This paper presents research aimed to improve the translation and adaptation of cultural and accessibility issues of video games, a worldwide growing market that is currently at its very peak. The scope of video games has broadened beyond pure gaming and entertainment purposes, and this multimedia product is increasingly being used for health and educational purposes, and also for breaking accessibility down barriers for disabled or partially handicapped populations. Video games and multimedia products now target almost all age groups and the global success of this industry depends, to a great extent, on the fact that the games and software, irrespective of their origin, have to come across as original and accessible products to players and end-users from different language backgrounds and cultural contexts. Therefore, developers, distributors, the media and end-users are demanding cutting-edge products in shorter time frames. Localisation processes must reach a extremely high quality level of performance to meet the requirements of an ever-demanding and experienced audience.
This situation provides new directions for research in translation studies. For this reason, the present research is aimed to provide: 1) a descriptive study of the localisation process and the features from audiovisual translation present in these types of multimedia product, 2) a needs analysis that deals with both the technology required for these purposes and the methods that provide optimal results for the localisation process, and 3) a study of the possibilities for automating the translation and adaptation processes of video game localisation, bearing in mind issues such as integrating dubbing and subtitling or accessibility issues through the use of new technologies.
The outcomes of this industry-oriented research intend to contribute to research and industry through the development of methodologies, protocols and guidelines, setting the grounds for developing a computer application that optimises IT processes for video game translators. Such study for further integrating available IT and accessibility issues into video game localisation could also help to inform the industry regarding the relevance of such an important process within the development process – nowadays confined to be a mere part of the post-production process –, which would benefit time-to-market requirements. Distributors and end-users would ultimately benefit from reduced time frames and increased quality of the resulting translated versions. Most importantly, this study would also like to contribute to the curricular design of video game translation courses by detailing the processes and know-how required in this industry.

Ximo GRANELL graduated in Translation and Interpreting from Universitat Jaume I (Spain), and obtained his PhD from Loughborough University (UK) after conducting research on the adoption of computer-aided translation tools by translators, at Loughborough University’s Business School. He has delivered several specialisation courses on CAT tools at Universitat Jaume I and Universitat d’Alacant (Spain) and teaches the official master course “Translation and Localisation Technology”, shared among Universitat Jaume I, Universitat de València and Universitat d’Alacant. He has also worked as a postdoctoral researcher for the research group TecnoLeTTra (Language, Terminology and Translation Technology) at Universitat Jaume I. As a translator, he has worked in a large number of software and website localisation projects, and also in several video game localisation projects set up by worldwide industry leaders. Currently, he is working as a freelance translator and his research interests are focused on the application of new technologies to the fields of video game and multimedia software localisation (translation and adaptation of translated versions to the culture and conventions of the target market) and the integration of audiovisual aspects (dubbing and subtitling), as well as accessibility issues (audio description for the blind/partially blind, and subtitles for the deaf).