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Open Access

Video Games Localization into Arabic: Gamers’ Reactions to Localizing PUBG and Free Fire

Shatha Jarrah^¹, Saleh Al-Salman^¹, Ahmad S Haider^{¹^,²}()

1Department of English Language and Translation, Applied Science Private University, Amman 11937, Jordan

2MEU Research Unit, Middle East University, Amman 11831, Jordan

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Abstract

The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region has an active gaming community, with Arab gamers being reliant on games produced in Europe, America, and Japan due to the lack of significant game production companies in the MENA region. This study explores the gamers’ reactions to the localization process of two video games, namely PUBG and Free Fire. For data collection purposes, a five-point Likert scale questionnaire that consisted of 18 items and six constructs, namely need for subtitled games, technical aspects, language issues, language preference, attitudes to game localization, and future actions and recommendations, was designed to elicit the reactions of 112 participants. Upon analyzing the responses, the findings showed that the better the technical aspects and language issues of the games’ performance, the more positive participants’ attitudes to game localization. The study recommends that further research could be conducted on the localization of video games with different themes into Arabic.

Keywords

localization video games PUBG Free Fire Audio Visual Translation (AVT)

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Journal of Social Computing

Volume 4 Issue 1,
March 2023

Pages 74-93

DOI: 10.23919/JSC.2023.0004

Cite this article:

Jarrah S, Al-Salman S, Haider AS. Video Games Localization into Arabic: Gamers’ Reactions to Localizing PUBG and Free Fire. Journal of Social Computing, 2023, 4(1): 74-93. https://doi.org/10.23919/JSC.2023.0004

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Table 1Reliability analysis result through Cronbach Alpha results^[18].

Construct	Number of items	Cronbach’s Alpha
Need for subtitled games	3	0.708
Technical aspect	3	0.777
Language issue	3	0.863
Language preference	3	0.857
Attitude to game localization	3	0.842
Future action and recommendation	3	0.876
All variables	18	0.912

Table 2Normality indicator.

Construct	Skewness	Kurtosis
Need for subtitled games	−0.568	0.728
Technical aspect	−0.419	0.539
Language issue	−0.348	−0.509
Language preference	−0.392	−0.407
Attitude to game localization	−0.496	0.176
Future action and recommendation	−1.155	1.453
All variables	−0.568	0.728

Table 3Confirmatory factor analysis results (factor loading).

Latent variable	Indicator	FL	FLS	AVE (> 0.50)	CR (> 0.70)
Note: FL = Factor Loading, FLS = Factor Loading Squared, AVE = Average Variance Extracted, and CR = Composite Reliability.
Need for subtitled games	NSG1	0.827	0.684	0.514	0.757
	NSG2	0.608	0.370
	NSG3	0.698	0.487
Technical aspect	TA1	0.814	0.663	0.542	0.779
	TA2	0.669	0.448
	TA3	0.718	0.516
Language issue	LI1	0.661	0.437	0.539	0.776
	LI2	0.695	0.483
	LI3	0.835	0.697
Language preference	LP1	0.711	0.506	0.523	0.767
	LP2	0.692	0.479
	LP3	0.765	0.585
Attitude to game localization	AGL1	0.67	0.449	0.509	0.756
	AGL2	0.749	0.561
	AGL3	0.719	0.517
Future action and recommendation	FAR1	0.729	0.531	0.561	0.792
	FAR2	0.813	0.661
	FAR3	0.7	0.490

Table 4HTMT analysis result.

Indicator	NSG	TA	LI	LP	AGL	FAR
NSG	—	—	—	—	—	—
TA	0.730	—	—	—	—	—
LI	0.704	0.782	—	—	—	—
LP	0.125	0.010	0.098	—	—	—
AGL	0.580	0.620	0.654	0.172	—	—
FAR	0.520	0.589	0.645	0.231	0.702	—

Table 5Descriptive statistics for the demographic variables.

Variable	Category	Count	Percentage (%)
Gender	Male	77	68.8
	Female	35	31.2
	Total	112	100
Years playing video games	0−5 years	30	26.8
	6−10 years	23	20.5
	More than 10 years	59	52.7
	Total	112	100
Education	High school or less	38	33.9
	University undergraduate degree (bachelor’s)	56	50
	University graduate degree	18	16.1
	Total	112	100
Medium to play video games	Smartphone	12	14.3
	Desktop	29	24.1
	Laptop	71	61.6
	Total	112	100
Time spent daily	Less than 1 h	16	14.3
	1−2 h	27	24.1
	More than 2 h	69	61.6
	Total	112	100

Table 6Participants’ responses to the questionnaire’s item.

Construct	No.	Participants’ response	Game	Percentage of participants (%)
Construct	No.	Participants’ response	Game	Agree	Uncertain	Disagree
Need for subtitled games	1	I need the game to be localized to fully understand its different components.	—	67.5	12.5	20
	2	Arabic game localization is necessary for people who are not native-speakers of the game they are playing.	—	72.35	12.9	14.75
	3	The localized Arabic game is a true reflection of what is being said on the screen.	—	41.5	18.3	40.2
Technical aspect	4	The font size and colour in the localized Arabic game are similar to those in the English version.	PUBG	58	21.5	20.5
	4		Free Fire	45.6	22.3	32.1
	5	The amount of text displayed on the screen in the Arabic localized version is aligned and easy to follow and read.	PUBG	52.7	17.9	29.4
	5		Free Fire	38.4	25	36.6
	6	The game interface supports right-to-left languages such as Arabic.	PUBG	68.7	17	14.3
	6		Free Fire	54.4	27.7	17.9
Language issue	7	There were spelling errors in the Arabic version of the game.	PUBG	76.8	11.6	11.6
	7		Free Fire	65.2	21.4	13.4
	8	There were grammatical errors in the Arabic version of the game.	PUBG	64.3	17	18.7
	8		Free Fire	51.8	25	23.2
	9	There were lexical/semantic errors in the Arabic version of the game.	PUBG	59	20.5	20.5
	9		Free Fire	50	25.9	24.1
Language preference	10	I prefer the localized Arabic version of the game because of cultural and ideological issues.	PUBG	52.6	13.4	34
	10		Free Fire	41.9	17	41.1
	11	I prefer the localized Arabic version because I can understand all the details of the game.	PUBG	60.7	15.2	24.1
	11		Free Fire	50	17.9	32.1
	12	I prefer the localized Arabic version because I feel more comfortable and find it more appealing.	PUBG	59.8	12.5	27.7
	12		Free Fire	50	15.2	34.8
Attitude to game localization	13	The experience of playing the Arabic localized version of the game was engaging.	—	59.4	18.3	22.3
	14	I would like to play more games localized in Arabic in the future.	—	54.5	24.1	21.4
	15	Playing video games in the Arabic version is a symbol of affiliation, loyalty, and group identity.	—	52.25	18.75	29
Future action and recommendation	16	Localizing video games into Arabic should be encouraged.	—	71	12.5	16.5
	17	Arabic game localization should be provided by professional translators with wide experience in video games.	—	80.35	8.95	10.7
	18	Video game design companies should have authentic Arabic sources, not translation, of all games they produce.	—	80.35	11.15	8.5

Table 7Independent sample T-test for the differences according to gender in PUBG and Free Fire.

Category	T-value	Sig. T
Need for subtitled games	0.280	0.780
Technical aspect	0.415	0.679
Language issue	0.950	0.344
Language preference	−1.063	0.290
Attitude to game localization	−1.856	0.066
Future action and recommendation	−0.354	0.724

Table 8One-way ANOVA for the differences in PUBG and Free Fire responses according to years of playing video games.

Category	F-value	Sig. F
Need for subtitled games	0.249	0.78
Technical aspect	0.92	0.401
Language issue	2.051	0.134
Language preference	0.849	0.43
Attitude to game localization	0.005	0.996
Future action and recommendation	0.019	0.981

Table 9One-way ANOVA for the differences in PUBG and Free Fire responses according to education.

Category	F-value	Sig. F
Note: *p < 0.01 and p < 0.05
Need for subtitled games	2.466	0.066
Technical aspect	1.868	0.139
Language issue	0.929	0.43
Language preference	0.727	0.538
Attitude to game localization	4.162**	0.008
Future action and recommendation	2.747*	0.046

Table 10One-way ANOVA for the differences of PUBG and Free Fire responses according to the medium used to play video games.

Category	F-value	Sig. F
Need for subtitled games	0.77	0.466
Technical aspect	0.119	0.888
Language issue	0.919	0.402
Language preference	0.455	0.636
Attitude to game localization	0.436	0.648
Future action and recommendation	1.221	0.299

Table 11One-way ANOVA for the differences in PUBG and Free Fire responses according to time spent gaming a day.

Category	F-value	Sig. F
Need for subtitled games	0.328	0.721
Technical aspect	0.299	0.742
Language issue	0.768	0.466
Language preference	0.904	0.408
Attitude to game localization	1.043	0.356
Future action and recommendation	0.913	0.404

Table 12Multiple linear regression results for testing the effect of technical aspects, language issues, and language preferences on attitudes to game localization.

Game	Factor	Unstandardized coefficient	T-value	Sig. T	F-value	p-value (Sig. F)	Adjusted R² value
Note: ***p < 0.001
PUBG	Technical aspect	0.458	4.967***	0.000	29.006***	0.000	0.431
	Language issue	−0.087	−0.985	0.327
	Language preference	0.457	6.621***	0.000
Free Fire	Technical aspect	0.427	4.582***	0.000	25.611***	0.000	0.399
	Language issue	−0.043	−0.495	0.622
	Language preference	0.412	5.660***	0.000

Table 13Multiple linear regression results for testing the effect of technical aspects, language issues, and language preferences on future actions and recommendations.

Game	Factor	Unstandardized coefficient	T-value	Sig. T	F-value	p-value (Sig. F)	Adjusted R² value
Note: **p < 0.001, p < 0.01, and *p <0.05
PUBG	Technical aspect	0.153	1.762	0.081	10.669***	0.000	0.207
	Language issue	0.255	3.053**	0.003
	Language preference	0.124	1.913	0.058
Free Fire	Technical aspect	0.328	3.234**	0.002	19.692***	0.000	0.336
	Language issue	0.309	3.303**	0.001
	Language preference	0.173	2.188*	0.031

TableA A1Demographic information.

Gender	Male
Gender	Female
Years playing video games	0−5 years
	6−10 years
	More than 10 years
Education	No schooling
	High school or below
	Bachelor’s degree
	Master’s degree or higher
Medium used to play video games	Smartphones
	Desktops
	Laptops
Time spent gaming in a day	Less than 1 h
	More than 1 h
	More than 2 h

TableA A2Participant’s responses to the questionnaire’s constructs and items.

Construct	No.	Item	Game	Response
Construct	No.	Item	Game	Strongly agree	Agree	Uncertain	Disagree	Strongly disagree
A　Need for subtitled game	1	I need the game to be localized to fully understand its different components.	PUBG	Strongly agree	Agree	Uncertain	Disagree	Strongly disagree
	1		Free Fire	Strongly agree	Agree	Uncertain	Disagree	Strongly disagree
	2	Arabic game localization is necessary for people who are not native speakers of the game they are playing.	PUBG	Strongly agree	Agree	Uncertain	Disagree	Strongly disagree
	2		Free Fire	Strongly agree	Agree	Uncertain	Disagree	Strongly disagree
	3	The localized Arabic game is a true reflection of what is being said on the screen.	PUBG	Strongly agree	Agree	Uncertain	Disagree	Strongly disagree
	3		Free Fire	Strongly agree	Agree	Uncertain	Disagree	Strongly disagree
B　Technical aspect	4	The font size and color in the localized Arabic game are similar to those in the English version.	PUBG	Strongly agree	Agree	Uncertain	Disagree	Strongly disagree
	4		Free Fire	Strongly agree	Agree	Uncertain	Disagree	Strongly disagree
	5	The amount of text displayed on the screen in the Arabic localized version is aligned and easy to follow and read.	PUBG	Strongly agree	Agree	Uncertain	Disagree	Strongly disagree
	5		Free Fire	Strongly agree	Agree	Uncertain	Disagree	Strongly disagree
	6	The game interface supports right-to-left languages such as Arabic.	PUBG	Strongly agree	Agree	Uncertain	Disagree	Strongly disagree
	6		Free Fire	Strongly agree	Agree	Uncertain	Disagree	Strongly disagree
C　Language issue	7	There were spelling errors in the Arabic version of the game.	PUBG	Strongly agree	Agree	Uncertain	Disagree	Strongly disagree
	7		Free Fire	Strongly agree	Agree	Uncertain	Disagree	Strongly disagree
	8	There were grammatical errors in the Arabic version of the game.	PUBG	Strongly agree	Agree	Uncertain	Disagree	Strongly disagree
	8		Free Fire	Strongly agree	Agree	Uncertain	Disagree	Strongly disagree
	9	There were lexical/semantic errors in the Arabic version of the game.	PUBG	Strongly agree	Agree	Uncertain	Disagree	Strongly disagree
	9		Free Fire	Strongly agree	Agree	Uncertain	Disagree	Strongly disagree
D　Language preference	10	I prefer the localized Arabic version of the game because of cultural and ideological issues.	PUBG	Strongly agree	Agree	Uncertain	Disagree	Strongly disagree
	10		Free Fire	Strongly agree	Agree	Uncertain	Disagree	Strongly disagree
	11	I prefer the localized Arabic version because I can understand all the details of the game.	PUBG	Strongly agree	Agree	Uncertain	Disagree	Strongly disagree
	11		Free Fire	Strongly agree	Agree	Uncertain	Disagree	Strongly disagree
	12	I prefer the localized Arabic version because I feel more comfortable and appealing.	PUBG	Strongly agree	Agree	Uncertain	Disagree	Strongly disagree
	12		Free Fire	Strongly agree	Agree	Uncertain	Disagree	Strongly disagree
E　Attitude to game localization	13	The experience of playing the Arabic localized version of the game was engaging.	PUBG	Strongly agree	Agree	Uncertain	Disagree	Strongly disagree
	13		Free Fire	Strongly agree	Agree	Uncertain	Disagree	Strongly disagree
	14	I would like to play more games localized in Arabic in the future.	PUBG	Strongly agree	Agree	Uncertain	Disagree	Strongly disagree
	14		Free Fire	Strongly agree	Agree	Uncertain	Disagree	Strongly disagree
	15	Playing video games in the Arabic version is a symbol of affiliation, loyalty, and group identity.	PUBG	Strongly agree	Agree	Uncertain	Disagree	Strongly disagree
	15		Free Fire	Strongly agree	Agree	Uncertain	Disagree	Strongly disagree
F　Future action and recommendation	16	Localizing video games into Arabic should be encouraged.	PUBG	Strongly agree	Agree	Uncertain	Disagree	Strongly disagree
	16	Localizing video games into Arabic should be encouraged.	Free Fire	Strongly agree	Agree	Uncertain	Disagree	Strongly disagree
	17	Arabic game localization should be provided by professional translators with wide experience in video games.	PUBG	Strongly agree	Agree	Uncertain	Disagree	Strongly disagree
	17		Free Fire	Strongly agree	Agree	Uncertain	Disagree	Strongly disagree
	18	Video game design companies should have authentic Arabic source, not translation, of all games they produce.	PUBG	Strongly agree	Agree	Uncertain	Disagree	Strongly disagree
	18		Free Fire	Strongly agree	Agree	Uncertain	Disagree	Strongly disagree