Audience localisation has brought out the debate whether a game developer should target an audience on a international level or on a localised level. a national audience being whole countries with them only really changing the language and localised being taking social issues into account before they are released into that specific country. i believe that developing a game for a localised audience would be a lot better than targeting on a national scale as it means that a lot of controversy will be avoided as they have taken the social issues into account that would have caused them problems, for example if a game was released in America that involved a plane crashing into a building it would not be very popular, therefore by targeting on a localised scale they will make a larger profit and have less problems surrounding the game on release.
When a new game is released it has to take in to account the social issues that the game may cause, to prevent these issues occurring they have to focus on the audience and were the game is being introduced. for example the game 'call of duty world at war' involved the Nazi party being main part of the game with a part of the game being Nazi zombies, this therefore resulted in this part of the game being banned from all copies in Germany. another example being that in the PC version of the game wolfenstein was withdrawn from circulation in Germany in 1994. this is due to the Nazi swastika being a large part of the game, with the Nazi anthem being the background music also. this was banned due to the social issues that the game may cause due to these offencive emblems. Another example is that in china all consoles are banned as they are thought to corrupt the minds of the youth. they have been banned in china since 2000, this is ironic as china are the largest manufacturer of games consoles such the xbox 360, PS3 and wii and they are not sold in china itself, whereas the government have allowed consoles that have games built in to be sold, as they are seen as not bad. even though game consoles are banned, online and mobile device gaming is permitted. Although Sony have found a way around this console ban and made a more =basic version of the PlayStation 3, this has been allowed into china and will potentially increase Sony's profits as they are the only platform holder allowed to sell in china. localisation can also create a lag time between release dates as if the game is being released nationally they may have to spend longer on a certain nationality, as of the in game content such as final fantasy VII which had a lag time of 7 months between its release in japan and in America.
games marketing also has to change if localisation has to happen, as such things like the Nazi swastika, this is illegal in Germany and is not allowed under any circumstance. this means that games such as call of duty world at war and wolfenstein posters will have to be edited so that they did not show this offensive emblem, that would cause social outrage to occur. game localisation also means that marketing has to be very specific to the certain nationality, for instance they may have to follow a certain lifestyle when creating game adverts or trailers. for example they may put different celebrities in trailers so they relate more to that country.
in conclusion i still stand with audience localisation as even though it may take longer it means that the audience will not be offended by the game and it will therefore attract a larger audience as it has been specifically designed for them. I also believe that it is needed in the sense of the Internet and digital download as anyone can download the game but without localisation and adaptations such as language they will not be able to play the game properly, so localisation is needed foe digital download to take place. I believe that in today's climate this is needed as there are many social issues in separate countries and if they aren't assessed properly they can cause huge social problems, so targeting on a local level is better than targeting a national level as it avoids social problems and it may bring in more profit due to this.
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