So I have a new game that I am releasing soon. I have seen a lot of games have translations to other languages, and I was wondering, do they actually help? My recent game didn’t go above 500 players concurrently, even though 34k was put into advertising. I was wondering if maybe that was the reason why. If it does help, what do I translate and how do I do it? Do I just put a script in to see what language the player is, and do I just translate the text on certain ui’s.
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Firstly, you should have used with player counts in the title instead of for player count.
Secondly, while it will help with your game a bit since it allows another country’s to understand your game It probably won’t make an extreme difference in player count.
Sincerely
funkmeist123.
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In my opinion,yes translating a server would kinda help with player counts as people who don’t speak english would bww able to play and understand your game.
However, many developers have been known to recreate their game using different languages foe those who can’t speak english.
I think this is more relative to how popular your game already is. If you don’t have a steady stream of players, I don’t think you will have an easy time attracting other language speaking players to your game. If you already have several thousand concurrent players, then it is more likely that there are players that speak other languages that will run into your game and see that it is translated for them. At which point they tell some of their buddies and maybe a noticeable amount of them start to play.
To be honest though, I have left game servers numerous times because nobody spoke my language and I ended up not really playing that game. I think it can be harmful to your player base if it is a communication dependent game and there are tons of other language speaking players.
Does translating a game help for player count?
If you have ever heard of the Innovation Space Ship then you will notice it has many more players then it used to have. Back in 2018 before it was translated it had around 200 concurrent players. Now it has over 400 players now that the game is translated to over 3 languages.
So, with that being said yes it does affect your player count.
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having translations can really help,
then your game may appeal to people with other languages
If a game is not attracting players that speak the same language as your own then it is unlikely that offering alternative languages will attract a multitude of players from other countries. I think that the higher priority should be to offer an engaging gameplay experience. However, if your game is building traffic (aimed at one language base) then it can only help if you add other routes of entry to your game, for those who speak an alternative language. I would advise you, however: do take care that when you offer alternative translations, that these are checked by a native speaker. Software translations are not always 100% efficient and, speaking as a native English speaker, when I have experienced text that has been translated from an alternative language, the experience has not always been pleasant. With respect to you: do not risk alienating your market by offering shoddy translations that do not show respect to the native tongue of the player.
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A lot of people doesn’t understand English that well. Sometimes they can easily figure things out without the need of words, but slightly more complex games can be a challenge for players who doesn’t understand & therefore desides to not play the game. Translating the game itself will give the game more players, the game page isn’t that neccessary as many players doesn’t read the description & thet title & thumbnails is what mainly catches a player.
I don’t think anyone has a definite answer proven with evidence. Roblox still hasn’t released country and language demographics.
Games improved because of localization isn’t proof, other factors must have come into play to affect overall player count. I could play games as a child even if it challenges my reading ability and language skills, because I know how games work and can assume how to finish a level. You don’t need to localize if you don’t have enough funds to do so, you can replace those by creating tutorials that either uses simple and commonly used words or with graphics and people will understand.
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