Basically, there are a few factors besides the word count that impact the bottom line when it comes to localization services, including the number of languages you’re localizing into, how popular they are, how many repetitions there are in the text, and more. If you’d like to learn more about what goes into pricing, check out our article “How Much Does Game Localization Cost?”
But you do need a general idea, and so we went ahead and listed the cost of localizing into the most common language pairs sorted by region.
PRICING FOR GAME LOCALIZATION
| Language pair for localization | Rate per word, USD |
| English – French, German, Spanish(EUR), Portuguese(EUR), Korean, Hindi, Thai, Malay | 0.13 – 0.14 USD |
| English – Italian, Greek, Hungarian, Romanian, Czech, Polish, Spanish( LATAM), Portuguese (BRZ) | 0.12 – 0.14 USD |
| English – Russian | 0.07 – 0.08 USD |
| Chinese Simplified / Korean – Russian | 0.07 – 0.08 USD |
| English – Chinese Simplified, Turkish, Vietnamese, Indonesian | 0.11 – 0.13 USD |
| English – Chinese Traditional, Japanese, Tagalog | 0.13 – 0.15 USD |
| English – Dutch, Swedish, Danish, Finnish, Norwegian, Hebrew, French Canadian, Arabic TEP | 0.16 – 0.18 USD |
Note that repetitions are translated free of charge. For an exact quote and project timeline, send us a request.
The cost of localization for most projects is calculated using a rate per word, with English as the source language. However, our portfolio also includes a number of projects where we translated from Chinese, Russian, and Korean (incidentally, the Allcorrect Group uses native speakers living in countries where the localization target language is spoken).
If you’re not sure which language pairs to go with for your project, our team is always ready to help identify the most relevant markets for you so we maximize the money you’re making on localization. Building on the experience we’ve gained by working on over 968 projects, not to mention the results of studies we’ve run ourselves, we’ll pick out options that depend on the genre of the game or app, the platform, the market size, and much more.
The global game market continues to expand steadily with each passing year. If you have a game that’s in development or ready for launch, this is the time to localize it into other languages. Don’t let your competitors beat you to the punch!
Global game market
| № | Country | Games market revenue, mln USD | Internet penetration (%) | Number of gamers (millions) | Mobile market, mln USD | EF EPI (English Proficiency Index) |
| 1 | China | 46000 | 65.2% | 685 | 318000 | 51.3 (Moderate) |
| 2 | USA | 40500 | 90% | 191 | 15100 | Native |
| 3 | Japan | 22100 | 93% | 75.6 | 13700 | 46.8 (Low) |
| 4 | South Korea | 7550 | 97% | 33 | 4280 | 52.9 (Moderate) |
| 6 | Germany | 5870 | 94% | 46.1 | 1540 | 61.6 (Very high) |
| 5 | UK | 5310 | 96% | 37.7 | 1620 | Native |
| 7 | France | 4130 | 91% | 38.1 | 924 | 55.1 (High) |
| 8 | Canada | 3690 | 94% | 21 | 1370 | Native |
| 11 | Italy | 3290 | 83.7% | 36.5 | 758 | 53.5 (Moderate) |
| 12 | Brazil | 2330 | 75% | 92.4 | 1090 | 49.7 (Low) |
| 14 | Spain | 2330 | 91% | 29.7 | 419 | 54 (Moderate) |
| 29 | Australia | 2320 | 89% | 13.1 | 1120 | Native |
| 15 | India | 2250 | 45% | 357 | 2110 | 51.5 (Moderate) |
| 9 | Russia | 1960 | 85% | 80 | 841 | 51.1 (Moderate) |
| 16 | Indonesia | 1920 | 73.7% | 116 | 1530 | 46.6 (Low) |
| 13 | Taiwan | 1480 | 90% | 16.6 | 767 | Low |
| 17 | Turkey | 1220 | 77.7% | 43.2 | 634 | 47.8 (Low) |
| 19 | Thailand | 1040 | 69.5% | 34 | 771 | 41.9 (Very low) |
| 18 | Saudi Arabia | 972 | 95.7% | 24.2 | 540 | 40.4 (Very low) |
| 20 | Malaysia | 968 | 84.2% | 20.4 | 641 | 56.2 (High) |
| 23 | Philippines | 844 | 67% | 55.5 | 622 | 59.2 (High) |
| 10 | Poland | 828 | 84.5% | 20.6 | 326 | 59.7 (High) |
| 22 | Vietnam | 665 | 70.3% | 54.8 | 479 | 48.6 (Low) |
| 24 | Hong Kong | 623 | 92% | 5.02 | 365 | 54.5 (Moderate) |
| 21 | Iran | 603 | 70% | 39.5 | 366 | 50.1 (Moderate) |
| 25 | Singapore | 464 | 90% | 3.96 | 297 | 63.5 (Very high) |
| 26 | United Arab Emirates | 385 | 99% | 6.97 | 246 | 48 (Low) |
| 27 | South Africa | 307 | 64% | 23.9 | 274 | 60.6 (Very high) |
| 28 | Nigeria | 179 | 50% | 46.5 | 163 | 56 (High) |
PRICING FOR OTHER SERVICES
Localizing games and apps isn’t just about the translation even if that is the main element. We also offer a number of other services, and their cost depends on the complexity and nuances of the text we’re working with. Each project gets its own quote.
|
Service
|
Cost
|
Unit
|
| Editing/proofreading |
$0.07 – $0.09
|
per word
|
| Creative transcreation of content |
$45 – $105
|
per hour
|
| QA of translation |
$45 – $65
|
per hour
|
We also offer outstaffing project management for localization.
PRICING FOR LOCALIZATION TESTING (LQA)
It’s important to remember that localization, and in particular translation, is just the first step in a process leading up to the launch phase for the game or app in other linguistic markets. Once you have a high-quality localization ready to go, you need to make sure the text is showing up correctly in the interface, there aren’t any superfluous characters, and nothing is missing. Here’s some more info on localization testing.
| Language | Rate per hour, USD |
| German, French, Portuguese (EUR), Spanish | 47 |
| Japanese, Korean, Czech, Polish, Italian, Portuguese (BRZ), Chinese Traditional (TW, HK) | 41 |
HOW WE LOCALIZE GAMES
Generally speaking, Allcorrect breaks the localization process down into four stages:
- Initial text analysis.
- Translation (by a native speaker).
- Quality control run by a second linguist.
Automated QA using specialized tools as well as a final check run by a localization manager to make sure the text meets the client’s requirements.
Over our many years in business, we’ve been able to perfect the localization process, relying heavily on the principles of lean production and total quality management. The goal has always been an uncompromising commitment to quality found in the balance between time and cost, and we have the results to show for that. Send us a message, and we’ll be more than happy to fill you in. :)
DISCOUNTS AND SPECIAL OFFERS
Because of how effectively we’ve been able to streamline the localization process, we’re able to cut expenses based on project scale without sacrificing quality. That lets us offer discounts for large projects, long-term projects with recurring updates, and the like. Just send us a message if you think your project might be eligible for a discount.
FEES
If you’re wondering if we have a minimum translation fee, the answer is yes. But really, we only had to apply it for seven of the 19,000 orders we handled last year. Why is that so? The issue is that the only countries with minimum rates for orders of less than 50 words are in Northern Europe or have strong unions (Denmark, Israel, and a few others).
CONTRACT AND PAYMENT
We let you sign a contract with and make payments to a legal entity in a convenient jurisdiction using whatever currency is best for you (USD, EUR, HKD, GBP). Since we’re used to working on projects coming to us from around the world, all documents are signed electronically.
LOCALIZATION PRICING EXAMPLES
Here are a few examples that will give you an idea of how we come up with the pricing for different localization projects.
SMALL GAME UPDATE (WITH THE COMPLETE GAME TEXT LOCALIZED PREVIOUSLY)
COST: 390,00 $.
- Language pairs: English to Simplified Chinese, Japanese, and Korean (CJK).
- Word count: 1300.
- Word count excluding repetitions: 1000.
- Extras: none.
- Time frame: 3 business days (standard).
This is a small project with one of the most common language combinations out there (the primary Asian languages). One day is spent quoting and putting together the team, the second day is for the translation, and the third is for gathering and double-checking the results. If it’s a standard and scheduled update, we can get it done in a day and a half.
MARKETING UPDATE (WITH MAIN TEXT TRANSLATED PREVIOUSLY)
COST: 17,68 $.
- Language pairs: English to French, Italian, German, and Spanish (FIGS).
- Word count: 34.
- Word count excluding repetitions: 33.
- Extras: normal marketing rush (1 business day).
This tends to be a micro assignment translating a marketing text across the most common language combination, the main European languages. The day is spent quoting, putting together the team, translating, gathering the results, and double-checking them. Ideally, we’d take a separate day to build the team, though we can fit this timeline as long as the update was scheduled ahead of time.
Note that we may apply a project management fee for this small job if there are only theese types of tasks in a monthly flow from a client.
We also don’t apply a rush fee unless it’s an unscheduled weekend project, in which case the price may be 50% higher.
ASIAN TO AMERICAN GAME LOCALIZATION AND LQA
COST: $39,600 for localization, $900 for LQA.
- Language pairs: Simplified Chinese to English, English to Spanish (LATAM) and Portuguese (BRZ).
- Word count: 180,000 Chinese characters.
- Word count excluding repetitions: 120,000 Chinese characters.
- English word count: 100,000.
- Extras: LQA, 10 hours per target language.
- Time frame: 47 business days (we used two translators per language pair, though there are multiple ways to get the job done faster).
This is a typical localization for an RPG game with an average word count. Some highlights:
- A full-scale project split into two stages with a pre-approved project plan as well as linguistic and structural pre-translation analysis.
- Nine contractors, two project managers (localization and testing), two testers, terminology experts, and an editor.
- Three stages: Simplified Chinese to English, English to Spanish (LATAM) and Portuguese (BRZ), and localization testing.
- The differences in the number of symbols and the word count points to the varying kinds of languages in play (there are generally 20-25% fewer English words than there are Asian characters).
- The localization testing, during which our tester uses regression testing and bug documentation to evaluate the final product prior to launch and make sure everything fits its context, there are no problems with spacing or intervals, and there aren’t any line breaks or other issues.
