A great Localization and Testing event

Game Global Digital Summit 2020 was an amazing experience! We were there as Attendees and Sponsors, and both were a first for us, so we enjoyed every moment of it!

This year’s edition was naturally affected by the pandemic situation worldwide. As a consequence, it was held virtually. A Whova dedicated webpage, Whova’s mobile app, Zoom, Spatial, Hangouts, Teams, Skype, and some other meeting platforms allowed the event to be held surprisingly well. The only natural setback was that as attendees were from all around the world, including Asia, Oceania, and the Americas, they all had to adjust to CEST Berlin’s timeline, at least for presentations. On the other hand, there was no jet lag involved and no
20-hour airplane trip, so that was an interesting trade-off.

A very appealing agenda

The program included a wide variety of topics: from strategies on how to approach WFH, to adding value to localization through data mining, machine translation, or better workflows between interdisciplinary teams. Speakers shared their experiences and dedicated valuable time to answer the questions that the attendees put forward through the app, making it a very open and dialogue-centric experience.

On June 9, these were some of the topics that were discussed:

• Dominick Kelly, from XTM International, and Audrey Lepage, from Bigpoint GmbH, described how they worked together to create a continuous localization process using Git to embed a QA phase, enabling the QA team to capture, edit, and update changes on the fly.
• Mario Bergantiños, from Electronic Arts, held a Keynote in which he presented how data mining can be used to better localize the experience and improve the engagement of gaming audiences, through in-game events and updates. Data mining is a game-changer in every industry, even in gaming. During the session, people were able to realize how relevant localization decisions can be properly influenced by a data-driven business strategy.
• Some different approaches were discussed in a panel on how to adapt Linguistic Quality Assurance to a Working From Home environment in times of social distancing. Lessons learned during the pandemic process were thoroughly discussed by panelists from different areas of the industry:  audio localization (Olivier Deslandes – PTW), functional quality assurance and localization quality assurance (Matt Wilson – Sony Interactive Entertainment;  Chris Rowley – Keywords Studios; Tülay McNally – DICE; Federica Lusardi – Square Enix).
• Very interesting insights were shared on India as a market and the challenges faced when deciding to localize to this huge country of 122 languages. It is mainly a mobile market based on F2P, with ad-based monetization, but where plans to spend money on games are on the rise. Renée Jessen from Character Publishing & Localization treated this topic.
• Industry leaders of companies such as Keywords (Micaela Belluzzo), Altagram (Marie Amigues), Ubisoft (Anca Marica), and LocNapps Media (Shwetank “Tank” Sharma)  discussed aspects related to resource management in a fast-paced industry within the contextual restrictions. Video Game Localization most of the time requires an immense amount of attention to detail which is only possible with a deep knowledge of each specific IP. Deeply knowing each linguistic area of expertise, their cultural knowledge of games and entertainment, different ways to categorize and test them were some of the topics discussed. Different strategies to increase freelancers’ engagement and to score them consistently were later brought to the round table.

On June 10, the sessions pivoted on these topics:

• Valentina Mollica from Testronic discussed Localization QA for Google Stadia as a platform. It was noted that Stadia brings new unique challenges to the process:  the streaming-to-any-device nature of the platform implies that HUD, menus, and relevant information must be adapted and tested on multiple screen variations, with different aspect ratios and resolutions. That’s an important element to be considered on WFH scenarios. Her presentation included a review of the technical setup that led to the successful delivery of several projects and the challenges and opportunities that emerged in the process.
• Playrix specialists, Anastasiia Chertenkova and Kseniya Shorokhova, analyzed Localization and digital marketing processes. Today’s fast-paced workflows force us to integrate localization as early and effectively as possible. And for most games, effective digital marketing must go hand in hand with proper localization. They discussed how they use templates, how they approach fonts in different alphabets, and what are some cultural aspects that they need to take care of when making ads or communicating. They advocated for a more fluent communication between marketing teams and linguistics. Automation of the marketing process was one of the aspects more relevant to the attendees.
• Simulators of any kind usually appeal to gamers very well educated on the specifics. Localizing simulators demand acute work from the localization teams in charge of globalizing the experience. Manuel Verdinelli, from Testronic, held a praised presentation in which he shared some relevant insights out of the successful localization of a very well renowned rally racing simulator that involved voiceover of context-sensitive commentator text. He explained how they approached technical descriptions of customizable components based on real-life models and products, and provided specific examples and solutions implemented by his team while working with the development studio of the game.
• Goodgame Studios’ Clara Gómez Perez and Isabell Rudolph talked about their strategy to gather feedback on the localization of the Company’s games through the use of localization user surveys. The session included best practices and potential pitfalls. It also advocated on how this user feedback can help to improve a localization program and increase the support of the stakeholders. 
• Cristina Anselmi, from Electronic Arts, presented her analysis on the evolution of specific machine translation engines. The case was made (very convincingly) that machine translation will keep growing in reliability over the years. She foresees that automation processes will continue to increase the speed of the translation process without jeopardizing quality. She stated that all languages, no matter how complex, can be effectively approached by machine translation given time.
• Finally, the relationship between Localization and Game Writing first (Blanca Joplin, Socialpoint) and Localization and UX Writing later (Mario Ferrer – UX Writers España; and Patricia Gómez Jurado – King) were the two main topics to finalize the event. Engagement strategies, writing-localization interaction, and UI and localization insights were shared and discussed. Once again, it was reminded that UX design should always be aware of factors that impact localization and integrate related considerations into the design process as a whole.

Our deep gratitude on an awesome experience

Game Global 2020 succeeded in its intent and its first virtual experience was extremely satisfactory both for people who know each other from previous editions and for newcomers.

If there was an idea that implicitly prevailed through each session is that when you build a product from the ground up and localization is conceived as a key process from the beginning, better player engagement, player experience, market penetration and return of investment are a natural consequence. Well implemented technology, reliable vendors and partners, and highly trained resources are critical for brand recognition and localization success, every time.

Thank you so much to Francesca, María, and the rest of GG’s team for a truly wonderful experience! Hoping that next year we can be in the same physical space. Moving virtual bubbles in Spatial was certainly fun, but nothing beats an actual real-life conversation!

A big thank you from the entire Ark One Studios’ Team!