While the MENA region is quickly growing as a major epicenter for video games — including industry investments as a part of its economic revitalization plans — one might think localization would be a priority for developers and publishers. But Arabic localizations have a history of spotty delivery, with many major releases of the past not offering an official language release at all.
But the tide may be turning as many major game publishers are placing an increased focus on quality Arabic localizations. That’s good news for MENA gamers, who get officially endorsed versions of their favorite titles to enjoy. It’s good news for game companies looking for new customer bases and revenue streams. And it’s good news for language workers, who work with studios and publishers to ensure every game captures the original story, tone, and characterizations while respecting linguistic and cultural sensibilities.
It’s an encouraging sign after a history of snubs over the past decade from some major releases. In 2023, for instance, one of the year’s biggest releases, the spacefaring RPG Starfield from Bethesda of The Elder Scrolls and Fallout fame, announced voice acting in English, French, German, Spanish, and Japanese, with subtitle support for English, French, Italian, German, Spanish, Japanese, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, and Simplified Chinese subtitles. Conspicuously missing? Arabic, a choice locking out hundreds of thousands of players from official support. Fans rallied prior to release to petition for an Arabic localization, a request that went unfulfilled.
Likewise, fans had to take matters into their own hands with 2017’s The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, widely considered one of the best games in the venerable adventure series and an all-time great achievement in game design. In October 2021, fans announced a full Arabic mod for the Wii U version of the game, finally giving Arabic players an option to play the game in their native tongue.
The video game industry has a proud tradition of fans doing the translation legwork themselves, with examples dating back to the 1990s for Super Nintendo games like Seiken Densetsu 3 (now officially released outside Japan as Trials of Mana), Final Fantasy V, and many more. The Arabic language, however, brings its own share of complications for fan linguists. For the Breath of the Wild Arabic mod, developers had to not only translate the game script but also develop an Arabic language font and reverse the text flow to read right to left.
Then there are titles where Arabic is officially supported, but clearly, insufficient resources went into producing it. Such was the case when Minecraft Legends rolled out an Arabic version that Escapist Magazine described as “bad to the point of unusable.” It was a source of embarrassment and additional cost for the development studio Mojang, which could have avoided the situation altogether by partnering with an Arabic language partner known for quality assurance.
“We started receiving feedback about the Arabic localization, specifically that it was incorrect in various ways, rendering the translation unusable and forcing players to use English instead,” Mojang said in a statement. “Obviously, we’ve messed up, and we are deeply sorry. We apologize to our Arab players in particular. We promised we’d make Minecraft Legends a more inclusive experience for you, and we did not deliver on that.”
The good news? More and more major video game releases are supporting Arabic from the jump. Assassin’s Creed: Mirage made headlines in 2023 by being one of the first big-budget games to launch fully voiced in Arabic, a appropriate creative decision given the game’s setting in 9th-century Baghdad during the Islamic Golden Age.
"The game is fully voiced in Arabic as the launch proposition,” Jean-Luc Sala, Assassin’s Creed: Mirage art director, told GamesIndustry.biz. “It's a part of the game. We [paid] special attention [to the fact] that people love to play Ghost of Tsushima in Japanese, for example. Honestly, it would have been a shame to miss that opportunity to return to the Middle East with Assassin's Creed and not [include] a language that is still here. It feels more accurate to play in Arabic, even if you're not Arabic."
It’s a step built upon a history of solid support for Arabic localization in previous titles Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey and Assassin's Creed: Valhalla. And other big titles like Valorant and Resident Evil: Village have spearheaded official Arabic support as well.
It’s a step in the right direction as the MENA region’s disproportionately large young population asks for the same support enjoyed by video game enthusiasts in other global regions. And with leaders in business and government alike urging major game publishers to establish a greater presence in the MENA region, it’s a business opportunity that the games industry shouldn’t ignore.