How the Sausage Gets Made
Some of the Costs Associated w/ Localization (Digital-only*)
*Costs associated with the actual printing, approval, design, delivery, cost of shelf space, advertising , etc. aren’t something I know the exact $ specifics of, but they are very significant.
Licensing a game & dev team time: Dev time is money
The right to publish a game in another territory can cost some serious money. What you’re paying for here are the distribution rights, licensing fees, and for the team to not only implement your text but also work with you through the QA process to make adjustments. Even modestly-sized projects can last many, many months, so the dev team needs to be secured for putting the text in and then later on for builds/inserting fixes even if QA comes a month or two later down the line after implementation.
Programming work extras: English menus and graphics also have to be redone, so it’s not just a matter of handing over English text and them copy/pasting it somewhere. Artists often have to work to retool this stuff before it can be added in. Programming-wise, internal codes have to be switched to add service ID, communication IDs, windows have to be adjusted to accommodate the translation because English takes up more space, etc.
Translation & Editing: Less people is better
This includes not just text, but digital manuals as well which adds to time/design costs. <– don’t forget.
The size of the game and deadline sets your team numbers, basically. At XSEED we prefer to have as small a team as possible to ensure consistency of text and tone, but if the game is huge and the deadline is tight, we’ve thrown as much as 3 translators and 2 editors at titles before. Obviously, the more cooks you have in the kitchen, the greater the chance of fuck ups, so ideally you want less people. Just hiring 5 translators to bang out your text does get it done fast, but then you have to sort those 5 different styles into a single game. It’s not pretty. Less is more here and throwing more people at it tends to make it worse.
Extras: Having a proofer go over the edited files would be a useful addition after the editing phase, but that’s considered extra. Usually it’s up to editors to sort that out and then QA to catch misses.
Voice Recording: Studio + actors + directors + producers = oh my
Recording is a huge part of the process even if it only takes a month or so to wrap up.
Script – You’ll get the Jpn original, but have to add in the English equivalents. Often, there are time limits on the length of the Japanese voices that have to be matched in-game. This is for game size reasons, scene length, lip flaps if the scene is animated, etc. Restricted length adds time to recording, so your recording costs will go up accordingly.
Work on scripts can also only be done towards the end or after editing has been finished because you need in-game lines for the script so that they match the internal text. One of the great joys of recording is finding out in the studio that a line in game is entirely too long for the voiced file and you have to edit/rewrite on the fly. This is often caught when you’re working up the script (as editor and then manager I used to do these), but there’s always something. Always.
Sound Technician – The sound board jockeys. They capture the lines, fix the quality, and handle all the voice files. (*part of the overall studio cost you’re paying for)
Actors – Maybe you have an awesome budget and can afford one VA per character, but this usually isn’t the case. Most VAs can expect to voice at least 2-3 characters (1 main, 2 NPC, etc.) in a game for smaller budget titles. (*part of the overall studio cost you’re paying for)
Director – This is usually part of the overall studio deal. These guys and gals run the show while you’re there and direct the VA/ensure pace is being met so that the schedule holds. Some companies have their own personnel for this, so it’s not a certain cost (though usually). I did this when the director was also a VA in the game or they had some schedule conflicts. (*usually part of the overall studio cost you’re paying for)
Producer/Company Rep – It’s imperative to have someone who knows the text (usually the editor of script maker) attend recording. They’re there to explain characters, context, clarify lines, rewrite, direct, and basically approve the takes as they come in. Sure you can just hand off your script to a studio and say ‘go nuts’, but it’s your funeral. (*not part of the studio ‘budget’)
Translator – Not sure for other companies, but we usually send 2 people to recording, and one of them is a Japanese speaker. Most everyone at XSEED speaks or reads Japanese (to varying degrees), but when you’re uncertain of a line it’s best to check in with a native speaker to make sure you have the original intention of the line correct. (*not part of the studio ‘budget’.)
Notes on subtitles-only (because people think they can just cut costs by not recording): You say that Japanese-only is fine for you, but a publisher loses a significant chunk of sales if there is not an English dub. Is it worth it for the company to release a game with so much of their potential audience written off? Not usually. There are exceptions, of course (companies with smaller expectations for one), but it can have a huge impact on your sales/audience reached. If a company were aiming for a dual release (digi and physical) then a dub is almost always needed because it’s difficult to get store placement otherwise.
And, as others have said, the voices are not often even licensable for an NA/EU release.
Please see Tom’s posts below for more info.
Ratings: This shit ain’t free, takes time to prepare and submit, and it is required if you want to release in these territories.
ESRB (US Rating)
PEGI (EU Rating)
UK Rating
USK (German Rating)
Aus/NZ Rating
DJCTQ (Brazilian Rating) You’ll need a physical proxy in Brazil currently to even get this.
GSRR (China) (Game Software Rating Regulations)
QA: Internal, external, text, compliance, etc.
Depending on the size of your game and the complexity (multiplayer? DLC? Branching storylines?) you’ll need at least a month, usually way more for this. Cost-wise, unless you have an internal team that knows all the latest compliance rules and how to test them, you’ll be hiring one of the outside QA companies to make sure all your region settings are correct, the ratings are set correctly, people aren’t sticking to buildings and exploding (this has happened), etc.
Your internal team will usually comb for text bugs, check manuals, do playthrough, etc.
QA can be hell, and skimping on costs here always bites you in the ass later.
Submission: Time is money
Submitting to first party doesn’t cost you a fee, but it is something that takes a lot of prep and checking to make sure it’s done right and then you have to babysit it as it goes through and address all bugs that come up, changes you’re asked to make, and sometimes have a spirited back and forth on things you think deserve to be waived. Sometimes for the more complicated and contentious bugs, you’ll have people from the first party in other territories weighing in as well, so your ‘bug’ could take weeks to sort as everyone has their say. Failing master will cost you more time and therefore more money because the dev team (who probably thought they were finished) now have to hang around and fix whatever the issue is and then wait again for resubmission to run its course.
Marketing: Plans, people, designers, ad space, websites, etc.
Most people think commercials or GameStop store cardboard cut outs and promotions when they think ‘marketing’ for games, but a lot of the work includes stuff like the website (from scratch and written up by your internal team or translated and touched up?), press blasts, sending out review copies, arranging/doing Q&As, interviews, etc. Everyone seems to take this stuff for granted, but it takes people and effort and therefore more time and money. Granted, big money comes into play when you do ad placements, banners, and the like, but just depends on your budget, really.
Other localization considerations:
EU Release Work (a la me (XSEED)) - http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=99968774&postcount=83
Voice Rights and Availability (a la Tom (XSEED))- http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=525009%29
General Trials and Tribulations of Publishing Localized Games (a la Hatsuu (XSEED)) - http://hatsuu.tumblr.com/post/55401774233/why-video-games-take-so-long-to-publish
Problems with Using Kickstarter for Localization: One POV (Wired article - XSEED) - http://www.wired.com/gamelife/2012/02/kickstarter-blindside/all/
Very Detailed Info on the Work That Goes Into the Text w/ Charts and Examples (a la Hatsuu via Kotaku) - http://kotaku.com/getting-jrpgs-out-in-english-is-harder-than-you-think-1441094168
tl;dr - Localization takes a lot of fucking work.
*11/25: Added China’s rating. Thanks, @__VAGABOND.
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