SLG, known for its long lifespan and stable revenue, has always been one of the most popular categories of overseas games. However, with the rising competition, players’ tastes are getting more and more “tricky”, and the market buying and promotion costs are increasing geometrically, which makes the development of SLG a lot of obstacles. How to break through the obstacles and continue to explore the overseas market of this category? Wiitrans Games, a professional game localization service provider, will provide you with some references based on market information and practical projects.
1
Where to choose as an overseas destination?
Europe and America
App Stare data platform shows that the popularity of SLG handheld game brands in Europe and America is mostly stable at about 65, which is always in the middle to upper level without big fluctuations, which also reflects the maturity of SLG handheld games in Europe and America. In addition, the payment system in Europe and America is mature and users have good payment habits, which makes it the most important market for SLG handheld games.
Asia
Japan and Korea are the second largest SLG market after Europe and America. This is mainly due to the high per capita GDP and smartphone penetration rate in Japan and Korea, and the fact that the proportion of mobile games in Japan and Korea is in an explosive growth phase, making it one of the best choices besides Europe and the US. In addition, India, Indonesia, and the Philippines are representatives of emerging markets, with fast economic development in recent years, smartphone penetration is also increasing, paid users are growing fast, and the overall market potential is high.
Middle East
The total population of the Middle East is about 500 million, among which countries like Qatar, UAE, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, etc. have very high GDP per capita, even reaching the standard of developed countries. Therefore, there are relatively more users with strong willingness to pay and strong ability to pay. And the existing head SLG hand game products can not completely cover the Middle East users, so for the majority of manufacturers, the Middle East is still a market full of opportunities.
2
How to highlight the new SLG handheld game?
The bonus period has passed, customer acquisition cost has doubled, competing products are piled up, and users are in the fatigue period. …… SLG track is becoming more and more difficult to walk. SLG hand game new products need to make a qualitative leap in many aspects, such as product and user experience, to get rid of the homogeneous pattern and stand out.
Subject matter
Wiitrans Games summarized the SLG handheld games on the market and divided their themes into three main categories: classic themes, regional cultural themes and hot spots/IP themes.
Classic themes
War (national war) is the most classic theme of SLG, which is universal, but the homogenization is the most serious, so it is hard to survive if you don’t do some innovation.
One of the early classic SLG Kingdoms of Camelot
Regional culture theme
If you are bold enough or know a certain region very well, you can try to customize the SLG game with regional culture theme. For example, “Sultan’s Revenge”, which is based on Middle Eastern culture, “Yakuza”, which caters to international players such as Korean, Japanese and American players, and “West Game”, which uses the background of American cowboys in the West, have all been a great success.
West Game
Hot spots/IP titles
State of Survival, Doomsday Hustle, Tomorrow After Tomorrow and other domestic SLG handheld games have made it to the top 10 overseas. In addition, SLG games based on superheroes, film and TV IPs, and anime IPs are also on the rise.
State of Survival
Innovation
SLG handheld games are in need of integration and innovation, as the product of “change the soup but not the medicine” no longer works. Puzzles&Survival, Rise of kingdoms with its flexible marching mechanism, and TopWar:Battle Game with its island building and Q-painting style are all excellent examples of how to stay out of the box and stand out in the end.
Puzzles & Survival
User Experience
We were once asked by a game director of a European and American strategy game why the game itself was of good quality and had good reputation and revenue overseas, but it had been in China for several years, but was still lukewarm.
We were commissioned to conduct FTUE (initial game experience test), LQA (language test) and other tests on the game, and found that the user experience of the game was extremely problematic: poor optimization of cell phone models, slow loading speed, frequent server drops, incomplete localization (mixed Chinese and English), serious traces of machine flipping, font bursting frames, login/share external links using google and overseas social media, etc., no wonder it was difficult to It was difficult to open the Chinese market. After we worked with our client to re-localize the game, all the data of the game improved to different degrees.
A lot of products have the same problems when they go abroad, such as machine flipping, not doing local language, various display errors, etc., which greatly affect the player’s experience. No matter how good the game itself is, it will be labeled as “shoddy” and eventually withdrawn from the market.
In order to better improve user experience and maximize retention rate, it is recommended for overseas game developers/publishers to cooperate with professional game localization service providers like Wiitrans Games to help you complete the following localization-related tasks.
Game translation covering 40+ mainstream Asian and European languages
Multilingual DTP desktop publishing for image materials
Subtitle translation for transitions and promotional videos
Professional game dubbing
LQA (language testing) before game launch.
