Big Fish Games expands into new languages

Reaching out to potentially profitable new players in their native tongue

Big Fish Games announced Thursday that it is expanding its games into several new languages and currencies. One might wonder why Big Fish Games, which was founded in 2002, is making these additions. The company has players in more than 200 countries, with 50% of its sales coming from international markets, according to Jeremy Lewis, the president and CEO of Big Fish Games.  That is no small dollar amount when you consider that the company had revenues in 2009 that exceeded $100 million.

This means that games will now be available in the following languages:

• English
• French
• German
• Italian (new)
• Japanese
• Spanish
• Brazilian Portuguese (new)
• Danish (new)
• Dutch (new)
• Swedish (new)

The move also increases the company's potential player market. More than 300 million people speak one of the new languages offered. Expanding into these markets is too potentially lucrative to pass up.

The site will also be adding 12 new payment currencies, which brings the total number of currencies accepted by Big Fish Games to 16. The new currencies include:

• Argentine peso
• Australian dollar
• Brazilian real
• British pound
• Canadian dollar
• Danish krone
• Euro
• Japanese yen
• Mexican peso
• New Zealand dollar
• Norwegian kroner
• South African rand

Big Fish Games is, of course, not the only company to recognize the value in reaching out to the international market. Zynga also announced on Thursday that it will be launching localized versions of its newest game, CityVille. The games will be translated into French, German, Italian and Spanish, and will allow players to add region specific iconic buildings, such as the Eiffel Tower in France.

The company, which has corporate headquarters in both Seattle and Cork, Ireland, works on the pay-per-download model as well as allowing users to buy in-game items. Users pay one flat rate to download and play games, or pay for useful items with in-game money, which is purchased with real cash. The company publishes games such as Mystery Case Files, Hidden Expedition, Drawn, Fairway Solitaire, My Tribe, Redemption Cemetery, Dark Tales, and Megaplex Madness. The company has over two million games and works with over 500 game developers.