Video games as a new domain for translation research. From translating text to translating experience

Video games have grown to form a global entertainment industry today. Their global status could not have been achieved without language transfer efforts that make games, irrespective of their origin, accessible to players in their own language and cultural contexts. Despite translation playing such a vital role, its significance is largely ignored in games studies, while video games remain underexplored in translation studies (TS). Focusing on the multidimensionality and multimodality of video games, this paper argues that the domain of video games as a target for research in TS can serve not only the games industry but also the TS discipline by opening up a number of new research avenues.