This will definitely please Japanese users, we promise.

Summarize

Localizing video games for the Japanese market is actually much more difficult than meets the eye. But the most important thing is to correctly convey the content and respect the cultural characteristics, style and manner of communication in Japan. Also take care of nice design, addictive gameplay and original, lively dialogues – and Japanese players will warmly welcome your game.

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Alconost professionally deals with localization of games, applications and sites in over 70 languages. Linguistic testing, cloud platform with API, continuous localization, 24/7 project management, any format of string resources.
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