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If you’re planning to localize your game for different audiences, you should definitely consider Asian markets. Some Asian countries are absolute global leaders in the gaming industry: for instance, China, Japan, and South Korea are all in the top 4 by revenue after the US. Other markets (Southeast Asia and the Middle East) are some of the most rapidly growing ones, especially in the sector of mobile gaming.
The APAC region is projected to generate increasingly higher revenues compared to all other regions:
Gaming revenue by region. Source: Statista
While Asia is an intricately diverse continent with many linguistic nuances and cultural sensitivities specific to each region, localizing a game for different Asian players can greatly pay off.
In this post, we’ll sum up the most important facts to know about Asian markets and the crucial things to be aware of when preparing your game for localization.
Overall, there are more than a billion players in Asia, with the biggest number of them playing mobile games (871 million in 2024). Besides the growing mobile game popularity, console and PC gaming, professional esports, and video game streaming are engaging increasingly more people in various Asian regions.
Asian gamers by market. Source: Statista
Before we dive into the best practices of Asian game localization, let’s get an overview of regions and countries you can target:
To learn more about how to successfully launch your game in these countries, check out guides to Chinese, Japanese, and Korean localization
>> Learn more about the intricacies of entering Southeast Asian markets
>> Learn more about adapting your game to Arabic
Before you prepare your game for the localization process, you should research target markets and plan which countries you want to enter and when. You’ll need to learn about each country’s regulations so that game publishing issues don’t delay your release and discover the cultural norms and preferences that your localization should cater to.
Every country—and sometimes, even every region within a single country—requires a unique approach and a separate localization project. However, there are several things that are common for Asian markets and by knowing which, you’ll be more ready to plan efficient game translation.
We’ll cover 10 essential things to consider before planning game localization for Asian countries.
Most Asian countries are very sensitive to topics of religion and sexuality. In most cases, you’ll need to remove any references to these topics or tone them down. For instance, the Cyberpunk 2077 game, which remains popular in Asian markets, had to censor its localized versions: sex scenes are removed in Japan, Saudi Arabia, and UAE.
Another thing that is not acceptable in the majority of Asian countries is excessive violence and gore. China applies some of the most extreme regulations in this regard, pushing developers not only to remove cruel scenes but also to replace any depiction of blood and bones.
Example of skeleton replacement in the Chinese version of Hand of Fate. Source
Besides that, your game risks being banned if its content includes references to gambling, it features some historical or political messages related to target countries, or it has characters that promote a dangerous lifestyle. Always double-check the rules of game publication in each particular country to make sure that nothing in your game can be perceived as offensive.
Finally, the culturalization of a game isn’t limited to removing forbidden topics. You can completely rethink the game’s interface, certain characters, or locations to make your product more relevant to the target audience. For instance, players from West Asian countries are used to UIs that might seem cluttered to the Western eye because they like to have all the game options presented on screen. Or, they might prefer a different style of character design: for example, the Burn the Rope game was redesigned for Japan to feature a different main character:
English and Japanese versions of the Burn the Rope game. Source
In some Asian countries, the game approval process will take a long time, and you need to take that into account when planning your release.
For example, in many cases, foreign game developers are required to register as a local business entity in order to publish their games (in China, India, Indonesia, Vietnam, Malaysia, and other countries). It takes additional time and effort to prepare documentation for that, and sometimes, it makes sense to partner with a local company as an intermediary that will publish a game on your behalf.
Learn more about all the steps you need to take to publish a game in China
Another thing you should be aware of is that the approval procedure will assign a rating to your game which defines the appropriate age group. If you want to target the young demographic of players specifically, dig deeper into age restrictions to make sure that your game can be assigned to the correct group.
Speaking of the linguistic parameters, the overwhelming majority of Asian languages require special attention to fonts. Some of them consist of logographic characters (Chinese), some combine logographic characters with phonetic alphabets (Japanese), some use abugida scripts (Thai, Indian), some are written from right to left (Arabic), and some rely on Latin script but feature diacritical marks.
You should make sure that all scripts you use in a game support each target language and display everything correctly. It also makes sense to check the sizes of different text blocks because some Asian languages will take more vertical space than others.
In most cases, non-Latin script will coexist with the Latin-based one because some terminology is better left untranslated. Therefore, different writing systems should look natural when they are combined in the game’s UI. Here’s an example of Thai localization with a couple of words left in English:
Thai script in the Coral Island game. Source
When it comes to Arabic speakers, they are used to layouts that are geared towards the right-to-left orientation of their language. It would be a missed opportunity not to rethink the UI so that all elements are perceived naturally. For instance, Western players expect to have settings on the left, while Arabic players would prefer to have them on the right.
If your game features a lot of dialogues that reflect different relationships between characters, translators should be careful with different degrees of formality and politeness that exist in certain Asian languages (Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese, and others).
When a character speaks to their friends, the language should follow different grammar rules and patterns compared to when they address strangers, older people, officials, etc. One of the most significant characteristics of formality levels is the usage of pronouns. The abovementioned languages have a diverse range of pronouns that are used in different settings. Here’s an example of how two personal pronouns that have slightly different degrees of formality in Japanese are used in the Witcher 3 localization:
Japanese pronouns in Witcher 3. Source
It’s crucial to have a convenient game localization tool that will allow you to add screenshots, comments, and other contextual materials. Given the nuances of some Asian languages, translators should always understand the bigger picture behind each phrase or word: for instance, if it’s from a dialogue, they should know who is speaking and to whom.
This tip goes in line with the previous one. It’s essential to provide context for all placeholders that will be dynamically filled with text based on the player’s input or setting changes. On top of that, translators will often need to restructure sentences that contain placeholders.
For instance, many Asian languages follow the subject-object-verb logic in building sentences. Say, there’s a phrase in the game related to a new item (“You received [item name]”): it should be restructured so that the placeholder precedes the verb.
Here are some of the most common linguistic aspects that might impact placeholder placement or lead to incorrect translations:
Spacing and line breaks can also cause problems during game translation. In many Asian languages (Japanese, Thai, and others), there are no spaces between words. You should instruct your developers to ensure the following:
While Asian languages typically don’t tend to have long words like some European ones, you still need to prepare your game’s designs to be dynamically resized without impacting the whole layout.
It’s especially relevant if you’re not using English in all capital letters because, with languages like Japanese or Korean, the letters will take much more vertical space. Here’s an example of an in-game message that is longer in Japanese but designed in a way where the text field automatically adapts to the text size:
Text in Japanese and English in the Hidden Through Time game
A game localization project isn’t finished once all in-game contents are translated and culturalized. You’ll also need to think about local marketing to engage with the audience better.
Thus, explore what messaging apps are popular among target players, what payment gateways they’re using, what streaming platform they’re following, and so on. In many cases, Asian countries will have their own ecosystem of websites and apps that are more popular than the ones in the West. For example, Chinese live-stream on Bilibili instead of Twitch or YouTube, while Koreans learn about new games primarily from the Kakao Games service.
Game broadcast on the Chinese platform Bilibili
As diverse as it is, Asia can open doors to many gaming markets. Some of them are already generating the biggest global revenues, while others are the fastest-growing in the world.
To gain a following among Asian players, thoroughly research their markets and culture before game localization. You need not only to properly translate your game but also make it culturally relevant: this process may include removing sensitive topics, adding local elements, redesigning the UI, and many other things.
It’s also crucial to know about the linguistic nuances beforehand. Many Asian languages have writing systems that differ from the Latin alphabet and require special attention when it comes to fonts, line wrapping, placeholders, etc.
If you’re looking for professional game localization services, drop us a line. We’ll discuss your project and help you prepare your product for a successful launch in Asian countries.
Game localization and translation can be challenging, especially when deciding which top languages to translate games into. Choosing between popular European languages or targeting Asian markets may seem daunting. Keep reading to learn about essential languages for translation and important considerations for game localization costs.
Learn about the benefits of localizing your game for the SEA region and the best industry practices to enter the gaming market in Indonesia, Vietnam, Thailand, and other Asian countries.
