Video Games and Less Widely Spoken Languages: The Baltic States

Abstract

Another decade has begun, and video game developers are aiming to provide higher quality video games to give customers the best product possible. In terms of localization, it is difficult to assess whether there has been an increase in the number of languages included in games. Regarding less widely spoken languages in particular, the available range of video game translations is often unpredictable and arbitrary. In our research, we aim to map the situation in selected European countries. Several less widely spoken European languages share similar characteristic features, e.g. Slovak and Czech, Serbian and Croatian, Swedish and Norwegian, and along with financial considerations this results in a high probability of the language with the higher number of speakers being the only available chosen representative of the given region. Following our ongoing research,^[1] the paper examines the situation in the Baltic states and focuses on legislation and practice regarding the localization and translation of video games in Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia.

^[1] Koscelníková, Mária. 2020. Localization of video games into less widely spoken languages: The issue of localization of video games into languages sharing a common history (on the example of Slovak and Czech legislative parallels). Submitted to The Journal of Internationalization and Localization. The paper investigates the Balkan states.