Polish Game Localization – What You Need To Know
Game localization is one of the best ways to connect your great game with target audiences. Besides game localization for the world’s largest gaming market like China, Japan, and South Korea, Poland should be the next country on your localization list as well.
Why Polish game localization? What are the considerations when localizing the game for this market? This article will provide you with interesting insights about the Polish gaming market, what you need to watch out for and how to make it work for you.
Keep reading and let’s explore them below!
What does the Polish gaming market look like?
In 2020, the Polish gaming industry was worth $550 million with 16 million gamers and is one of the world’s top 25 gaming countries. The average revenue per user is $29.36 in 2020. It can be said that Poland’s video game market has been witnessing a sharp growth in previous years and will keep thriving in the next five years as well.
Poland also owns several well-known game development studios like CD Projekt Red, Techland, PlayWay, 11 Bit Studios, and ten Square games. Thus, it is expected to become the largest game development hub in Central and Eastern Europe. With a huge growth potential, Poland will be a fruitful gaming market for lots of game development companies worldwide.
Which game genres are most preferred in Poland?
ICTmarket’s experts pointed out that 34% of Polish gamers purchase PC games and 27% are keen on mobile games (2019). Also, PC users prefer shooting (FPS), actions, and adventure games. The same to them, console players favor sport, adventure, and action games.
In Poland, mobile gamers are the most active users, which makes sense given how frequently individuals interact with their phones throughout the day. Logic games appear to be the most popular option for smartphone and tablet users, according to a Statista survey.
FIFA, The Witcher, and Grand Theft Auto are among the favorite video games in Poland. Brawl Stars is the most popular mobile app, followed by Words of Wonders, Pokemon Go, and Moja Kawiarnia. Virtual reality games haven’t gained much traction. Furthermore, Intel Extreme Masters in Katowice is growing its popularity.
Why Polish game localization?
There are approximately 38.5 million people using Polish as their mother tongue and only one-third of the population speak English. These figures are significantly lower for people over the age of 40. This shows that Polish game localization is important.
In fact that Polish is frequently ranked among the top 10 most difficult languages in the world. Thus, if you are not given the right context, it’s most likely that you can go wrong. Besides, there are the usual issues such as homonyms, nouns disguised as verbs, punctuation, length limit, and so on.
Things to watch out for Polish game localization
Many key elements of the Polish language function differently than those of English. Below are several things that you should keep in mind when translating your games into Polish:
1 – English-Polish translations are longer
In general, Polish words are longer on average than English words. Thus, the strings in English-Polish game localization are typically longer than the source text. This means that your Polish strings will require more screen space, so you’ll need to make the necessary adjustments to make it work.
2 – Polish grammar is complex
The next difficulty of Polish game localization is the complexities of Polish grammar. You should consider hiring a professional translator if you are not a master of seven declension cases and how to pair it up with adjectives and gender. A similar problem can be seen with numbers or the use of gender-neutral versions.
3 – The word order is important
In most cases, the word order in Polish sentences differs significantly from that in English. It is especially important when the sentences contain tags or placeholders. They must be movable in order for the sentence to make sense in the target language.
4 – Some words are not translated
It should be noted in Polish game localization that some English words have made their way into the Polish language and function properly without translation. For instance, it is preferred to keep proper names in English when the game’s story happens in real life.
Mistakes to avoid in the Polish game localization process
1 – Impose character limits
One of the most common mistakes is imposing character limits, which forces translators to come up with unnatural translations or use abbreviations instead.
2 – Lack of communication
Communication is vital, especially when linguists work on different aspects of game localization projects. Thus, it’s necessary to ensure seamless communication between the teams working on different parts.
3 – Lack of contextual information
Because an English word with a single meaning for you may have multiple meanings in Polish, your localization team must know which version of the word to use. Word-for-word translations from English to Polish simply do not work. Thus, providing your localization team with detailed context is crucial.
4 – Not run linguistics tests
In some cases, game developers are not providing enough contextual information to translators and even fail to perform linguistics tests once the texts have been implemented in the game. Keep in mind that before you publish, run a test to ensure the most exact translation.
5 – Issues with syntax
Sometimes game developers assume that the Polish language has the exact same sentence syntax as the English language. To avoid localization issues, it is best to allow syntax changes during the translation phase, which includes elements such as the correct placement of placeholders in Polish sentences.
Sum up
The Poland gaming market is witnessing an instantly growing trend. Therefore it is worth spending the time and resources to localize your game into Polish. If you are not a master of Polish, the best way is to put your trust in the linguist. There will be game localization experts who can consult and help you with any translations.
GTE Localize is a fast-growing game translation and localization agency specializing in major languages in the world. With 1200+ native linguists worldwide, we will bring accurate and cost-effective Polish game localization for your company.
Download our 38-page white paper for SMEs on designing an efficient and productive localization program here.
Do you need a Polish game localization? Get in touch with us today!