Real Localization Results: How an Indie Prioritized Localization Languages for Maximum Impact
Gremlins, Inc. by Charlie Oscar
In October 2015 (Over 10 years ago but doesn’t feel like it!) Charlie Oscar released their first game, ‘Gremlins, Inc.’ in Steam Early Access. One important aspect to note is that the game is a digital board game. This might seem like a strange point to focus on, but if you’re a board game player you’ll know they’re popular in countries like France, Italy, and Germany.
Before diving into the sales figures, let’s lay out some context:
- Scope: Indie
- Price: $19.99 (USD)
- Genre: Board Game, Cards, Strategy
- Developer: Charlie Oscar, based in Vilnius, Lithuania
- Localization: 13 Total Languages (English, French, Italian, German, EU Spanish, Ukrainian, Czech, Russian, Japanese, Korean, Brazilian Portuguese, Simplified Chinese, Polish)
While they didn’t provide specific sales figures, they summarized how successful each localization was and how it impacted sales. We’ve summarized their takeaways below:
- Russian: Development Team’s language, so able to communicate directly with players. Well received, they’d include Russian on future Early Access Releases.
- German & French: Both Languages did well, paying off localization costs within 2-3 months. Particularly happy with French players who often commented on visual styles and the game’s atmosphere.
- European Spanish: Only worked due to their specific circumstances (Spanish PR manager + specific translator), but sales would have been too low if they didn’t have these connections already.
- Italian: Worth it if your costs are low for early access localization (they suggest €1,000 – 3,000 EUR) but suggest leaving to the full release if costs would be higher.
- Brazilian Portuguese: Perhaps the most interesting result in that, at time of writing their post, it had not paid off. Partially affected by regional pricing bringing profitability down, but they found it not to be worth it. This is a particularly interesting point to focus on, as it’s an important caveat to releasing in Brazil.
- Ukrainian: Similarly to European Spanish, this localization was included due to connections and requests. They wouldn’t recommend it generally if you already have Russian included, but it’s worth remembering these findings were in 2015.
- Japanese: Difficult to communicate with players as their team doesn’t speak Japanese, but a strong community. They’d recommend avoiding for Early Access due to difficulty in understanding player issues. They suggest leaving to the full release, but mention the Japanese localization paid itself off in only 2 weeks.
- Simplified Chinese: Became their 3rd top selling country, and this is back before Simplified Chinese was Steam’s 2nd top language. Chinese sales paid off the localization in the first week of release.
As they state: “Definitely worth it, and we never suspected that this may work out like this…. China is 10/10 for us on the full release of the next game”
- Polish & Czech: Took longer to pay themselves off. Polish had issues due to sales being in EUR, meaning that Polish players must pay German prices. Czech was included due to developer links but are happy they included it.
- Korean: Interestingly, they wanted to include this language but couldn’t find translators. This has been rectified as of 2025. If you find yourself in the same situation, give us a ping: info@ecigames.net
Charlie Oscar’s results aren’t completely surprising, but they’re useful to consider when thinking about localization on a budget. In particular, their recommendations for localizing within Early Access vs Full Release are deeply insightful. Additionally, they highlight how regional pricing affects cost recoup and how that should be considered for indie localization.
Your Mileage may vary with languages for localization, but Charlie Oscar’s notes highlight an incredibly important detail that many developers appear to miss: Language Priority is based on your game, not a general rule.
As they were making a digital board game, they went for languages where board games are popular. Makes sense, right? Well, it’d surprise you how often this isn’t considered. Localization isn’t a place for blanket rules, it’s where each string, game, or player, should be treated as unique; localization isn’t the place for “just meeting standards”.