Video game localisation players never notice, in the best way
In-game text, dialogue, store pages and localisation QA in 25+ languages, by linguists who play, with formats that merge straight back into your build.
Video game localisation adapts in-game text, dialogue, UI, store pages and marketing for other markets, preserving humour, lore and player experience rather than translating words. Orion Translations localises games in more than 25 languages, working directly in your string formats and offering native-tester localisation QA on the build.
Players forgive bugs sooner than bad translation
Gaming communities screenshot translation failures and share them forever. A wrong item name breaks guides and wikis; flattened dialogue kills a story-driven game; a mistranslated tutorial loses players in the first hour, exactly where reviews are written. Localisation quality is player-facing quality.
Our game linguists are players of the genres they translate, working with a per-title glossary, memory and style guide from the first string export. Creative content is transcreated, jokes are rebuilt rather than transliterated, and native testers play the localised build before your players do.
What does game localisation cover?
| Layer | Content | Approach |
|---|---|---|
| In-game text | UI, menus, items, tutorials, system messages | Per-word, character limits and variables preserved |
| Narrative | Dialogue, lore, quests, cutscene subtitles | Transcreation where the writing demands it |
| Audio | Voice-over scripts, casting and recording | Via our AV team, per-minute pricing |
| Store presence | Steam, console stores, App Store, Google Play | Keyword research per market, not literal tags |
| LQA | Native testers on the localised build | Issues logged in your tracker |
How much does video game localisation cost?
Per word, with UI text at standard technical rates and narrative content higher where transcreation is involved; repeated strings and variables are discounted through translation memory, which matters enormously in games. Store pages and LQA are quoted per market. Send your string export (even a partial one) to info@oriontranslations.com and you will have a per-language fixed quote within one business day.
Which languages, and which Spanish?
EFIGS plus Brazilian Portuguese is the standard first wave, and the Spanish decision deserves care: Castilian and Latin American Spanish differ in gaming vocabulary enough that players notice immediately. We localise into both variants, or advise a single-variant strategy when budget forces the choice. Beyond the first wave: Dutch, Polish, Japanese-adjacent market advice, and 25+ languages in total.
From first export to live patch
Setup: glossary, style guide and memory per language, built from your game bible. Translation: linguists work in your format with the game context, flagging ambiguous strings instead of guessing. LQA: native testers play the build. Live: patches, DLC and season content follow the same pipeline with the same team, typically inside your sprint cadence, the same continuous model as our app localization and software localisation services.
Your game, played and loved in every language it ships in.
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Frequently Asked Questions
- Video game localisation (or localization) adapts a game for other markets: in-game text, UI, dialogue and subtitles, voice-over scripts, store pages and marketing, plus cultural adjustments where content would confuse or offend. The goal is a player experience that feels originally written in the target language, jokes, lore and all.
- Priced per word for text content, with rates depending on language and creativity level: UI strings cost less than narrative dialogue, which often needs transcreation. Word counts in games are deceptive because of variables and repeated strings, so we quote from your actual string export. Fixed per-language quote within one business day.
- The standard first wave is EFIGS (English, French, Italian, German, Spanish) plus Brazilian Portuguese, with Spanish split deliberately between Castilian for Spain and Latin American Spanish, the variants differ enough that players notice. We advise per project based on your platform analytics and target storefronts.
- Yes. We work in your export format (JSON, XML, CSV, PO, spreadsheets or engine-specific formats for Unity and Unreal workflows), preserve placeholders and variables, respect character limits per field, and return files that merge back without engineering cleanup.
- Native testers play the localised build to catch what file-level translation cannot: text overflowing buttons, untranslated strings, subtitles out of sync, jokes that die in context, and cultural issues. LQA is the difference between a localised game and a localised spreadsheet, and we strongly recommend budgeting for it.
- Yes: Steam, PlayStation Store, Xbox and Nintendo eShop pages, App Store and Google Play for mobile, plus trailer subtitles and voice-over. Store page localisation is the highest-ROI first step, it drives the purchase decision, and we research what players actually search per market rather than translating tags literally.
- A game glossary and translation memory from day one: item names, abilities, lore terms and UI vocabulary locked per language, applied across DLC, patches and sequels. The same linguist team stays on your title, so season 4 content matches the base game.