Audience Localisation Essay

Audience Localisation

As the games industry has grown, it has become increasingly important for developers to localise their games, in various ways, to make sure they can reach the largest audience possible. Some have chosen to target a broad national audience, while some opt to tune the game more specifically to a local audience. I believe it is a convenient option but still more important for a developer to target a national audience. By doing this, it means it is easier for developers to cater for specific people without increasing production time or cost too drastically as would be the case if games were frequantly altered for smaller audiences. On a whole, localisation limits the amount of critisism or offence caused through the inclusion of inconsiderate content within a game, such as nuclear references in a game to be sold in Japan, ergo this content would be altered or removed.

Localisation of a game can have a significant effect on the production of a game or even the console that the games were to played upon, which can often  cause problems for developers and platform holders alike. An example of modifications made by platform holders would be Sony, who in a bid to try and out-whit the 2000 games console ban in China, created a unique, more basic version of the Playstation 3, that was ultimately passed by the China Quality Certification Centre. This undoubtedly had a negative effect on Sony's profits, as their console had been denied entry into a country with one of the world's largest population of gamers, but however meant that they could now target an audience who other consoles are still denied access. Furthermore, games are also often altered for a number of reasons, and one a scale that larger and more frequent to that of hardware. Video games are often 'localised' to try and minimise any cultural, legal or hardware problems/limitations, which can often entail the alteration or removal of certain music tracks, linguistics or in-game events (such as those resembling 9/11 would not be included in the American version of the game). Such alterations cost a varying amount of money and time to implement, which can, and often has a negative effect to some degree on the profits of the companies involved. Developers and publishers have to make a joint decision wether to release a game to its primary audience and then delay the release of the 'localised' versions as changes need to be made, or to post-pone the release of all versions until all alterations are made, then have a simultaneous global release date. In comparison to a global release date, profits can often be damaged if a staggered release is decided. An example of this would be the 7 month gap between the Japanese release of Final Fantasy VII, and it's arrival in the United States. In relation to the alteration of offensive material, an example of 'localisation' would be the Japanese PSP version of 'Persona 2'. In this remake, 'Hitler' was changed to 'The Fuhrer', who was given sunglasses and a coat to somewhat disguise his Nazi uniform. Also, All swastikas were removed and replaced with the Iron Cross.

The representation of a game through it's marketing is just as important as that of the game itself. The same criteria for 'localisation' still have to be considered when internationally marketing a game. If something cannot be included in a game due to a particular reason, such themes should and are not used in the game's marketing. For example, swastikas are outlawed in Germany, meaning posters, adverts and other forms of advertisement for say a WWII game, will not include such an emblem in Germany. On a lighter note, however, marketing can be 'localised', not due to restrictions, but as a form of personalisation. An example of such, would be the recent advertisements used for Just Dance 4. In the US version, the advert is longer and includes a typically large american house with players that could be indentified with America, whereas the UK version is notably different. In this version, the rooms and houses are of a smaller, British style,  with the participants wearing items that include union jacks, and that are deemed more 'British' due to factors such as climate. While tailoring advertisements in such a manor may be subtle, it has been proven that it makes a difference, as it creates more of a connection with possible consumers on a more personal level, such as creating some sort of national expression.

In the world today, i believe that to some extent, it is vital for a company to make an effort to localise a game  to the best of their ability. Although in some ways, restrictions have become lax, there are still a number of areas, and cultures that are either easily offended or enhanced when the game nationalised. That is why i believe it is important to localise game, but with the condition that the research is thorough and alterations are made tastefully. It is clear that localisation is still a modern day necessity, with Infinity Ward recently having to alter Modern Warfare 2 almost two years after release as it was deemed offensive to islam by a group of Muslims (distasteful use of Mohammed's name). If localisation of games were to cease, then it would only have to take one in-game event/factor to offend a passionate or powerful group before the consequences were felt globally.