Answers to THE BIG localization questions and the awesome bad case study.

1. ROI-driven localization:
from pests to heroes
LocWorld Silicon Valley, Oct 2017
Yury Petyushin
Chief Inspiration Officer at allcorrect

2. Who is here?

3. I had a dream…

4. About Us
 Specializing in games and software for 10 years
 Top-20 in Eastern Europe
 HQ in Samara (Russia), offcies in Dublin, Toronto, Hong Kong
 All profitable languages
 40 in-house employees
 350+ game titles, millions of words, dozens of happy clients
 GALA member, active contributor to ISO Standards (11669)

5. One-stop shop for profit boosting

6. Customer support &
Community Management

7. Session outline
I. Why do this?
II. THE BIG localization questions
1. Which markets should I target?
2. Which are most profitable for my genre?
3. Does localization (adding languages) add
money?
4. What is ROI for localization into different
LANGUAGES and will it pay off?
5. Can impact of loc quality be measured?
III. The awesome bad case study
IV. Discussion

8. I. WHY: From pests to heroes

9. I. WHY: Past similar researches
• CSA – “Can't read won't buy”
• CSA - Return on Localization research (2010)
• Distimo case study – 128% increase in
downloads
• OneSky - app localization ROI ebook, survey-
based guidelines
• Multiple articles of general character
• allcorrect survey of Chinese and Russian
players (10,000 respondents)

10. Research Timeline
Loc Quality
from gamers’
perspective
(10,000+
respondents)
Mobile Games
Markets
Profitability
Index
ROI-driven
localization
research
2015-
2016

11. THE Big Question #1
Which markets should I target?

12. Mobile Games Market Facts

13. Top 10 Mobile Games Markets

14. Markets differ…

15. Marketing differs…

16. THE Big Question #2
Which markets are most profitable
FOR MY GAME GENRE?

17. MMORPG market research
• Most data from PrioriData, both GooglePlay and AppStore
• Top 250 “RPG” games from 54 countries in 2016 (3,000
games in total)
• iOS data for China extrapolated to account for
“GooglePlay”
• “Deep dive” into games published in 50-54 countries (134
games)
• Statistical and dispersion analysis, hypothesis testing, etc.

18. Top 10 Markets in RPG
Названия строк Сумма по полю Revenue(#)
china 5058662578
japan 3599784035
usa 1218515265
south_korea 503145277
taiwan 198528325
germany 111753055
united_kingdom 109941382
canada 89721547
australia 66317890
france 64953990
Общий итог 11021323344
Game Revenue
Total

19. Top 10 Markets = 11 billion USD

20. Названия строк Доход / загрузки Сумма по полю Revenue(#) Сумма по полю Downloads(#)
china 32,65 5058662578 154942838
japan 27,27 3599784035 132011464
switzerland 9,54 20559072 2154639
singapore 8,79 38406752 4367177
usa 8,03 1218515265 151663400
canada 6,66 89721547 13476904
australia 6,60 66317890 10046387
germany 5,57 111753055 20063856
hong_kong 4,75 55414224 11678214
austria 4,73 8533263 1803724
norway 4,35 8058461 1851591
south_korea 4,32 503145277 116483739
uae 3,89 10176862 2614097
united_kingdom 3,83 109941382 28702845
sweden 3,62 12588308 3481772
new_zealand 3,12 5428474 1739883
denmark 2,89 6934397 2401183
france 2,89 64953990 22510818
netherlands 2,49 10649230 4269055
taiwan 2,36 198528325 84069205
Top RPG Markets by ARPD
Game Rev./download Total revenue Total downloads

21. Top Market: China
• 1 game = 10% of total market (iOS only)
• 3 games = 28% of total market (iOS only)
Игры
Число
стран
Средний
рейтинг
Низший
рейтинг
Высший
рейтинг
Выручка Все
Страны
梦幻西游-全民PK狂欢季 12 101 250 1 2 233 431 297
阴阳师-全区互通现世集结 15 63 195 2 567 293 916
大话西游-全民争霸季火热开战 12 94 217 3 443 954 599
Game
# of
court.
Avrg.
rating
Lowest
rating
Highest
rating
Revenue from
all countries

22. If China is Excluded
Top 20 games
make 77% of Cash

23. Here Are These Top 20

24. Which Markets Bring Most $$$
ARPD by downloads and revenue
Downloads, mln
Revenue,mlnUSD

25. THE Big Question #3
Does localization (adding languages) add
money?

26. Deep Dive into “Well-Published” Games
Revenue of games
published in X
number of countries
% of games
published in X
number of Countries

27. Countries and Revenue
Revenue by number of countries (Chinese market excluded)
# of countries the game
is published in
AverageRevenue,USD

28. Revenue
by # of Languages and # of Countries
Bubble size = revenue
Number of countries
Numberoflanguages

29. Revenue
by # of Languages and # of Countries
Bubble size = revenue
Number of countries
Numberoflanguages

30. Spain

31. Germany

32. Austria

33. Russia

34. Argentina

35. Most common languages for the
“well-published” games
Languages
Chinese

36. THE Big Question #4
What is ROI for localization
into different LANGUAGES
and will it pay off?

37. The Formula

38. The Formula EXPLAINED

39. The Formula IN ACTION

40. ROI East Asia markets
Top 1-15 Top 16-30 Top 31-60 Top 61-120 Top 121-250
Country ROI K1 ROI K2 ROI K3 ROI K4 ROI K5
China 4,407,540% 271,155% 89,765% 30,365% 5,336%
Japan 560,278% 135,231% 65,373% 16,442% 1,432%
South Korea 104,258% 20,685% 8,645% 2,985% 403%
Hong Kong 45,918% 16,543% 7,444% 1,711% 50%
Taiwan 27,256% 3,829% -353% -578% -634%
I'm buying
jets
Profit! Let's do it! Is it worth it? 0 or loss
>10,000%
1,000-
10,000%
50%-1,000% 1-50% 0 or -

41. ROI America markets
Top 1-15 Top 16-30 Top 31-60 Top k61-120 Top 121-250
Country ROI K1 ROI K2 ROI K3 ROI K4 ROI K5
USA 425,419% 38,222% 17,946% -1,927% -1,194%
Canada 116,084% 8,065% 3,698% -648% -652%
Peru 5,040% 463% 175% 16% -20%
Uruguay 3,579% 649% 236% 38% -20%
Chile 3,127% 426% 51% 17% -47%
Brazil 2,014% -367% -565% -268% -155%
Argentina 896% -575% -344% -307% -186%
Colombia 426% -45% -50% -59% -57%
Mexico 284% -128% -242% -69% -78%
Ecuador -189% -65% -36% -126% -123%
Venezuela -413% -439% -321% -249% -176%
I'm buying
jets
Profit! Let's do it! Is it worth it? 0 or loss
>10,000%
1,000-
10,000%
50%-1,000% 1-50% 0 or -

42. ROI Southeast Asia and Oceania
markets
Top 1-15 Top 16-30 Top 31-60 Top 61-120 Top 121-250
Country ROI K1 ROI K2 ROI K3 ROI K4 ROI K5
Australia 221,745% 19,543% 12,803% -1,638% -1,413%
Singapore 154,254% 31,856% 11,475% 4,139% 114%
New Zealand 74,065% 19,228% 6,697% -286% -261%
Thailand 7,770% 368% -8% -113% -139%
Malaysia 1,323% 114% 32% -29% -82%
Philippines 859% -168% -190% -122% -87%
Indonesia 319% 3% -346% -104% -71%
Vietnam 219% -217% -488% -292% -144%
I'm buying
jets
Profit! Let's do it! Is it worth it? 0 or loss
>10,000%
1,000-
10,000%
50%-1,000% 1-50% 0 or -

43. ROI European markets
Top 1-15 Top 16-30 Top 31-60 Top 61-120 Top 121-250
Country ROI K1 ROI K2 ROI K3 ROI K4 ROI K5
United Kingdom 171,754% 11,616% -2,056% -2,275% -1,695%
Switzerland 46,540% 5,523% 2,263% 354% 33%
Germany 29,077% 1,922% 625% -243% -137%
Ireland 26,119% -174% -3,018% 96% -1,583%
Austria 19,481% 2,881% 402% -173% -139%
France 11,983% 1,292% 144% -263% -114%
Spain 10,772% 565% -606% -198% -132%
Italy 3,108% 293% -82% -124% -71%
Belgium 1,981% 194% -55% -89% -49%
Sweden 1,563% 218% 12% -25% -12%
Netherlands 1,532% 141% 9% -76% -42%
Norway 960% 209% 26% 4% -4%
Denmark 662% 32% -6% -26% -18%
Finland 286% 31% 6% 2% -2%
Portugal 167% -9% -87% -25% -19%
I'm buying
jets
Profit! Let's do it! Is it worth it? 0 or loss
>10,000%
1,000-
10,000%
50%-1,000% 1-50% 0 or -

44. ROI Eastern Europe markets
Top 1-15 Top 16-30 Top 31-60 Top 61-120 Top 121-250
Country ROI K1 ROI K2 ROI K3 ROI K4 ROI K5
Russia 20,918% 4,329% 924% 154% -15%
Poland 430% -253% -86% -118% -40%
Romania 253% -59% -43% -30% -17%
Czech Republic 222% -2% -18% -7% -6%
Hungary 82% -23% -19% -18% -9%
I'm buying
jets
Profit! Let's do it! Is it worth it? 0 or loss
>10,000%
1,000-
10,000%
50%-1,000% 1-50% 0 or -

45. ROI Middle East markets
Top 1-15 Top 16-30 Top 31-60 Top 61-120 Top 121-250
Country ROI K1 ROI K2 ROI K3 ROI K4 ROI K5
Turkey 7,812% -110% -333% -144% -69%
Saudi Arabia 2,372% 48% -124% -122% -53%
UAE 1,981% 240% 138% 32% 6%
Israel 397% 61% 9% -10% -7%
Egypt 2% -72% -63% -14% -13%
I'm buying
jets
Profit! Let's do it! Is it worth it? 0 or loss
>10,000%
1,000-
10,000%
50%-1,000% 1-50% 0 or -

46. ROI others markets
Top 1-15 Top 16-30 Top 31-60 Top 61-120 Top 121-250
Country ROI K1 ROI K2 ROI K3 ROI K4 ROI K5
South Africa 537% 10% -20% 2% -1%
Nigeria 40% 7% -7% -3% -1%
Sri Lanka 5% -1% -5% -4% -3%
Kenya -5% -2% -5% -2% -1%
Pakistan -37% -27% -17% -12% -6%
India -360% -148% -38% -47% -51%
I'm buying
jets
Profit! Let's do it! Is it worth it? 0 or loss
>10,000%
1,000-
10,000%
50%-1,000% 1-50% 0 or -

47. The Future
 Now that we’ve created THE ALGORITHM, we’re on the way to
be able to give these numbers for any genre and any market.

48. THE Big Question #5
How LOC QUALITY influences sales and
retention?

51. Voting with their wallet
“Measuring” the impact of quality…

56. 0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%
Untranslated text
Inaccuracies, incomplete translations
Grammatical
Spelling
Punctuation
Too literal
Doesn't match the original stylistically
Non-standard abbreviations
English terms unlocalized (written in…
Various translations for one term
Censorship
Lack of censorship
Use of memes
Use of game slang
Fonts are poorly chosen or illegible
Unlocalized graphics
What do you think about these localization errors?
I stop playing the game
I switch to the unlocalized version
It annoys me, but I keep playing the localized version

57. Summary of Loc Quality Impact
dtishin@allcorrectgames.com
1. 52-62% will stop playing and tell their friends
about bad quality loс
2. ~60% would pay more for better loc and will
play older version with good loc
3. 70-90% of users prefer localized products
- irrelatively to their level of English proficiency
4. Spelling / grammar / punctuation errors force
~16% Russians and ~27% Chinese to stop
playing game or switch to original

58. Day R by TLT Games
The Awesome Bad Case Study

59. Day R – Adding Langs, Improving Loc
Quality, Increasing ROI

60. Revenue progress
Downloads(#)Downloads(#)
Revenue($,Net)Revenue($,Net)

61. Day R Localization ROI
Language ROI Date
English 2,700% May 2017
Korean 1,230% June 2017
Spanish 603% February 2017
German 237% February 2017
Italian 211% June 2017
Brazilian Portugese 55% October 2017
Indonesian -59% June 2017

62. Yury Petyushin
To email me: petyushin@allcorrectgames.com
To work with us: order@allcorrectgames.com
To get involved in research (provide input, stay
informed, etc.): drop an empty email to
order@allcorrectgames.com with subject line “loc
quality research” or give me your biz card