Video games enjoy immense popularity worldwide, with a diverse range of players across continents and cultures. They serve as a significant form of entertainment and recreation for millions of people across the globe. With this growing demand, game developers realized the potential profit of a global audience and started implementing game localization to fit different cultures, including the MENA region. Game localization in the Arab world remains understudied, particularly given Arabic’s unique linguistic structures and cultural nuances. To address the gap in the current research field of game localization in the Arab world, this paper aims to investigate the localization of four major fighting games, Tekken 7, Tekken 8, Street Fighter 6 and Mortal Kombat 1, focusing on the linguistic and technical aspects of these games. The findings demonstrate significant inconsistencies in how in-game assets are localized, including improper text directionality, font rendering problems, and menu alignment issues that hinder gameplay fluidity. Furthermore, linguistic issues in the Arabic subtitles, including unnatural phrasing and grammatical errors would significantly disrupt player immersion. These findings highlight an urgent need for standardized Arabic localization guidelines to ensure both linguistic accuracy and cultural relevance.

Authors:
Amer Al-Adwan, Hamad Bin Khalifa University, Qatar

About the Presenter(s)
Dr Amer Al-Adwan is currently an Associate Professor of Translation and Intercultural Studies at Hamad Bin Khalifa University, Qatar. My research interests focus on audiovisual translation, discourse analysis, politeness theory and censorship.

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