A Comparative Analysis of Video Game Localization: The Last of Us Series

Abstract

Video game translation or localization entails the process of translating or localizing all elements in a video game, including but not limited to the story, dialogues, cut scenes, in-game menus, explanatory elements, etc. Video game localization processes have started with the first video games that involve text-intensive content. Then, video games started to incorporate more texts and longer dialogues. This thesis study aims to analyze the translation strategies utilized in video game localization processes of two games: The Last of Us and The Last of Us Part II. The strategies that this study examines has been put forward by Alberto Fernández Costales in Exploring Translation Strategies in Video Game Localisation (Costales, 2012). The study aims to determine the most commonly utilized translation strategy and to compare these strategies in terms of their utilization within those video games. It also aims to determine the possible reasons behind the choices of the localizers. Data have been extracted from both games and selected samples have been analyzed in terms of the translation strategy utilized for each sample. It has been observed as a result that the most frequently utilized translation strategy was domestication in both games.