Localize Everything - Finding Hardcore Fans Worldwide - Extra Credits

Okay, the title's a tiny bit of hyperbole, but today I would like to make the business case for localizing basically every game that comes out on a console. This episode is brought to you by Ancestry DNA. Go to ancestry.com/extra or click the link in the description to get a 10% discount. I am sure that you have all had that experience where you've heard about a game that came out in some other region and you were like, "Man, that looks so cool. I wish I could play that." And often those games are the weird ones, the ones that are considered niche because they so strongly hit all of the obscure and not new player friendly things about a particular genre that you love. But of course, because they are considered niche, they're the kind of game that never gets localized. But here's the thing about those niche games, those are exactly the type of games that get people to buy consoles. If you are a tactics game fan and even one really great tactics game comes out exclusively

for a platform, that is going to go a long way toward making your purchasing decision on what console you buy. So, here is the business case for localizing basically everything. All of today's platform holders, Microsoft, Sony, and Nintendo, spend tens of millions of dollars to secure exclusives for their consoles. And that's not just for AAA games, even smaller titles can cost multiple millions of dollars to secure as exclusives. After all, for the developers and publishers of those titles, releasing a game on just one single platform means selling to only a fraction of the gaming market. So, the platform holder has to provide financial incentive to do so. Now, paying to localize games isn't cheap, but it is a lot cheaper than paying for exclusives, which actually puts it in the perfect price range because small to mid-size developers often can't afford to localize their games. They're spending all of their budget just on getting the thing made and out the door. This means that a platform holder, Sony, Microsoft,

or Nintendo, could offer those developers a deal where the devs can launch on all platforms in their native region, just like they normally would, but in return for 6 months to a year of exclusivity in other regions, the platform holder would pay their localization costs to get the game released in those other regions. It's a great deal for the developer because now they get to launch in more regions, and it's a great deal for the platform holder because they get a regional exclusive for pennies on the dollar. Now, there's two reasons why this hasn't been done in the past. The first is retail space. If you are a platform holder, you don't want to be clogging up your section of the GameStop wall with niche games, much less paying to localize games that'll never even be given space on those already crowded shelves. And of course, the corollary to this was you also didn't want to be printing discs and boxes for those games. But that problem is already basically solved. Digital distribution is ubiquitous, and even the most die-hard fans of physical media would prefer having the option to buy digital

copies of great niche games that have been localized to their region. I mean, it's better than those games simply never being localized at all. Of course, there is still the issue of clogging up digital storefronts and running into a Steam situation, but part of that issue comes down to the fact that most every console's digital store really needs a UX overhaul and better methods of discovering new things. Really, if it turned out to be that big an issue, it would be pretty simple to just add one more tab to the store called great games from around the world and shove all of your localized exclusive stuff into that section. If one of them starts really taking off, then you can feature it in the more prominent part of the storefront. Which leads me to the second and arguably much more valid argument against doing this, and the reason you don't see as many games localized today as you might expect. It's not that localization costs are prohibitive, especially if you aren't localizing voice work. The real reason is that marketing these games to a new region can often cost 10 times as much as the

localization itself. But does it have to? For games that have already been published and hyped in another region, I would argue no. Now, I admit that I might be on some shaky ground with this argument because I'm basically saying that you have to trust your most avid customers to actively keep track and pay attention to what you're releasing in their region. Which I know that probably sounds like a terrible idea to any major publisher, but just hear me out for a second. James imported the Korean release of Demon's Souls way before the official US version came out, in part because he'd been a big FromSoftware fan from back in the King's Field days, but also in part because they had done a big Asian marketing campaign. From had gotten Demon's Souls reviewed on a number of Asian region websites and in a number of Asian language magazines. Through the wonders of the internet, that region's marketing push and news of the game's positive reception trickled down to people like James. This is the important difference I'm getting at. Not marketing a game to every new territory

you release in isn't the same as not marketing at all. When a really good indie game gets lost on Steam, it's usually because there's been no good marketing push anywhere. No hype, no developer interviews on sites with a lot of reach, no community building on Reddit, nothing. But when you've already done a major marketing push that's already out there, even though that marketing effort may be in a language foreign to most of the people in the new territory you're localizing to, if the game's good, fans of that genre will find out. They crave this stuff. They will translate those interviews and those articles. They will post those Famitsu review scores. They will transmit that knowledge through the player grapevine. That's the nice thing about niche markets. They are pretty ravenous for those weird games they love. Now, will you get as many sales as you would if you did a full marketing campaign? Certainly not. But, as the platform holder localizing the game, you're only risking the almost negligible cost of localization, and

you'll still reach some of the most passionate players. More importantly, you'll push some of them that much closer to buying your console. And these are the people who will be the loudest voices and your most ardent champions. They are probably the sort of players who get asked all the time by their friends, "Which console should I get?" So, winning those players over is worth a lot. That's even worth the risk of losing the tiny localization investment on most of the games you localize. I mean, heck, if I heard any one of you console holders say, "All right, we're going to localize every crazy thing that gets made for this console, so get ready." I would pick that system up in a heartbeat, just for the opportunity of trying all those wacky games out. Think about it. See you next week. This episode was brought to you by Ancestry DNA, an international service available in over 30 markets where you can discover details about your unique family history. Ancestry's database contains billions of historical records, millions of family trees, and more than

2 million DNA samples. If you order their kit and send in a saliva sample, they can find out where you're from, connect you to distant cousins, even reveal possible ancestors. To start making your own DNA discoveries, go to ancestry.com/extra or click the link down in the description for a 10% discount. And should you happen to learn anything neat about yourself, share with the class by commenting, tweeting, and or posting back using the hashtag my ancestry. Mhm.