Video Game Localization Services

A game that reads like a translation breaks immersion — and loses players. Taika Translations helps developers and studios deliver unforgettable gaming experiences to audiences across the globe. Localizing games since 2009, we specialize in adapting video games linguistically and culturally, ensuring they resonate with players from every market.

We work with over 300 languages, offering specialized services for Japanese to English game translation, Arabic game localization, Chinese game translation, and more.

Our video game localization services

• Comprehensive game localization — beyond simple translation: we adapt storylines, user interfaces, in-game text, voice-overs, and marketing materials to fit the cultural context of your target markets.
• Mobile game localization — adapt your mobile game for a global market, optimized for app stores and diverse audiences.
• Unity game localization — our team specializes in adapting your game seamlessly within this popular development platform.
• Voice-over and subtitling — enhance player immersion with professionally localized voice-overs and subtitling that stay true to your game’s tone and style.
• Localization testing — ensure functionality and cultural appropriateness with comprehensive testing, covering everything from text display to gameplay adaptation.
• Indie game localization — affordable and flexible solutions tailored for indie developers looking to break into international markets.

Game localization testing (LQA) services: what gets checked

Translation is half the job; the other half is proving the localized build works. Game localization testing puts native-speaker testers in the actual game, playing it in each language, so problems are caught before players and reviewers find them.

• Linguistic, in context — every line read where the player sees it: correct meaning, consistent terminology and item names, and each character’s voice intact across menus, dialogue, tutorials, and quest text.
• Visual and cosmetic — truncated or overflowing text, overlapping UI, missing glyphs, and fonts that cannot display a language’s characters.
• Functional in the localized build — variables and placeholders render correctly, plurals and gendered forms read naturally, dates, numbers, and currencies follow local format, and players can type names in their own script.
• Cultural — symbols, gestures, colors, maps, humor, and references that read differently or cause offense in a target market.
• Audio and subtitles — voice lines match the on-screen text and the subtitles, and subtitles stay readable and in sync.
• Store and marketing text — app-store and storefront listings, patch notes, and trailers checked in the same language as the build.

Every issue is logged with the language, screenshot, steps to reproduce, and severity, in your tracker or ours, and fixes are re-checked in the next build.

Mistakes that break a localized build

Most localization bugs are created before a translator ever sees the text:

1. Hardcoded strings that never reach the string export, so one language ships with English left in it.
2. Concatenated strings — “You found ” + number + ” items” — which cannot be translated into languages with a different word order or plural rules.
3. No context — string IDs with no screenshots, speaker, or character limit, so translators guess whether “Fire” is a verb or a noun.
4. UI with no room to grow, so longer languages truncate.
5. Fonts without the glyphs a market needs — a common surprise when adding Vietnamese, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, or Arabic.
6. No time left for testing between content lock and release, so the localized build ships untested.

Flag any of these when you ask for a quote; fixing them before translation is far cheaper than fixing them after.

What to decide before you localize

• Which markets first. Choose languages from where your players and wishlists already are, not from a generic top-ten list.
• Text only, or full localization. Subtitles over original audio cost less than localized voice-over; many titles localize voice for a few markets and subtitle the rest.
• Who tests. Your QA team can test function, but only native speakers can judge whether the localized game reads naturally.
• Ongoing content. Live games need a repeatable flow for patches, events, and store updates, not a one-off project.

Why choose Taika for video game localization?

• Expertise across platforms — from console games to mobile apps, our team covers a wide variety of platforms and genres.
• Dedicated game localization specialists — experienced specialists who are passionate about gaming and understand its unique challenges.
• End-to-end solutions — we handle every aspect, from translation and voice-overs to localization testing and marketing adaptation.

How to get started

1. Request a free consultation. We’ll get to know your game, platforms, and target markets.
2. Get a customized solution. A localization plan tailored to your title, engine, and launch schedule — with a firm quote.
3. Launch worldwide. Your game reaches new markets feeling native to every player.