Global by Design

The final installment of Microsoft’s best-selling game franchise Halo is now in stores everywhere. I took a moment to check out the Web site — which is probably about as close as I will get to owning the game.
First off, Halo 3 has been localized into 17 languages. This is a major product release for [...]

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Like Hollywood studios, video game makers are upping the stakes on global launches of new products — trying to reach more markets more quickly. But to do so successfully requires a signficant investement in product localization.
Video game maker EA announced yesterday that it was opening a game localization center in Singapore for serving the Asian [...]

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For Microsoft’s video game Halo 2 to become a global success story, the game needed to be localized for the world.

Easier said that done.
JBL Localization issued a press release announcing their role in creating a Latin American Spanish version of Halo 2. The release sheds light on just how complex video game localization can be. [...]

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Here is an interesting Q&A with Peter Moore, global marketing chief of Microsoft’s Xbox. They have offered a subscription-based, online Xbox service for a couple years now and we find that Microsoft now offers the service in 24 countries and has over a million subscribers. Not too shabby.
Here the most relevant excerpt from the interview:
We [...]

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I recently interviewed Heather Chandler, author of The Game Localization Handbook.

Game localization is much more than a niche industry these days. Today, video games may be console-based, Internet-based, and even phone-based. It’s a fascinating, emerging industry. In the interview, Heather provides a number of insights:

Game localization is a growth industry. Heather provides tips for those [...]

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