Note that this isn’t just a Western-to-Asia developer problem, of course think of all the Asian games that have failed to make it in the U.S. China may be the biggest gaming market out there, but that doesn’t mean your game is the right fit for Chinese players. But it’s not just language or platform you need to consider. The Asia Pacific region is incredibly diverse - if you’ve thought about localization at all, you already know that. Beyond that, here are four key areas to focus on in your planning: The short answer, of course, is the same thing that makes a game successful anywhere: a ton of planning and a little bit of luck. I get asked a lot about what makes a game successful in Asia.
While that means you’ll be competing in Asia with homegrown developers, it also means there’s a wealth of experience you can draw on. The indie scene is alive and well there, thanks to the same tools that have allowed Western developers to focus more on game play and fun than on engines or backends. I saw this firsthand at Casual Connect Asia in Singapore earlier this year, where the floor was crowded with developers showing off a huge range of games. Not only is China - by itself - about to be the biggest single game market in the world, but changes in game development and distribution have made Asia much more open to casual developers of all sizes. This is true not just for bigger game companies like PopCap (now part of EA), but for small indie developers as well. Just seven years later, you’d be crazy not to try. When I started PopCap Asia in 2008, people thought it was crazy for a Western casual games company to try and expand into the region.
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