Should You Add Simplified Chinese?

1 · Your text

Words to translate

UI, dialogue, tutorials, achievements. A Steam store page alone is about 400–800 words.

Price per word

Developers on r/gamedev report about $0.08–0.16 for professional English → Simplified Chinese.

Proofreading and in-game check

Don't skip it: 机翻 ("machine translation") is one of the harshest words in Chinese reviews.

2 · Your sales

Copies sold per month now

All regions. Steamworks → Sales & Activations.

China share of those copies now

Steamworks → sales by country. Even without Chinese, many games already sell some copies in China.

Expected China share with Chinese

For calibration, estimated China shares of some games with Chinese: Brotato ~41%, Palworld ~39%, Vampire Survivors ~16%, Enshrouded ~14% (Gamalytic). Be conservative.

China price

¥20–70 is the sweet spot for most indie games; ~¥198 is the practical ceiling.

How this is calculated

Cost = words × price per word × (1 + proofreading %).
Non-Chinese copies stay the same. Chinese copies grow until they make up your expected share.
Net per Chinese copy = China price ÷ 7.10 × 0.70 (store cut).
Months to earn back = cost ÷ (extra Chinese copies × net per copy).

Get the numbers right before you spend

The calculator tells you whether. These tell you how.

Culturalization Video Course

Lesson 3.2 shows how to audit a localization vendor; 2.1 and 2.7 cover the Steam page and China pricing.

$349

See the course

China Review Rescue Kit

Already have Chinese players? Read and answer their reviews, in Chinese, starting today.

$49

See the kit

Want a second opinion?

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