Bringing a Game to Japan: the Biggest Do’s and Don’ts
In this article, we’re going to discuss the state of the game industry in Japan as well as why and how you should bring your game there
Japan remains the third largest game market in the world, so it makes sense for game developers to pay attention to it. Even though the Japanese video game market seems to have been shifting and changing in recent years, developers have a good chance to succeed if they can create a game that appeals to audiences’ tastes.
What’s going with the Japanese game market?
The history of Japanese game development companies has been a turbulent one over the last 20 years. Back in 2009, it seemed that it was over for Japan in terms of game development, but in 2017 it made a strong resurgence on the market with such hits as Resident Evil 7 and The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.
If a game development company wants to succeed in the Japanese market, it is important to understand the trends that have emerged in recent years. So, what exactly changed and what do Japanese players crave now?
The first and obvious answer would be the rise of mobile apps. The secret mobile gaming’s immense popularity among Japanese players lies in the fact that Japanese users spend a lot of time commuting, and mobile games are perfect time-killers.
The second major change is that Japanese developers are getting back to basics — they design authentic games without excessive immersion (which is the style that tends to be preferred in the West) but with an interesting design, numerous puzzles, and old-school gameplay. The games still appeal to the Western audience but now they are not “forcing” players to like them with some replica Western design or gameplay.
At the same time, more and more indie game development companies seem to be cropping up and pushing back against the industry giants. This is a particularly interesting trend to keep an eye one, particularly given the fact that Japanese players have been slow to adopt indie games.
With all this in mind, what should game developers consider when localizing and presenting a game to a Japanese market? Let’s have a look.
Video game localization: not the same as translation
An important note: for a game dev company, it is crucial to understand the difference between video game translation and localization. It’s been said a hundred times but is worth repeating — translation and localization are not the same things at all.
Translation is basically putting one language into another so a different audience understands the meaning of the initial copy. Game localization is far more extensive than just translation — it’s the adaptation of the context for another audience. When it comes to video games, it’s simply not enough to just translate and release on a foreign market. Think about all the idioms, tone of voice, gender localization aspects, and myriad other issues that need to be considered.
Take the localization of the MyCafe game by Alconost localization agency as an example. While it’s fully translated in Japanese for the Japanese audience, it also has a Cherry Blossom Season annual event which is dedicated to the Japanese cherry blossom season. For the event, game devs roll out a special marketing campaign and tweak the game design: they add blossoming sakura to the background and the usual waitress is replaced with a Japanese character.
Of course, Asian and Western countries are really different when it comes to languages. Here are some of the biggest things to do and not to do when you prepare a game for the Japanese market.
1. Choose the right genre
According to Statista, in 2019 the top-3 video game genres in Japan were action games, social games, and RPGs. Some of the most popular video game genres in Japan include visual novels, fighting games, and dating simulators. Of course, that doesn’t mean that you must develop a game within these genres if you want to present it to the Japanese audience. However, you might consider these trends if you consider Japan as one of your major markets.
Another thing about Japanese preferences is that users like games that combine several genres. It might be an RPG but it could also contain puzzles to solve — and that’s just one example. So, if you have a game already developed and want to gain traction with Japanese users, do some research and see if it will earn a decent reception or whether you should consider other markets for distribution.
2. Use the right tone of voice and mind the rules
Japanese is a really complex language for those who have no experience with Asian languages.
It has different politeness levels, ways of differentiating the genders during a conversation (first-person pronouns such as boku for men or a gender-neutral watashi), word placement, and hundreds of other aspects.
On top of this, it has three different writing systems (kanji, hiragana, and katakana) that are revised on an annual basis by the Japanese Ministry of Education so you need to keep that in mind too.
One more peculiarity of the Japanese writing style — the words are not separated by spaces like in English. That means that the text wrapping should be done manually and in strict correspondence with the grammar — otherwise, you might risk breaking down a word into weird and grammatically incorrect parts. An example would be the localization by Alconost of the Family Island game that features lots of text and each string was treated manually.
Add to this the fact that the tone of the speech between English and Japanese differs drastically. An imperative form might be OK for English but too strict for Japanese and a neutral phrase in English might sound too informal in Japanese. So, we recommend avoiding a “literal” translation, meaning not reproducing text word for word, but instead taking a more flexible approach aimed at reproducing the meaning and context behind a phrase.
And don’t forget about the typical Japanese words and expressions (i.e. genki which means happy and energetic at the same time) that might be appropriate for a certain phrase.
Another example of a video game in Japanese with a really good translation is Ni No Kuni. Some parts of the dialogues were rewritten and reinvented — all in order to keep up with the overall cheerful tone of the game.
3. Mind the sensitive topics
As any Asian country, Japan has taboos on certain topics, such as:
● Violence: a player should not play the role of a murderer, kill innocent people or children, or express overly violent behavior.
● Drug use: in video games, it should be removed if possible.
● Religion: a game should not promote a particular religion.
Take the PC Murder Mystery game as an example — it was forbidden from distribution via consoles because the player discovers that they are the murderer. And that’s something that is prohibited for a video game in the Japanese market.
One more interesting thing that the game devs should keep in mind: double-check that the cultural elements of the game (if there are any) are Japanese, not Chinese, for example, as that might be offensive to players.
4. Provide lots of references for translators
Getting back to the idea of context and hidden meanings, even the simplest sentence can be translated in several ways. So, in order to avoid any misunderstanding and ensure that the translation corresponds to the initial meaning, it is always a good idea to leave plenty of references for your Japanese translators.
Whenever the topic of misconception comes up, the Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 game almost inevitably always comes to mind. In one of the game’s scenes, a man looks at the player and says “And remember — No Russian”. You might think nothing could go wrong with the translation of just two words. Yet, the Japanese translators got the wrong perception of the meaning so the Japanese version of the scene featured the unfortunate text of “Kill them — They are Russians” instead.
In order to receive an accurate translation and avoid common language mistakes, give your translators an option to ask questions directly. This can be done either via a messenger (i.e. Slack) or via a localization platform with the corresponding feature, such as Crowdin, for instance.
5. Do not cut out all English text
A common misconception is that localization implies translating everything — but that’s not always the case. Surprisingly, players expect and indeed like English titles and phrases so do not cut them out completely. You can leave English on the menu or in some messages to the users. In this way, Japanese players will enjoy the game even more.
Summing up
Localization of a video game for the Japanese market is far more complex than you might imagine.
But the biggest thing to bear in mind is to retain the context and respect the language styles and tones.
Add to that a captivating design, entertaining gameplay, and vivid dialogues, and you feel pretty confident about the reception of your game among Japanese players.
About the author
The article is written by Alconost, a professional localization company.
You might also find useful
How to prepare a game for localization? 10 basic rules
Best languages for game localization
App Promotion in Japan, Korea and China
Translation and localization platforms — tips for agile teams
