Level Up Your Game Culturalization! With Insights from Kate Edwards

Written by Ruiyi Zhang and Marley Uyemura, GlobalSaké Interns

In today's global gaming industry, language and content adaptation alone may no longer be enough to ensure success across markets. According to Nimdzi Insights, over 50% of global game revenue comes from non-English speakers, highlighting the importance of culturalization for market growth and risk mitigation. Culturalization, as defined by Seyma Albarino in Slator, involves adapting game content to reflect local values, knowledge, and sensibilities, allowing for stronger emotional resonance and player engagement.

Culturalization takes shape in two ways: proactively crafting content that feels familiar to local players and reactively reviewing material to avoid issues like geopolitical disputes or religious sensitivities.

To explore this further, Marley Uyemura and I spoke with Kate Edwards, who first established the field of digital content 'culturalization' during her time as Microsoft's geopolitical strategist. With 30+ years of experience on titles like Halo and Mass Effect, Kate now leads cultural strategy through her consultancy, helping studios navigate the complex terrain of global game development.

Q1. How do you position yourself when advising companies going global?

Ruiyi: You've long been a pioneer in game culturalization and shaped how studios approach global markets. To start, how do you position yourself when advising companies going global—more as a consultant, a strategic collaborator, or a facilitator embedding cultural thinking into development?

Kate: I'd say I'm all of the above—consultant, collaborator, and facilitator. Studios often come to me with a specific issue, like a character design or narrative detail, but the work usually grows into broader discussions about their culturalization process.

I see myself as a world-building partner. My role is to help teams think through how their game worlds, characters, and stories will be received by players from different cultural backgrounds—not just to avoid offense, but to create authentic, globally resonant experiences.

It often starts with one question, maybe about a character or plot, but expands into deeper conversations on how players interpret narrative choices, character behavior, and design through a cultural lens.

The type of game matters. For fantasy games, we need to be cautious when fictional cultures resemble real ones—allegory can be effective but risky. For historical games like Age of Empires or Civilization, the challenge is to depict real events and figures with accuracy and respect.

While I'm technically a consultant, I work closely with teams. My goal is to help them make thoughtful, culturally informed decisions as they build their game worlds.

Q2. Is there a common pain point for those game design companies that need culturalization consultants?

Kate: One of the biggest pain points for game companies is a general lack of awareness—many approach global game development solely through the lens of localization. But culturalization goes much deeper, and most companies only realize that when they run into a specific problem.

Typically, I'm brought in to address a very narrow issue—say, historical accuracy, a sensitive symbol, or a culturally specific character design. That's how it started with Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, where the team initially needed help verifying the historical and cultural context of its 1937 setting. But as we worked together, the scope expanded. I brought in subject matter experts from my network: Egyptologists, archaeologists, even a geologist. What started as a request about map boundaries became a three-year engagement spanning archaeological accuracy and global representation.

This expansion is common. One content concern often reveals broader questions—about how a game will be received in various markets. For instance, countries like China and India have opposing legal requirements for map representations, so developers have to choose: adapt for one, exclude the other, or create multiple versions. And it's not just maps—gestures, clothing, symbols, even colors can all become flashpoints.

At that point, the conversation shifts from a creative question to a strategic one: what is your global release plan? Sometimes, companies haven't thought that far. That's when I help them zoom out and align content decisions with their overall international strategy.

Q3. Compared to when you started 30 years ago, do you think game companies today have a better understanding of the importance of localization and culturalization?

Kate: When I started 30 years ago, most companies didn't think much beyond basic language translation. If a game was banned somewhere, their attitude was often, "Oh well." But today, things are very different. Games are now recognized as a global phenomenon, and companies are far more aware of the importance of localization and especially culturalization.

That doesn't mean every company is fully equipped to handle it well—but there's a growing openness to get help. They know that if they want to maximize global reach, they must think about how their content will be received in different regions.

One major change is the role of social media. Back then, cultural missteps might go unnoticed. Now, if a game includes something offensive or politically sensitive, it spreads instantly—and can damage a brand's reputation worldwide. That public accountability has really pushed companies to be more proactive and careful in how they approach international markets.

Q4. Have you ever had to push back on a creative decision due to cultural concerns?

Kate: Absolutely. I've had several cases where I needed to push back, sometimes quite strongly. One of the most serious was during my time at Microsoft. A game in development was using imagery inspired by Native American culture in a way that felt deeply inappropriate. I consulted with Microsoft's internal Native American employee group, and their response was overwhelmingly negative—some were disgusted, saying they couldn't believe such a concept came from within the company. I escalated the feedback, and ultimately the project was cancelled due to the cultural insensitivity and the potential PR risk.

Another example involved the misuse of a Quranic chant in an audio file. I advised its removal, but the game had already been packaged and sent to stores. The decision to release it anyway caused a major backlash, eventually leading me to fly to Saudi Arabia to issue a formal apology to the government. It was a serious incident and a powerful lesson.

While escalation is sometimes necessary, I try to treat these situations as teachable moments. My goal is to educate teams about the impact of their choices and guide them toward better outcomes. I'm not there to punish—just to ensure cultural respect and avoid reputational harm.

Q5. How do you assess cultural risks in practice—do you rely more on personal experience, research, or external validation?

Kate: My approach to assessing cultural risk involves several layers. With a background in geography and over three decades of experience, I often recognize issues right away—many of them I've seen before. In those cases, I can respond quickly based on prior knowledge.

But when it's something less familiar, my first step is research. I dig into resources, and if needed, I reach out to subject matter experts in my network for deeper insights. If the issue is broad or complex, I may bring an expert on as a subcontractor to work directly on the project with me, especially when ongoing input is needed.

Sometimes, I also consult government agencies or cultural organizations, particularly when a project involves sensitive or historical content. In those cases, reaching out to region-specific historians can be invaluable.

It all starts with my initial analysis. If that's not enough, I expand outward—first through research, then through expert consultation. Whether it's a quick opinion or full collaboration, I adapt based on the depth and nature of the issue.

Q6. When starting a new project, do you rely on any tools, documentation, or regional playbooks to handle familiar cases?

Kate: Honestly, most of what I rely on is still in my head. After doing this work for over 30 years, I tend to draw directly from experience rather than from formalized documents. That said, I do recognize the need to capture it—so I'm finally working on a culturalization handbook, something I've been meaning to write for two decades.

Occasionally, clients ask for written resources about specific regions, about what to avoid, what to consider. I'll create those for them. I'm doing that right now for a client targeting particular international markets, and part of that process involves pulling together both what I know and fresh research.

The closest thing I currently have to a structured knowledge base is the column I wrote for Multilingual Computing magazine, called Off the Map. I contributed regularly from 2005 on, covering everything from gestures and symbols to maps and flags. Those columns became a kind of public "knowledge dump" over the years and are now serving as source material for my upcoming handbook. So while I don't yet have a formal playbook, I've built a strong informal system—and I'm finally working on putting it all down.

Q7. Have companies become more receptive to your guidance in recent years?

Kate: Yes, more companies today are receptive to my guidance because they understand I'm here to help them succeed globally—not to criticize. What's changed is the increasing complexity of the world we live in. Even before COVID, the global landscape was already politically, socially, and culturally dynamic. Now, with social media, everything moves faster. Cultural or geopolitical issues, like a disputed territory, can trigger immediate backlash. Players may reject content from countries they're in conflict with, and those reactions play out within hours, especially on multiplayer platforms where real-world tensions spill into game communities.

Many companies were caught off guard by events like the Ukraine invasion or the Hamas–Israel conflict. They didn't have geopolitical policies in place and weren't prepared to manage how these events would affect both their content and their global audiences. Today, companies are beginning to understand they must be proactive—not just in how they design content, but in how they anticipate and respond to rapidly evolving cultural sensitivities.

Marley: That actually answers my next question, too. I was going to ask how gaming fans contribute to culturalization, and I think you captured it perfectly. Social media has really transformed things, not just in speed, but in how politically charged the space has become. Player reactions now shape the cultural reception of games in real time.

Q8. How do you incorporate AI into your culturalization work?

Ruiyi: Since AI is developing so rapidly, I wonder how it assists your work. It seems like it could help spark initial ideas or even flag culturally sensitive content. Do you use AI tools in your culturalization process?

Kate: That's a great question. AI is definitely transforming localization and translation, but culturalization is quite different. I've been exploring how it might help, like using an AI agent to scan game environments for potentially problematic symbols. That would be incredibly useful for scale. But can AI understand the context of that symbol across different cultures and in different narrative points within a game? Not yet.

Culturalization decisions are incredibly nuanced. You have to consider not just the type of game and market, but also where the symbol appears in the narrative, what's happening in the world politically, and how that might shift player perception overnight. For example, a regime change could completely alter how content is received in a specific region. That's not something AI can easily factor in right now.

I'm not ruling out the possibility that AI might get there someday—maybe long after I'm gone. But today, those judgment calls still require human intuition and deep cultural knowledge. That said, I do think AI can be a powerful tool for supporting tasks in the process.

Marley: Thank you, that really resonates. It made me think about how much AI depends on web content to generate insights, and many of the regions you've worked with may not have a strong digital presence. That adds another layer of challenge for AI in handling nuanced, underrepresented cultures. I agree—we're not there yet, but it's fascinating to think about what might be possible in the future.

Q9. Out of all the games you've worked on, which do you feel you totally nailed the culturalization for?

Kate: That's a great question. I've worked on 296 games so far, and one I'm especially proud of is Jade Empire by BioWare. It was one of the first fantasy games to move away from the usual medieval European setting and instead draw inspiration from medieval Asian cultures. That shift was both bold and challenging.

The developers originally aimed for a pan-Asian fantasy world, blending elements from China, Korea, Japan, and South Asia. But that approach risked flattening distinct cultures into a generic composite. We adjusted the direction by creating separate regions in the game world that drew from specific cultures while preserving their uniqueness. This allowed the influences to coexist meaningfully without being conflated.

To further support that vision, we created a fictional language, Tho-Phan, developed over 18 months with a linguist. Using a neutral, invented language helped avoid privileging any single real-world culture and made the setting feel more balanced.

A recent example is Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, which includes real-world sites like the Giza Plateau and Sukhothai ruins. We worked hard to ensure every detail from architecture to hieroglyphs was accurate. People who've visited those locations told us the environments felt true to life, which is exactly the kind of validation we hope for. Plus, I'm a huge Indiana Jones fan, so working on that game was just pure joy.

Q10. Do you have any advice for people looking to enter game localization or culturalization?

Kate: First, if you want to work in games, especially in culturalization, it really helps to love games and understand the medium. Not just AAA titles, but also mobile, indie, and even analog games like board and card games. You don't have to be a game designer, but you do need to grasp how game worlds and mechanics work.

Culturalization roles are still rare as formal job titles, so you may need to enter through other paths like translation, localization, or editorial roles and then assert your broader skill set once you're in. For example, if you're a translator, start showing how you can contribute to non-linguistic elements: symbols, gestures, story context, and so on.

My biggest advice is: get your foot in the door, even if it's not your ideal role at first. Once you're inside a company, you can become what I call a "positive virus"—someone who gradually spreads good ideas. That's what I did at Microsoft. Nobody was thinking about culturalization when I started, but I saw the need and stepped up. It wasn't easy—it took persistence, internal pitching, and earning trust—but it worked.

Be creative, be assertive, and don't wait for permission to show what you can offer. The more you demonstrate your value, the more likely people will listen and support your work.

Rethinking Culturalization in Games

In this conversation, we had the honour of speaking with Kate Edwards—consultant, strategist, and long-time advocate for culturalization in game development. From her early work at Microsoft to her ongoing consulting practice, Kate walked us through what it means to embed cultural thinking into game worlds, beyond language and localization.

Across the interview, we explored her role in shaping culturally aware design decisions, how companies typically realize the need for culturalization only after running into risks, and how global shifts from social media to geopolitical tensions are reshaping expectations. She shared real-world examples of cultural missteps and successes, offered insight into her risk assessment workflow, and reflected on where AI can, and can't, support the work.

We also discussed how culturalization and localization intersect, especially when localizers working at scale are the first to spot risks hidden in content, but may not always be empowered to act on them. Kate encouraged future practitioners to be proactive, even in roles where "culturalization" isn't yet defined. For her, impact comes not from job titles, but from showing how cultural thinking adds value. As games continue to cross borders, this conversation is a reminder: culturalization is not a checklist—it's a mindset.