Localization in educational mobile games: Multiple case studies of educational mobile games in the emerging market, Vietnam

Abstract

The thesis studies the localization/globalization of educational mobile games in emerging markets, particularly Vietnam. In detail, the thesis investigates how an educational mobile game company balances their localization strategy in the pressure of Global Integration-Local Responsiveness (GI-LR), the drivers behind the localization choice and level, and how players react to the strategy.

The study reviews and summaries literature review related to GI-LR for MNEs and localization strategy for born-globals and suggests a framework for educational mobile game companies. The literature review indicated that while born-globals try to standardize their products, due to external and internal drivers, they have to adapt to local responsiveness on some levels. The suggested framework indicated that there are three levels of localization for educational game companies: simple, complex, and blending; besides standardization strategy. The thesis focuses on external drivers such as cultural differences and customer demands and studies how this affects the localization level of each game company.

The thesis employs multiple case studies to compare different educational game companies that have different localization levels and serve different customer demands. The data collected from both America and Vietnam reviews similarities and differences in how users of each region perceive the games, react to the localization level of the games and suggest game improvements.

The study figured out that cultural differences, especially language, and customer demands can change the level of localization of educational game companies. The level of localization can extend to one or several elements of the game. Users from Vietnam noticed some limitations of local language courses and suggested having their local language to be able to understand some games. In the context of emerging markets which have diverse culture and demands, educational game companies should do intense market research in advance to check whether they need to alter the localization level, reducing or raising the total cost of expanding to emerging markets.