Top Global Markets for Online Games (and how to speak to the gamers) David Lakritz Language Automation, Inc. ION ‘08 May 13, 2008

Overview Worldwide online game market survey Round-the-world tour Success factors Multicultural game deployment Conclusions

WW Online Game Market ($B) Data: DFC Intelligence

ROW Online Game Market ($B) Data: DFC Intelligence

Breakdown by Genre (2007) Data: DFC Intelligence

Breakdown by Genre (2012) Data: DFC Intelligence

WW Market Drivers Broadband penetration Increased acceptance of online game play Plummeting cost and accessibility of technology Social networking phenomenon

WW Market Drivers Broadband penetration Increased acceptance of online game play Plummeting cost and accessibility of technology Social networking phenomenon

Growth in Broadband Data: DFC Intelligence

Growth in Broadband wrt market Data: DFC Intelligence

Where the gamers are

Asia 50%

North America 30%

20% Europe

Asia

1.China 2.S. Korea 3.Japan 4.Taiwan Australia Hong Kong Singapore

China Broadband penetration –12% HH Languages –Simplified Chinese

China – cultural taboos –Number four (4) is bad luck, number eight (8) is good luck –Never wear red to a funeral, only black –Do not sweep the floor the first day of the Chinese New Year –Don’t wash your hair either (it might wash away your wealth)

China – regulatory issues 10 separate agencies independently regulate and police the game industry 21 documents need to be filed Sale of console hardware is banned. The Ministry of Culture publishes a list of banned content. Any other content forbidden by laws and regulations is also banned. The Great Firewall

China – top 10 online games [2007] Source: China Analyst

S. Korea Broadband penetration –80% HH Languages –Korean

S. Korea – regulatory issues Video game violence is controversial in South Korea. For a long time many games were banned Strategy changed with launch of GRB (Game Rating Board) in Oct Now, violent games are rated.

S. Korea –popular online games [2006] Lineage Kingdom of the Wind Mu Laghaim Ragnarok Fortress Kart Rider Casual games are popular –many portals Source: DFC Intelligence

Japan Broadband penetration –51% HH Languages –Japanese

Japan – cultural taboos Don’t stick your chopsticks into your bowl of rice, because that’s what is done at funerals. Don't point with your chopsticks. Don't, while talking to a superior, refer to them with "you."

Japan – regulatory issues Games are rated by the Computer Entertainment Rating Organization (CERO) Violent games are tolerated, but games with excessive violence are censored In Japan, more attention is on pornography

Japan – popular online games Table/card games RPGs Puzzles However, Japanese typically not big on hardcore MMOGing

Rest of Asia CountryLanguageBB (%HH) Taiwan Traditional Chinese 61% Australia English (U.K.) 41% Hong Kong Traditional Chinese 83% Singapore English (U.K.), Simplified Chinese 68% Source (BB%) : DFC Intelligence

Rest of Asia - regulatory Australia – rating done by Office of Film and Literature Classification Singapore – new age-based rating system introduced 2 categories: Age Advisory (> 16) and M18 (> 18) Everything else approved for general consumption

Europe

1.France UK Germany Italy Spain Netherlands 2.Belgium Sweden Switzerland Denmark Portugal Austria Finland Norway

Europe (1) CountryLanguageBB (%HH) FranceFrench36% UKEnglish (UK)35% GermanyGerman23% ItalyItalian30% SpainSpanish (Castilian) 40% NetherlandsDutch62% Source (BB%) : DFC Intelligence

Europe (2) CountryLanguageBB (%HH) BelgiumFrench Dutch (Belgian) 53% SwedenSwedish41% SwitzerlandGerman French Italian 41% DenmarkDanish68% PortugalPortuguese (Iberian) 41% AustriaGerman42% FinlandFinnish61% NorwayNorwegian54% Source (BB%) : DFC Intelligence

Europe – cultural taboos UK - Asking anyone over 30 how old they are, or asking anyone how much they weigh. Especially women. UK - Pointing at people. Spain, Belgium – Making jokes about the King or his family. Netherlands – Making fun of Dutch people thinking they all live in windmills, love tulips, eat lots of cheese and own cows.

Europe - regulatory Many ratings agencies Europe (excluding Germany) - Pan European Game Information (PEGI) Germany - Unterhaltungssoftware Selbstkontrolle (USK) Finland - Valtion elokuvatarkastamo, Finnish Board of Film Classification United Kingdom - British Board of Film Classification

Europe - games WOW Much crossover with NA MMOGs Soccer Social gaming Spain: racing and sports games UK: FPS

North America

A Word about North America “Canada” – 10% of U.S. pop. but higher per capita BB penetration Canada is much less regulated than the U.S. Canadian French is NOT European French Canada (including French-speaking Quebec) uses the same ESRB rating system as the United States.

Western MMOGs (4/08) Source: MMOGChart.com

Global Market Success Factors Tailor your game to the market linguistically and culturally Understand the target market; work with a local expert Start early in the creative process There are no right answers, it depends on your target audience

Multicultural Game Deployment Creative issues –Localized -> Internationalized -> Globalized Database organization –Flat vs. hierarchical (region/country) Operation & Maintenance –Localization process/workflow  Critical factors for successfully deploying an online game across multiple languages and cultures

Typical flat database organization Localized content L1L2L3L4L5L6L7

Hierarchical database organization Europe Global content Country / Region Management Layer Localization Layer L1L2L3L4L5L6L7 NA Japan China

MMOG Localization Workflow Server Client Asset DB CMS Content Creators Localized Strings Linguistic QA Team L10 Vendor Create Content Translate Linguistic QA Deploy

Conclusions Maturing market will demand better localized, culturally tailored content Work with local experts and start early in the creative process Build a solid infrastructure that can scale with the market The world is actually a small place

Questions? David Lakritz Language Automation, Inc.