Why gaming and betting firms need more than your typical language services

One of the first questions you might ask when you hear about our team at Jackpot Translation is why exactly do gaming and betting firms need specialist language services? It’s a good question though, as on the face of things, translating and localising games may not seem very different from any other translation project.

We can tell you that this is simply not the case, which is precisely why, after years of experience working with gaming and betting firms at translate plus, we decided to set up Jackpot Translation. Here are the key differences that inspired us to specialise in language services for gaming and betting firms.

People have been playing these games for centuries

While most online games are original creations, games like poker and blackjack have been played for centuries in one form or another. That means hundreds of years’ worth of gaming terminology has evolved over time, creating a far more complex translation project.

Even the relatively simple game of blackjack has changed its name, tweaked its rules and rewritten its glossary multiple times in its 400-year history – and that’s just in English! This should give you an idea of the challenges that come with translating games properly.

These games have a unique history in cultures all over the world

Adapting these games for a global audience involves far more than translating key terminology. People’s expectations, the rules by which they play and the experience they expect from putting their money on the line varies a great deal across different cultures.

The biggest challenge for you as a gaming firm is fighting against the hoard of competition offering the same games as you. No matter how hard you try, you’ll never have the only craps game or online football accumulator. When games go global, people pick the one that feels familiar to them – their game, their rules.

It takes people who know gaming to excite the people who play them

Ask yourself what it takes to get people downloading your app or signing up to your website. You don’t get players by telling them about your games: you get players by exciting them about your games. This requires more than translation, localisation and other language experts – it requires gaming experts too.

To take your games global, you need to know what excites each target market and find the right words, visuals and gaming experience that gets the message across.

Successfully marketing your games to international audiences will be fundamental in keeping up with the fast growth of this industry. Helping you to find the right marketing message to make this happen is where Jackpot Translation comes in.

Online games and betting is a different field altogether

Many of the gaming and betting firms that are struggling fail to recognise this point. Online gaming is a sub-culture of the wider betting community and you need to tap into the unique interests that come along with it. Online gamers aren’t looking for the same experience they can get down at the bookies or their nearest casino – they want something different.

To create that kind of online community around your game – the kind of community that keeps people playing – you need a translation agency that understands this fundamental difference.

It takes more than football fanatics to create a football betting game for global audiences. It takes more than avid gamers to get players around the world excited about putting their money on the line. To make that happen, you need a team of fans, avid gamers and language experts that understand the global gaming market. We named that team Jackpot Translation and we can’t wait to work with you.