The People Behind Exceptional Games: Valentina Mollica
From preserving a character’s personality to making every quest instruction clear, Testronic’s Director of Language Services Valentina Mollica shares how expert localization helps games connect with players around the world…
What brought you into games localization and language services?
I have always been fascinated by games, technology and language. Video game localization combines all three in a creative way, and it’s constantly evolving, which means there is always something new to pique my interest and learn from.
What does a typical project look like from your perspective?
Most projects begin with understanding the developer’s objectives, target audience, content scope and release deadlines. From there, we coordinate multiple activities that may include Translation, Proofreading, Localization QA, Culturalization and Compliance – on the same localized content and within the schedule agreed with the client.
What does a truly Player-Focused localization experience look and feel like?
Players should never feel that they are playing a translated game. The experience should feel natural, immersive and authentic in their language. They should be able to focus on the game itself rather than noticing awkward wording or cultural inconsistencies. Player-focused localization removes friction and strengthens emotional engagement with the game.
How do you help ensure that localized content retains the original game’s personality, tone and creative intent?
We invest significant effort in understanding the game’s narrative, characters and creative vision before localization begins.
A single mistranslated quest objective can cause confusion and prevent players from progressing. For example, an instruction to hold rather than press a button can affect the player’s success in a mission.
Humor, sarcasm or character-specific speech patterns often require cultural adaptation rather than literal translation. The incorrect use of formality can completely change how players perceive a character’s personality or the relationship between two characters, affecting their understanding of the story.
What does being Partner-First mean in practice when you are working with a development or publishing team?
We focus on becoming an extension of the client’s team rather than simply a supplier. Communication is transparent and solution oriented, and our goals are aligned. In addition, we challenge assumptions when necessary and provide honest recommendations based on experience.
What expertise do the people within your team bring to a project beyond their knowledge of individual languages?
There are a number of things:
- Deep understanding of gaming culture and player expectations.
- Experience across different genres and platforms.
- Expertise in terminology management and linguistic consistency.
- Cultural knowledge that helps identify market-specific risks and opportunities.
- Strong project management and communication skills that help coordinate complex global releases.
And, ultimately, the ability to think from both a player and a developer perspective.
Drawing on your experience, what can happen when a QA or language services team lacks the expertise, consistency or attention to detail a project requires?
Localization quality issues rarely exist in isolation and often create wider business impacts:
- Poor linguistic decisions can undermine narrative, character development and player immersion.
- Inconsistent terminology can create confusion and increase support requests from players.
- Low-quality bug reporting can make issues difficult for developers to reproduce and resolve.
- Clients can experience delays, increased costs and reputational risks.
Expertise and attention to detail are critical because localization directly influences how players perceive the quality of the entire game.
Finally, what would you like clients and players to understand about the people behind a localized game?
Localization professionals are passionate gamers and language experts who care deeply about the games they work on and the players who buy them. Many, at least once in their career, have spent a sleepless night or two adapting a song, a poem, a riddle or a joke into their language – and were secretly very proud of the result.
Localization professionals know that if their job is done well, it should be invisible to the player enjoying the game.
