How Chinese Game Devs Can Localize Their Gaming Apps for Global Success

The panel (L-R): EA's Mike Pagano, GeaxGame's Fox Jiang, Tapjoy's Larry Berkin, J-Seed's Ryo Umezawa; and host Richard Robinson.

This article is part of our coverage of the 2011 China Mobile Developers Conference.

Just before lunch, a panel of local and international mobile gaming experts chatted onstage here at 2011CMDC, both to discuss localisation of game apps, and to offer practical advice to the many Chinese app developers in the audience.

The host was Richard Robinson (of Youlu.com, and whom we saw earlier in the week at Disrupt Beijing), and the panel was made up of TapJoy’s Larry Berkin, GeaxGame’s Fox Jiang, EA’s Mike Pagano, and J-Seed Ventures’ Ryo Umezawa.

They discussed a couple of main issues, before then taking some audience questions. First up, Richard asked…

Topic: What’s your deal in China and Asia?

Mike, from EA – Currently, EA has four gaming titles localized for China, with a further “two more games on tap for this fiscal year.” Mike emphasized how its China team is truly run by local staff: “The talent here is amazing.” Plus, he says, its Ghost Harvest title – a kooky mix of farming and Plants Versus Zombies – was particularly aimed at China when being developed.

Fox, from GeaxGame – His company develops for sixteen countries, and is currently “focusing on Android.” An example is its Poker King Online Texas Hold’em.

Larry, from TapJoy – “We have an engine to put into apps to promote other apps,” says Larry by way of introduction. Right now, 10,000 to 15,000 games are enabled in this way, giving his network a “daily reach of 50 million people.” Pointing in Mike’s direction, he says that EA’s Ghost harvest utilises TapJoy, and that it was a critical part of that game’s growth.

Ryo, for J-Seed Ventures – Looking at the larger picture, Ryo points out how Asia – and especially Japan – is such a massive draw for game developers. DeNA, apparently, has a “30-times higher output than Zynga, fifteen-times more than Facebook.”

Topic: What are the challenges in making a global game?

Mike – Speaking for EA, he says, “We have to create a title that dabbles in eastern influences” to make it appealing in Asia, and that his company needs to focus more on the freemium model for this region. Giving a hat-tip to local social media, he says:

Games on Renren, Tencent, etc., are light years ahead of what we see on Facebook.