Localization?

chrstahl89

Do any of you guys get more hits by changing the info/instructions to another language and adding localization? Or would it not be worth my time.

Ignis

I was recently curious about the same thing, but I don't have an answer (yet). If localization does increase hits and sales, I wonder which languages would be most useful? Spanish almost certainly. The IPad is apparently selling like mad in China, which signifies a huge target group of users. Japanese might also be useful. Those latter two might be a bit more complicated, but even some basic instructions and changes to the user interface using Chinese characters and Japanese kanji/katakana could appeal to those users.

Beyond that, if the game was really marketable, you could consider German, French, Italian, Korean, etc.

Anyway, good topic, and something to consider...

firemaplegames

I haven't yet, but an easier thing to try, would be to add different languages to the iTunes App Store Description.

You could add a block of text for each language, maybe also put the instructions in there as well.

That way you don't need to make any new art assets.

It has been my experience that foreign sales do not account for too much of the total sales. My games are in English, so it's probably not too accurate of a test, but my iPad game, Stunt Squirrels HD is currently in the top 20 overall games in 15 different countries right now - but most of my sales still come from the US.

My first GS game, Danger Cats!, hit #1 in iPhone games in the country of Moldova - which equated to 1 sale over a two week period. It was #3 in China with 2 sales.

Anyway, several blocks of text in the description might be an interesting experiment to target different languages.

firemaplegames

design219

firemaplegames said:
It has been my experience that foreign sales do not account for too much of the total sales.

But that makes one wonder if that's because most games are in english.

I would like to know statistics on iPhone/iPod/iPad ownership in other countries. Does anyone have a link to a source for that info?

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Tickle Stones http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/tickle-stones/id363484260?mt=8
Food Fight! (free) http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/food-fight/id352646643?mt=8

design219

Why is the above post not showing?

*edit: this didn't bump the thread either. Curious.

design219

Hello, testing. I think I broke the forum. No bumpy.

design219

One more try... bumpity bump bump.

design219

Bump Dammit!