Shulou(Shulou.com)11/24 Report--

Deciphering the successful password: an Analysis report on the growth of Game Revenue driven by Free Fire's Localization

This article was written by guest guest Liquid and Grit, Liquid and Grit, a leading product insight company in the game field. The content of this article only represents the views of the company.

Even in highly competitive application categories, a strong localization strategy can bring new growth opportunities for applications. In order to find the key elements of the effective implementation of the localization strategy, we conducted an in-depth analysis of Free Fire, and the degree of localization of this application in all major markets is at the top level. Although it lags behind some competitors in the western market, Free Fire continues to rank at the top of the list of shooting games in many places.

Thanks to its excellent local operations, Free Fire is well ahead of the competition in India, Brazil and Indonesia, the three major emerging markets. Free Fire's revenue in these three markets reached $55 million this year through August 15, 2023, compared with $16.5 million for Call of Duty: Mobile and $13.5 million for PUBG MOBILE. In contrast, Call of Duty: Mobile is in the dominant position in the US market. Free Fire currently has revenue of $86.3 million in the U.S. market, compared with $150 million for Call of Duty: Mobile and $91 million for PUBG Mobile.

Three experiences that game developers can learn from the localization of Free Fire

Three main lessons to be learned from the practice of Free Fire localization:

1. Focusing on localization is unusual in emerging regions, so it is also an excellent opportunity to attract new audiences. As the market continues to tighten, for many applications and games, localization in underdeveloped or less developed markets will improve the return on investment. Although the per capita expenditure of users in this kind of market is lower, the cost of obtaining customers is also lower.

two。 Localization activities (not just language translation) should be held in key areas for applications and games. Free Fire launched related activities in line with the local holidays and launched a skin with the theme of local stars, which will be analyzed later.

3. Apps and games can skip the small Western European countries with high English penetration and release localization resources to developing countries. Free Fire is not highly localized in Western and Central Europe, for example, Italian language support and localization services are not provided in Scandinavia and Central European countries.

Total spending trends of consumers in India, Brazil and Indonesia on Free Fire, Call of Duty:Mobile and PUBG Mobile

Check out the cash strategy performance of industry-leading game applications such as competitive products and Free Fire.

Give priority to localized operation and seize competitive advantage: 413 million users can be obtained by unlocking three languages.

Free Fire has three localized languages, which are not supported by other top 10 shooter games, namely Bengali, Burmese and Urdu. Bengali is the official language of Bangladesh (it is also the most commonly used language in India after Hindi) and Urdu is the official language of Pakistan (Bengali is also spoken by a large number of people in India). A total of 413 million people speak these three languages. Free Fire also has several small localized languages, but they are not unique to Free Fire. They are Arabic, Hindi, Indonesian and Vietnamese. Free Fire also finally conquers the Brazilian market through a variety of language options, activities and local cooperation.

Localization is more than just language translation

Localization can increase player participation and revenue in specific markets, but it takes a lot of time and resources to properly implement the localization strategy. The degree of localization of mobile applications varies from market to market: heavy applications have the highest degree of localization, leisure applications have a slightly lower degree of localization, and gambling is by far the lowest category. Throughout the major markets, localization tends to be concentrated in Western Europe, East Asia, Russia and Brazil. There is very little localization in other areas.

Reasonable localization requires a professional team focused on the target area. The effect of localization depends not only on semantic translation, but also on the understanding of cultural customs and slang that Google translation cannot provide, as well as other colloquial features. In addition, the knowledge reserve of local celebrities, and even the commonly used local mobile phone types and other technology platforms are also included.

Because of the need for deep cultural knowledge, it is best to consult people living in the target area now or in the past to complete the localization work. Garena Free Fire has hired local teams from all regions to make them more familiar with the target area.

Most applications and games will have a choice in the localized target area, as it tends to have a multifaceted impact on games, such as activities, decorations, designs, in-app purchase prices and technical specifications, but at the same time time-consuming and costly. For most apps and games, a more pragmatic approach is to experiment with localization in one area and assess its revenue impact before making further investment.

How to determine the localization goal? Observe potential revenue impacts and market trends

The potential income impact is the biggest consideration in determining localization goals. One of the ways for developers to predict these factors is to observe the revenue of competitive products in different regions and markets based on regions and markets. To a certain extent, this information can indicate where localized operations can achieve the greatest return on investment. But if there is no competition in a region, it should be considered in terms of the proportion of young people in the region who own smartphones and do not speak English, the amount of Internet access and the amount of money that potential players spend on casual games.

As growth in mature markets slows, emerging markets such as Brazil and India have become targets with unlimited potential. Brazil's mobile gaming market is beginning to take shape, with revenue expected to grow by nearly 30 per cent between 2023 and 2027. Similarly, India, whose mobile gaming market is currently valued at $2.6 billion, is expected to exceed $8 billion by 2027.

In the past year alone, revenue from free-to-play (F2P) mobile games has increased by 31% in India, 19% in Indonesia and 6% in Brazil, while income in the United States has shrunk by 8% over the same period.

Monthly F2P income from July 2021 to June 2023 in Brazil, India and Indonesia

Track the latest realization performance of high-growth market target games and competitions.

Since only about 5 per cent of Brazilians and 14 per cent of Indians speak English, localization is imperative for developers who want to get the most out of both markets. For developers who can localize effectively, this barrier makes their prospects brighter after entering these markets. Free Fire is above average localized in both markets, including Brazilian Portuguese (unlike Portuguese spoken in other countries), Urdu and Bengali (the two most widely spoken major languages in India after Hindi).

Work with local celebrities, anchors and e-sports team to greatly improve the access speed of Free Fire users in new markets

Apps and games gain a firm foothold in the local game community with the help of anchors and e-sports, so that localization can get twice the result with half the effort. After Free Fire became popular in Brazil, developers worked directly with local anchors and online celebrities to promote the game.

After an anchor named Bittencourt began to focus on Free Fire, the number of subscribers doubled, directly increasing the exposure of Free Fire, which in turn attracted more anchors to join the game's live broadcast.

The number of fans of Brazilian game anchor Bittencourt has soared after playing Free Fire.

In 2019, the Free Fire World Series was held in Rio de Janeiro, with 2 million views at the peak of the global YouTube platform. The following year, Free Fire launched the Brazilian e-sports Alliance Liga Brasileira de Free Fire. It is these efforts that make Free Fire the most popular game among Brazilian e-sports fans.

Focusing on India, Garena partnered with Tanmay Baht and other Indian head anchors to host the Free Fire event in 2020. After working with anchors on content, they have gained feedback and valuable insights on the way the game is played as well as the Free Fire player community in India.

In addition, the game also hosts a variety of exclusive Indian competitions and leagues, all of which have substantial bonuses. These events provide Hindi commentary, and Indian teams also provide Hindi commentary when they participate in international competitions. Working with local celebrities and cultural institutions can effectively increase the visibility of apps or games. Free Fire launched a local well-known DJ player role, and on their Booyah live platform, Brazil's top star Anitta played the role as a guest, and even became a sponsor of the country's national football team.

Brazil's famous DJ Alok has become a new character launched by Free Fire on November 11, 2019.

In India, Free Fire teamed up with celebrity Amol Parashar to carry out promotional activities. As part of the # IndiaKaBattleRoyale promotional video starring Amol Parashar, Free Fire launched three series of videos on YouTube that explain the value proposition of the game: memory, battle and time.

Optimize equipment compatibility and coverage

Successful localization should also take full account of the technical limitations of the target area. In countries such as Brazil and India, in order to reach as many audiences as possible, Free Fire is designed to adapt to low-end mobile phones and become the focus of promotional activities in India, and promotional videos on Youtube read "low memory? no problem!" And "low power? no problem".

Many players don't mind the poor image effect, as illustrated by the recent popular style Battlebit: Remastered. Within two weeks of its release, the low-end shooter game sold 1.8 million copies on Steam. Although the image of the game is too simple and low resolution, its performance even surpasses AAA-level production. Compared with high-definition images, local players seem to value fun and functionality.

Thanks to its effective local operation, Garena Free Fire has been a great success in Brazil and India. In Brazil, Garena Free Fire is the most profitable mobile game on Google Play in the 24 weeks ending August 12, 2023 (Free Fire is not available in the Apple App Store). Free Fire MAX, a more advanced version of the game, topped the list of mobile game revenue in India during the same period.

Free Fire Max caters to the needs of players in pursuit of high-definition images and is fully compatible with the standard version of Free Fire for cross-platform games.

But Free Fire's experience in India also highlights the risks of investing large amounts of resources in the single market. In 2022, Garena Free Fire was banned by the Indian Ministry of the Interior for unknown reasons, and developers have invested a lot of resources in localization efforts in India. But fortunately for them, the high-end version of the app Free Fire Max can continue to be released. However, it is unclear whether Free Fire Max will also be banned in the near future, making the future of Free Fire in India uncertain.

With the increasingly competitive landscape in emerging markets, it may be time for apps to take the first step towards localization. Due to the long localization process, developers should be one step ahead to find a suitable emerging market for their applications. In addition to looking at competitors' revenue data, developers can also see which types are the most popular in specific regions.

Want to gain more insight into mobile games?

Welcome to subscribe "Shulou Technology Information " to get latest news, interesting things and hot topics in the IT industry, and controls the hottest and latest Internet news, technology news and IT industry trends.