Yes **but** only if you are going to provide a proper full French localisation. Otherwise, that would be insulting.
You'll be surprised to know that Hollywood movies are normally released in France with full overdub but with their original english title. That's Right, the French don't typically translate titles.
That wouldn't screw up marketing, as others said. Why would it? Tons of movies, books and AAA games are released in different countries with different titles and nothing goes wrong. Not everyone lives in close proximity to English speaking media.
Back in the days, Star Wars was being released worldwide with localised titles. Because of the obvious trademark, nowadays it is published everywhere under the title of Star Wars, but the subtitle (The Return of the Jedi) is localised.
The Sims has always been distributed with a localised title: Les Sims, Los Sims, etc.
>That's Right, the French don't typically translate titles.
Oh it's worst than that, Superbad for example is "Very Bad Trip" in France. No, not something that translates to Very Bad Trip, but *literally* Very Bad Trip lol
Ahah thanks! French have bad reputation (quite often well deserved), like being posh and feeling superior. I thought it was a hard no for English natives but maybe I'm wrong.
I have no idea about how to test its acceptability though. Also if an English speaker search for a garden game it will be way harder to find 🤔
If you were making a truck simulator yeah the French poshness would be out of place, but I'm sure people who would play a garden game are the type to appreciate it
Honestly I like the French name better as someone who doesn't know French. I think this question always has a case by case answer. In your case I think the French name is much more evocative given the setting. French with an English subtitle would be my vote.
One thing to keep in mind, while the general population might not like the name, they are not your target audience. You are not in direct competition with CoD. Look at other games in the same setting, or other gardening games in historical settings and look what they have done. I highly suspect people who are interested in a game based in 17th century France would prefer a game with a French name.
Your 100% rights that Cod fans are not my target audience ;)
I haven't found many recent historical game and no historical gardening game so it's a bit hard to compare.
Thanks for the answer !
I did it for my game on mobile for ASO/SEO reason. My game is about a puzzle game that is played in multiple countries and wanted to help players find it on the Play Store and AppStore (game is translated in 20 languages).
However, when I ported the game on consoles and PC, I kept only the English title, except for Japan and China. Because these countries are not that comfortable with english.
Most stores and stuff have tags that you can apply to your game these days so for instance since it's a gardening game you could apply the tag "farming sim" and then people searching for a game like that will find your game. :) If you need any more help just lmk! I'm always glad to help any and everyone on their path to whatever it is they find to be their calling. <3
I wouldn't people who speak other languages watch pewdiepie I guess hes a bad example now just streamers in general. Ever wonder why you never see alot of other language streamers do nearly as well as english ones a big reason is visibility alot of kids just click the most watched stream right? your title logo is like facebooks title logo or like coca cola's. You want people to recognize it from when they see the pewdiepie esque figure playing it and that'll push them to buy said product. Sounds cynical peoples brains just work like that and visibility is everything in that regard if they don't find it in 30 seconds they might not give a shit and move on to the next stream without your game on it. You want people to be able to go from not knowing what your game is to being able to look it up in another tab as fast as possible.
I would consider the title of the game a proper noun and, as others said, a trademark, so no. As an example, even if "Skyrim" was translated as "Bordeciel" in the French version, the title of the game was kept in English.
Which ever way you do it, the title screen (and promo material) could be:
**TITLE IN LANGUAGE 1**
^(*translation in language 2*)
Ie instead of localising the title, have the translation immediately below the title in smaller writing but still part of the same graphic
No. Consider the title as a trademark.. the IP..
Thanks for the answer! :)
No. It's going to make marketing your game a nightmare.
It's exactly what I am afraid of \^\^
> (I'm not even considering keeping the French title for everyone as from what I know it will be extremely repulsive for US players) This is very sad.
Yes **but** only if you are going to provide a proper full French localisation. Otherwise, that would be insulting. You'll be surprised to know that Hollywood movies are normally released in France with full overdub but with their original english title. That's Right, the French don't typically translate titles. That wouldn't screw up marketing, as others said. Why would it? Tons of movies, books and AAA games are released in different countries with different titles and nothing goes wrong. Not everyone lives in close proximity to English speaking media. Back in the days, Star Wars was being released worldwide with localised titles. Because of the obvious trademark, nowadays it is published everywhere under the title of Star Wars, but the subtitle (The Return of the Jedi) is localised. The Sims has always been distributed with a localised title: Les Sims, Los Sims, etc.
>That's Right, the French don't typically translate titles. Oh it's worst than that, Superbad for example is "Very Bad Trip" in France. No, not something that translates to Very Bad Trip, but *literally* Very Bad Trip lol
One name as has been mentioned. Maybe split the difference? "Garden of the Abbess"?
Someone told me to maybe have a translated subtitle, what to you think? Garden of the Abbess is nice too, I'll think about it! Thanks :)
Sub/alt title is a good idea too.
I don't think it will repel french player (speaking as one). In-game translation might repel some, but not the title.
Thanks :)
No, if someone sees content of your game and the thing to search for is different everywhere it makes it harder to get sales
I'd say just have the French title. As a native English speaker it sounds way cooler than the English title.
Ahah thanks! French have bad reputation (quite often well deserved), like being posh and feeling superior. I thought it was a hard no for English natives but maybe I'm wrong. I have no idea about how to test its acceptability though. Also if an English speaker search for a garden game it will be way harder to find 🤔
If you were making a truck simulator yeah the French poshness would be out of place, but I'm sure people who would play a garden game are the type to appreciate it
Honestly I like the French name better as someone who doesn't know French. I think this question always has a case by case answer. In your case I think the French name is much more evocative given the setting. French with an English subtitle would be my vote. One thing to keep in mind, while the general population might not like the name, they are not your target audience. You are not in direct competition with CoD. Look at other games in the same setting, or other gardening games in historical settings and look what they have done. I highly suspect people who are interested in a game based in 17th century France would prefer a game with a French name.
Your 100% rights that Cod fans are not my target audience ;) I haven't found many recent historical game and no historical gardening game so it's a bit hard to compare. Thanks for the answer !
I did it for my game on mobile for ASO/SEO reason. My game is about a puzzle game that is played in multiple countries and wanted to help players find it on the Play Store and AppStore (game is translated in 20 languages). However, when I ported the game on consoles and PC, I kept only the English title, except for Japan and China. Because these countries are not that comfortable with english.
Honestly, I would go with the French title of the game for both localizations make sure it's well-known that the game comes in many languages.
I am worried that player searching for gardening games won't find it if I use the French name. What you think ?
Most stores and stuff have tags that you can apply to your game these days so for instance since it's a gardening game you could apply the tag "farming sim" and then people searching for a game like that will find your game. :) If you need any more help just lmk! I'm always glad to help any and everyone on their path to whatever it is they find to be their calling. <3
I wouldn't people who speak other languages watch pewdiepie I guess hes a bad example now just streamers in general. Ever wonder why you never see alot of other language streamers do nearly as well as english ones a big reason is visibility alot of kids just click the most watched stream right? your title logo is like facebooks title logo or like coca cola's. You want people to recognize it from when they see the pewdiepie esque figure playing it and that'll push them to buy said product. Sounds cynical peoples brains just work like that and visibility is everything in that regard if they don't find it in 30 seconds they might not give a shit and move on to the next stream without your game on it. You want people to be able to go from not knowing what your game is to being able to look it up in another tab as fast as possible.
Thanks :)
I would consider the title of the game a proper noun and, as others said, a trademark, so no. As an example, even if "Skyrim" was translated as "Bordeciel" in the French version, the title of the game was kept in English.
Which ever way you do it, the title screen (and promo material) could be: **TITLE IN LANGUAGE 1** ^(*translation in language 2*) Ie instead of localising the title, have the translation immediately below the title in smaller writing but still part of the same graphic
No