Subtitling in game localisation: a descriptive study

In less than four decades the video game industry has become a multibillion dollar worldwide phenomenon. As game technology has evolved, allowing for the inclusion of cinematic scenes in games, dubbing and subtitling practices have become incorporated into game design and localisation. However, while years of research in AVT have led to the establishment of subtitling guidelines, both for intralingual and interlingual subtitles, such guidelines are generally not applied in games. Some games provide subtitles of more than three lines, use small fonts, and do not take into account the established average reading speed. This paper adopts a descriptive approach to the study of current subtitling practices applied in the video game industry. It describes the different features of game subtitles and highlights the need for further descriptive and empirical research that should lay the foundation for the development of game subtitling guidelines. © 2013 Copyright Taylor and Francis Group, LLC.