Kate Edwards offers budget-friendly culturalisation guidance for small studios
Kate Edwards, who founded culturalisation consultancy Geogrify after leading Microsoft's geopolitical strategy team, shared advice for small mobile teams. She recommends focusing on a few culturally important elements, researching them through in-culture sources, and getting a knowledgeable reviewer involved early. Edwards also said culturalisation can be affordable when planned from the start and that some map requirements are legally incompatible across markets.
Edwards founded Geogrify after leading Microsoft's geopolitical strategy team. Over three decades, her clients have ranged from major productions to solo creators; she consulted on Indiana Jones and the Great Circle. Her "allegorical distance" idea holds that fictional settings resembling real places, faiths, politics, or histories raise expectations of accuracy and the consequences of mistakes.
For small mobile teams, she proposes three steps: choose only the culturally significant elements players will notice, study them via sources inside that culture, and bring in a knowledgeable reviewer early enough to make changes. Early specialist input can be inexpensive; late fixes after assets, dialogue, marketing, and announcements are costly. Some map depictions face conflicting legal rules, such as between China and India.
Small studios and their players in diverse markets could feel the effects. Early cultural review may lower costly late changes and reduce public backlash, while region-specific map variants may raise debates about censorship or political pressure. Players might encounter content adjusted to local laws and norms, which could foster respect but also fragment shared experiences. Cultural consultants and in-culture reviewers may gain more influence in development decisions.