Game Testing Services: Localization Quality Assurance (LQA)

Key takeaways:

• The challenges of introducing your game to the international market do not end in translation and localization.
• Game testing services ensure that games are completely ready for the international market.
• Localization quality assurance covers three integral parts: Linguistic, visual, and functional.
• Game creators and developers aiming to reach a wider audience must also invest in game quality assurance.
• The last step of game translation and localization is game localization QA. 
• Linguistic quality assurance (LQA) goes hand in hand with visual and functionality QA, ensuring that all aspects of the translated game are correct, functional, and visually pleasing.
• The quality of your game has an impact on its overall success in the global market.

Table of contents

• Localization Quality Assurance in Games
• Linguistic vs. Visual vs. Functional QA
• CCCI – Professional Game Quality Assurance Services

The growth of the video game industry across the globe is unstoppable. Over the years, the market had gone beyond being just a hobby, especially when the pandemic affected the gaming industry and pushed us to adjust our lifestyles to stay safe. With the new normal, people have more time for gaming. That means we need game testing services now more than ever!

To get a deeper understanding of how crucial video game quality assurance is, let us first see how big the video game industry is. In 2021, the market size in the United States alone surpassed 85.86 billion U.S. dollars. The world thought the industry had already reached its peak in 2020 when it hit 76.15 billion U.S. dollars, but it only went higher.

Well, video gaming has always been big. Its long history showed that way back in 1970, Nintendo acquired 318 million in home console sales. And now, with more developers introducing more games to the audience, there is no other to go but up.

Still, developing a game and putting it out on the market do not always guarantee success, especially when technology is also continuously evolving. We have come from tic-tac-toe to Pac-Man to more arcade video games. Now, we have consoles and mobile games that demand user-friendly and clean interfaces. The list of genres is longer than ever! Moreover, the age range of gamers does not only include youngsters. Even the oldies have their favorite games, too.

Video gaming is more accessible to gamers now, so it is easier to reach your target audiences.Game translators have also made it more possible to reach international markets, allowing gamers to explore fascinating storylines like it is their own.

There are many factors that affect your game’s stand in the market, and these include video game testing services. If you have not considered looking for the best game testing companies out there yet, you will definitely start after we see their importance together!

You think of a plot, create and build your characters, design the whole game, and then make it available to the gamers. All games probably start with that, right? But when you decide to make your game available to a broader audience, you will have to get them translated and localized. This is where localization quality assurance testing services come in handy.

Localization quality assurance or LQA is actually the last stage in the game localization process. After you have your game translated and localized, you have it tested and reviewed, covering UI/UX evaluation as well. LQA also covers compliance testing, culturalization, internationalization, and functional tests in your game. It involves native-speaking linguists who are also experts in gaming, ensuring that your game is free from errors or problems. LQA guarantees that your game is linguistically and visually ready for the market.

Note: LQA is crucial for games that are available in different languages. Consider the languages that have two and more variations, like European and Canadian French and European and Brazilian Portuguese. Localization is pivotal for international gamers, so it must always be of good quality.

Game localization is a vital aspect of a game’s worldwide success. Your game has to go through proper planning and internationalization, content analysis, and maintaining brand consistency without compromising the context of the game. You take several steps to localize your game properly!

Skipping quality assurance into the localization is like missing the opportunity to confirm that the translations have consistency and a natural flow. LQA confirms that your game terminology meets the requirements of hardware manufacturers and that there are no implementation issues. It is the last and the most significant step your game must take.

Diving deeper into game testing services, you will come across three integral parts of LQA: linguistic, visual, and functional. Let us go over them one by one to get an overview of the whole game localization quality assurance process.

Some of the best languages for game translation include English, Chinese, Japanese, and Korean. Whatever your target language is, those who translate and localize your game must make sure that their output is accurate and excellent. Linguistic QA directs that!

Linguistic quality assurance (LQA) sees to it that your localized game fits the linguistic and cultural requirements. The tester checks the following:

• Gramma