Marina Ilari
Marina is an ATA-certified translator and CEO of Terra, where she leads a talented team of 230 employees. She has two decades of expertise in the translation industry with a focus on video game localization. She also serves as an Adjunct Professor at New York University, where she teaches Audiovisual Translation.
Reframing Quality in Video Game Localization
With the advent of AI, video game localization quality must shift beyond linguistic accuracy to player experience and business impact. The author offers a framework for thinking about quality, focusing on content performance (engagement, retention) and connecting operational metrics to business outcomes.
What’s in a Cover?
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
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.
Culturalization in Video Game Localization: Beyond Translation
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.
What the “Game of the Year” Award Means for Localization Trends in 2025
This article examines the globalization strategies and translator crediting practices of last year's award nominees, including the winner: Astro Bot by Team Asobi.
How Do You Do It All?
There are many remarkable businesswomen who seem to be “doing it all” in their work, families, and social lives. But Marina Ilari stresses that these women don’t have superpowers — they make tradeoffs and ask for help when needed.
Marina Ilari
"The initiatives I get involved with are about effecting change and making a difference — whether it's in a particular industry, community, or broader societal issues. If that’s influencing, then I’m all about it!"
Translators and Ninjas
Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice is an action-adventure game developed by FromSoftware and published in 2019 that won several awards, including Game of the Year at The Game Awards 2019. The game follows a shinobi known as Wolf, who attempts to take revenge on a samurai clan that imprisoned him and kidnapped his lord. As a gamer unfamiliar with the Souls series, saying this game was hard to play is probably an understatement.
The Challenge of Localizing Video Games for Latin American Spanish
As a kid, I did a lot of pretending with my younger brother. We would talk through our toys and act out all kinds of scenarios with them. What I didn’t realize at the time is that the voices we gave our toys didn’t sound like our Argentinean voices at all. Our toys actually spoke neutral Latin American Spanish because that’s what we were accustomed to hearing actors use on TV and in movies.