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A Delicious Tale of Localization

How we helped turned Candy Crush Saga into a global phenomenon

Debra Karneman Miguel Sepulveda


The Sweetest Game Around!

2

Candy Crush Saga is a free-to-play

match-three puzzle game

Localized in 22 languages

Easy to play, challenging to

master


2012 - Unexpected Success

20 billion game rounds a month

45 million monthly active users

Played on all 7continents, in 231

countries

Downloaded half a billion times

In 15 months reached 100 million users worldwide


King Localization Team 2012


Localization Journey Map

Build the team


Find the right model

Build the team (1/4)

10.8%Decentralized

28.8%Centralized

41%Hub & Spoke

18%Multiple Hub

Collaboration tools: JIRA for localisation request, HipChat for instant messaging, BJ video conference and Google Docs to produce documentation.


In-house Outsourced

Build the team (2/4)

Best QualityKnow-HowSchedulingLast minute

ExpensiveRecruitmentPeak/Valleys

ProfessionalsCapacityComms

SelectionUrgency


Finding the perfect vendor

Build the team (3/4)Fast

Flexible

Quality

Service level

Expertise

Price


Empowering our people

Build the team (4/4)Engagement

Competence

Adaptability

Excellence

Passionate

Hard work


Choose your organization model

Empower your internal localization team

Learn how to work with virtual teams

Choose the right localization partner

In-house vs outsourced

Build the team: key takeaways



Mindset


Mindset

“Localization is not only a business

challenge. It’s a mindset challenge”


Localization? Are you the guys who relocate

people?

We don’t need to LQA the Mexican, we have a Spanish guy in our team...

Why don’t we just use Google Translate?

Why does it take 48h to get translations?

Mindset (1/7)


Evangelism, Education & Experts

Mindset (2/7)


What we do ….

C13n

Users surveys

ASO

LiveOps

CSFAQ

Legal

Content quality

In-game

Game description

PR

Localization

Mindset (3/7)


Mindset (4/7)


Why settle for 1/3 of the pie?

Mindset (5/7)


50%

41%

80% 55%

Sources:App Annie, Appia, CSA

Mindset (6/7)

86%


What could possibly go wrong….

Spanish characters missing: ¡ Ñ Swedish character missing: Å Turkish character missing: ğ Non-breaking space missing in French

Mindset (7/7)


Mindset: key takeaways

Evangelise the importance and value of localization

Promote the wide range of localization services

Share KPIs – “Show me the money!”

Commit to changing the mindset

Align and set expectations



Processes


From Waterfall to …. Agile

Going Agile (1/3)


Our problem with Agile Localization ….

Going Agile (2/3)

Localization

DevelopmentQA


The Candy Crush sprint process

Briefing• Attend release kick-off

• Gather design documentation for release content

• Q&A

Content• Keys locked

• Copyediting/proofreading

• Create localization kit

Localization• Order sent to vendor

• 48h turnaround

• Fielding of questions

Delivery

Going Agile (3/3)


Processes: key takeaways

Embrace the change from waterfall to a more agile environment

More complex dynamics regarding ownership and development

Can be difficult to get priority for L10n issues - choose your battles!

Adapt tools and processes for constant iterations and change

Work on making L10n an integral part of the development process


Q&A

a delicious tale of localization - gala global · a delicious tale of localization ... candy crush...

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