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When paratexts become the text

Tracing the evolution and enduring role of translated paratexts in Arabic video game localization

ORCiD logo with link | King Khalid University
Published online: 18 August 2026
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/dt.25036.qob
Abstract
Research on video game localization is typically written through the lens of shipped software, privileging translated in-game assets and professional production pipelines. Such accounts obscure how players in linguistically marginalized markets accessed games when official localization was rare or absent. This article reconceptualizes localization by examining the enabling role of translated paratextual labor in Saudi Arabia during the late 1990s and 2000s. Drawing on an archival corpus of thirty-nine surviving issues of Majalat Alaab Alcomputar (MAAC, 1997–2011), widely regarded as the first dedicated Arabic video game magazine, and three interviews with former staff members, the study analyzes how Arabic translations of reviews, interface explanations, glossaries, and strategy guides mediated play. The article integrates paratext theory (Genette, Gérard. 1997. Paratexts: Thresholds of Interpretation. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar; Batchelor, Kathryn. 2018. Translation and Paratexts. London: Routledge. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar), co-text and multimodal orchestration (Adami, Elisabetta, Sara Ramos Pinto. 2020. “Meaning-(re)making in a World of Untranslated Signs: Towards a Research Agenda on Multimodality, Culture, and Translation.” In Translation and Multimodality, edited by Monica Boria, Ángela Carreres, María Noriega-Sánchez, and Marcus Tomalin, 71–93). London: Routledge.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar), and gaming capital (Consalvo, Mia. 2007. Cheating: Gaining Advantage in Videogames. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar) to argue that under restricted linguistic access, MAAC’s paratextual constellation did not remain peripheral to the game text but could become enabling co-text that was central to play. The article further traces functional continuities between print mediation and later digital practices in Arabic forums and YouTube walkthroughs. By foregrounding paratextual practices in print and their later continuities, this study expands localization historiography beyond product-centered models and proposes an access-oriented account of how translation makes play possible in marginalized language markets.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Literature review
    • 2.1Video game localization in Translation Studies
    • 2.2Arabic video game localization research
    • 2.3Fan translation
    • 2.4Print mediation and non-digital paratexts
    • 2.5Video game magazines
  • 3.Theoretical framework
  • 4.Methodology
    • 4.1Corpus and source recovery
    • 4.2Interviews and production context
    • 4.3Evidence model and analytical criteria
  • 5.Context, production, and circulation
    • 5.1Translation strategies
      • 5.1.1Indirect translation and the proxy source
      • 5.1.2Localization outside the software
      • 5.1.3Boundary negotiation under regulation and illegality
  • 6.Digital afterlives of print paratexts
  • 7.Conclusion
  • Acknowledgments
  • Notes
  • References
References (58)
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