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Spanish centric MMORPGs
themonk
Member Posts: 15
With the announcement from SOE about EQ2's German and French language servers, I was wondering about how many mmorpgs out there have Spanish as well. It seems to me at least that Spanish speakers are largely ignored. This seems surprising since there are around 350 million native Spanish speakers vs. 100 m German and 80 m French.
Wouldn't an enterprising game company make a lot of money by at least including Spanish as one of their main languages served? It just looks like a market that is largely untapped.
Your thoughts?
Comments
ur numbers are wrong
much more german speaking ppl
and spanish is second spoken language in the word after chinese
3rd is portugesish
only 4rd is english
Hi!
I´m spanish, and there are a lot of MMORPG players, but most of them hates monthly fees. In south america, most of people can´t afford a new PC to play the newest MMORPGs.
The first game translated to spanish by a company will be Dark and Light.
I think translating a game to Spanish can be a great way to get more players, or at least, let´s hope so.
Hi Crock:
Actually, I got my numbers from a couple of different sites. Here's one of them:
http://www.photius.com/rankings/languages2.html
Here's the other:
http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/xx.html (need to scroll down quite a bit -- it shows the percentage of world population per language so I just did some math)
Where did you get your numbers?
Thanks.
wrong site i think...mandarin and cantonesish are both chinese language
and look at Brazil where almost everybody speaks portugesish
btw i forgot hindu...alot too
I agree. The question I have, however, is whether the perception of Spanish speaking people (including those in the US) is accurate. In my workplace, about 10% of the workers (IT industry) are native spanish speakers. In the Chicago area, where I live, there are 1-2 million (around 20% of the total population) who speak Spanish as their first language.
Logically, a company would look for whoever is willing and able to pay for a product. However, companies are owned by people and people often have their own prejustices and perceptions. It seems to me that if over 350 million people speak spanish, even if only 1% might be a potential market, that's still 3.5 million people. If I was a game company, that's still a decent market to look at.
But then again, I'm no business man.
It also has to do with demographics. The demographic in major spanish-speaking markets do not reflect a profitable interest in online gaming at this time. Most hispanics in the northern hemisphere also speak English, so are absorbed in that demographic.
Another thing that must be taken into consideration is cost. Many countries do not have flat-rate access to phone service and may not have residential high-speed access available. Having to pay for a dial-up internet connection by the minute gets expensive very quickly, so it isn't just a matter of not wanting to pay a monthly subscription fee.
Buisnesses do NOT go by how many people speak a language. They go by how many people speak the POWER LANGUAGES of the world.
Here it is in order, the most powerful languages of the world:
1. English
2. German
3. French (includes Canadians)
4. Spanish, Portugese
5. Japanese
6. Korean
7. Hindi, Urdu (2 of the most common Indian languages.)
8. Chinese (Han Chinese, Mandarin Chinese, Cantonese)
9. Zulu
11. Indonesian
12. Russian
What is a POWER LANGUAGE one may ask? Sit down and listen to something you will not learn directly in school, only from actual experience working in real life buisness:
-> A buisness exists to make a profit. Especially a capitalist buisness. To make maximum profit a buisness defines what their target market is, then goes after it. The Power Languages of the world mirror the languages of the most affluent consumers in the world market. Yes more people speak Chinese (than German) and in the world than anyone else. But 80% of the Chinese get 1 bowel of rice a day, and do slave work. The majority of Chinese are NOT affluent. But far, far, far, more Germans ARE affluent than Chinese. So a smart buisness that wants to make $$$$$, will go after the German target market before the Chinese target market.
The Power Languages from #1 through #4 are the major "Old World" languages and will always remain in the top 5 because the richest people who speak them, are sooo loaded up with "old money". #2-5 change order... roughly every 5 years. English used to be #5 before Britian embarked on conquering the world. Spanish used to be #1 back when Spain ruled the world.... before the Spanish Armada got destroyed in a mysterious storm.
Also from #5 down, there is very little gap between them, they change order roughly every 1year to 6 months or less. Japan was once the #2 power language for years and years, but has been slipping, and will continue to slip. Korea either has replaced Japan's position, or is about to. Russia used to be far higher, but their economy is shot. Gangsters run Russia now.
Theoretically the Dutch (home of the Dutch Trading Co., which still exists to this day. They created every major company in America, owned (still own? heheh) all major real estate in America, created the mega city of New Amsterdam now known as... New York City...... those Dutch ....are the most affluent people in the entire world. But there are soo few of them vs people who speak English, German, French, Spanish, and the other languages on the list. That is why Dutch is not on the list. A buisness that wants to make maximum profit would do better not having a Dutch only server, but instead English, German, French, Spanish servers, etc.... Anyway, many Dutch know English.
I agree that the power language Spanish is an untapped market in the MMORPG industry. Anyone out there with some extra investment money? There is a target market waiting for you to reap mega-profits and mega-rewards from!!!!
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You hit the nail right on the head. MMO games target markets with high-per-capita income, and solid internet infrastructure. That pretty much rules out anything south of the border, eastern Europe, Africa, and the Middle East.
-pooka
In talking about the MMORPG industry, there is another major, ultra-important factor:
How accessable are computers, and internect connection, to whatever the target market is?
- Korea for the past 4 years has led the entire world when it comes to computer AND internet access for the mass population. Yes, a tiny, little, itsy, bitsy, country, with 1 major city! They did MASSIVE investment in their infrastructure, and investment in taking advantage of the latest modern technology. 100% of the entire country can litterally, anytime of the day or night, play any internet game, using almost the latest computers, graphics cards, for bargin rates - without having to buy most of the games, without having to buy a computer, but can play internet games.
- Next would be Japan, in terms of computer and internet access for the masses. I would estimate 50% of the country can use the computer and internet, without having to buy a computer, without having to buy most games, but can play internet games.
- Then would be Europe, most notably (not in any particular order for Europe) Germany, Britian, France, Greece, Italy, Netherlands (those covertly powerful Dutch!
), and Spain. I would estimate roughly 30% of Europe can use the computer and internet, without having to buy a computer, without having to buy most games, but can play internet games.
- Then... America. In the #4th spot when it comes to availability of computer and internet access to the masses. Only in major American cities, and only in Asian-American areas... is roughly 90% of the population able to access the internet without having to buy a comptuer. For the rest of Americans, they MUST BUY a PC in order to access the internet, and internet games. (Many American libaries have free internet access, but one cannot play internet games on them.)
- That is it. No one has made major investments in Central America, South America, the rest of Asia (Indonesia, Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia, etc...), and Africa, in making computer and internet access available to the masses.
In India, and the rest of the Middle East, there is starting to be a surge of investment.
PC BANGS ! aka Internet Cafes! ...baby!
- Are super-popular vs owning your own computer because:
1. You never have to worry about viruses.
2. You never have to worry about upgrading every 2-6 months. Or having to buy a brand new computer every year LOL!
3. Hardcore gamers who like playing Counter-Strike, Unreal Tournament, and all other FPS, and even RTS games like Star Craft, Ages of Empires, etc.... know for a fact their opponets are NOT cheating using hacks, scripts, etc... (This is why the World Cyber Games USA semi-finals were held at the best Internet Cafe in America... WebZone.... in NYC on a street called Astor Place. And the finals were held... guess where? In Korea.
)
4. Sometimes, sometimes, the rates are as good, and even cheaper (vs playing at home on their PC), for gamers who like playing MMORPGs.
5. Even if the rates are not cheaper for gamers who like playing MMORPGs (vs playing at home on their PC)...... MMORPG gamers like the camaradarie of sitting next to 50 real life guildmates as they do a raid, invasion, battle, etc... in a MMORPG. Communication is obviously... instantaneous.
6. Some, some... PC Bangs/Internet Cafes are far cheaper to use than having ones own home PC! And one still gets full features - printing, CD burning, the latest hardware, the latest software, etc... There is NO NEED to buy a home PC. No need what-so-ever. The rest of the gaming world is behind Korea!
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Personal Website (work in progress):
http://www.geocities.com/xplororor/index.html
MMORPG games I've played:
http://community.webshots.com/user/xplororor
Star Wars Galaxies:
http://community.webshots.com/user/capt_xplororor
More games:
http://community.webshots.com/user/xplororor_archives01
EVE Online !!!
http://community.webshots.com/user/sica_xol_archives01
DAoC (coming soon)
The reason Korea, Japan, Hong Kong, and China (in that order) are becomming such major players in the industy is simple: They are homogenous societies with better network infrastructures than the U.S.
50% of Koreans access the internet using broadband connections. Lineage has a subscriber base of FOUR MILLION - over 10 times that of Everquest (the leader in the western world.) For those that don't have broadband at home, many spend 8-10 hours a day in internet cafes.
Japan, Hong Kong, and Taiwan have taken longer to catch on, but they are well on their way to where Korea is today. China, on the other hand, will take longer to get broadband in many of its' rural areas. Asian gamers pay more and play longer than Americans. The video game industry is HUGE in Asia, and it's luke-warm in America.
Since 90% of the MMO games are produced by either American or Asian developers, these markets are currently the focus. American developers can incidentally target European consumers in markets similar to the U.S., but it's unusual that an American game is successful in say, Japan.
It's simple economics - you market your product where the demand is greatest.
-pooka