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ncompassing everything from boundary-pushing, big-budget blockbuster titles to the lucrative mobile game market, video games are the world’s biggest entertainment industry. And with the Nintendo Switch 2 landing this month, June 2025 represents another industry milestone moment as new hardware opens new possibilities for developers.
As is often the case, unsung heroes in the game industry go the extra mile to deliver exceptional titles. Chief among them? Localization teams! If you’ve ever played a game with a subpar translation, you know how much confusion and frustration mangled language and confusing user interfaces can create. With features like voice acting, lip syncing, and ever-more sophisticated animations now commonplace, there’s even more room for top-notch localization professionals to contribute. That’s to say nothing of the culturalization experts who ensure games avoid unnecessary offense and keep the focus where it matters: engaging game design and resonant artistry, narratives, and experiences.
In this month’s MultiLingual magazine, we give those unsung heroes a little trumpeting. From the fictional languages that make our game worlds more immersive to the considerations of culturalization to the impact of properly localizing game covers and cover art, we dig into all the details that make a worldwide hit. Game localization expert Marina Ilari, meanwhile, went straight to the professionals to learn how women localization professionals carved out a space for themselves in the gaming world.
Whether or not you play games, there’s no denying the medium’s impact on culture and the language industry. We hope this month’s magazine sheds some light on the many stories that made that reality possible.
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PAST TENSE
Stick-Joy and Joysticks
A Gen-Xer’s take on gaming, language, and the alchemy of translation
The author shares his impressions on how games travel across language and culture, drawing comparisons among make-believe games, board games, and video games. He asserts that game localization is not duplication, but rather a strategic reenactment and even a form of diplomacy.
Games
Crafting Fictional Languages for Immersive Game Worlds
Video game developers create fictional languages to enhance world-building, immerse players, and foster communities. Tamara Tirják, head of localization at Frontier Developments, discusses considerations when developing these languages, focusing on the Planco language from Planet Coaster and Planet Zoo.
Culturalization in Video Game Localization: Beyond Translation
By Marina Ilari and Sham AlBdour
Adapting game elements like character design, storylines, and themes to fit cultural norms can significantly increase engagement. The authors detail the Tiny Minies app’s local culturalization strategies for the Middle East and North Africa region, a fast-growing gaming market with a substantial Arabic-speaking population.
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What’s in a Cover?
The art and localization of video game covers
By Marina Ilari
Successful localization of cover art requires understanding cultural differences to attract local players. In this article, the author analyzes different regions’ cover art for two games, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and Carmageddon.
Localization in the Gaming Industry
An interview with women leaders in the field
By Marina Ilari
Women leaders in the gaming industry’s localization field from diverse backgrounds share their professional journey, current role, what they love about the gaming industry, and more.
Machine Translation for Game Localization
An updated conversation with Social Quantum’s Mikhail Gorbunov
Interview by Yulia Akhulkova
In the spring of 2021, this magazine published an interview with Mikhail Gorbunov in which he spoke about his experience implementing machine translation (MT) at Social Quantum. Now, four years later, a lot has changed in the MT landscape. So, Mikhail agreed to revisit this subject and discuss the new technologies and strategies he uses for game localization.
Business
From Business Intelligence to Business Wisdom
LSP growth through more strategic account management
The author discusses the importance of strategic account management for language service providers (LSPs) in the face of AI advancements, arguing that account management is often overlooked and underutilized, despite being crucial for organic growth and customer loyalty.
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We Taught AI to Speak Human. Meet Lara.
Supported by Translated
20% higher quality, significantly faster translations, seamless scalability, and remarkable fluency: Translated’s Technology Evangelist Kirti Vashee explains how Lara empowers localization managers as strategic partners in global enterprise initiatives.
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