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Which languages to localize your Steam game into
DreamEp, founder of NextWishlist · Updated · 3 min read
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Short answerEnglish and Simplified Chinese are almost equal on Steam: 34.2% and 31.4% of users in Valve's September 2026 survey, then Russian (9.1%), Spanish, Brazilian Portuguese, German, Japanese and French. Valve says over 60% of users run Steam in another language than English, and only in-game languages count.
Most Steam users don't use Steam in English, and Valve says Steam favors localized games. But translation costs money, so the order matters. Here are the numbers Valve publishes and how to choose.
01The languages Steam users use
Valve's Steam Hardware & Software Survey, September 2026, top 10 languages:
- English: 34.20%
- Simplified Chinese: 31.39%
- Russian: 9.05%
- Spanish (Spain): 4.08%
- Portuguese (Brazil): 3.70%
- German: 2.48%
- Japanese: 2.41%
- French: 2.08%
- Polish: 1.49%
- Korean: 1.37%
Valve's own localization page sums it up: over 60% of Steam users use it in a language other than English.
02How languages change who sees your game
- Valve says Steam favors products that are localized.
- Your language support is decided by your in-game languages, not by your store page translations.
- You can list each language as Interface, Subtitles or Full Audio.
- Offer each language to all players, not only in one region: "don't confuse language with geography".
A game without Chinese is invisible to a large share of players who filter by their language, whatever its tags.
03Which languages first
- Look at your own data: Valve suggests your store traffic, sales, community feedback and regional wishlists in Steamworks (how to track your wishlists).
- Simplified Chinese is the obvious first candidate for most genres, given its share.
- Then Russian, Spanish, Brazilian Portuguese, German, Japanese and French, depending on your genre's audience.
- Valve notes that the less a language looks like English, the higher the expected return.
Text-heavy games cost more to translate; action games with little text can cover many languages cheaply.
04Store page and in-game: do both
Translate your store page (short description, About section, capsule text if any) as well as the game: a player who can't read your page won't wishlist it. Valve recommends textless images in your description so you don't have to re-upload them per language (how to write your Steam description).
05Ship new languages as an update
Adding languages after launch is a reason to talk about your game again: Valve suggests releasing them as updates with a community announcement (Steam events and announcements). Before launch, having your main languages in your demo helps at Next Fest, where players from every region browse.
06Localize on a small budget
- Start with the store page: the short description and About section are a few hundred words, and they decide whether a player wishlists.
- Interface and subtitles before audio: Steam lets you list each language as Interface, Subtitles or Full Audio, and text costs far less than voice.
- Keep text out of images and out of hard-coded strings, so each language is a file, not a rebuild.
- Give translators context: a spreadsheet of strings with where each one appears and its length limit.
- Have a native speaker play it: a short playtest per language catches what a string file can't.
Your demo is a cheap place to start: fewer strings, and Next Fest players from every region try it.
Which languages to localize your Steam game into: quick answers
Which languages should I localize my game into first?
Start from your regional wishlists and traffic in Steamworks. For most games, Simplified Chinese comes first, then Russian, Spanish, Brazilian Portuguese, German, Japanese and French.
What percentage of Steam users speak Chinese?
In Valve's September 2026 survey, 31.39% of Steam users used Simplified Chinese, close to English at 34.20%.
Does localization help Steam visibility?
Valve says Steam favors localized products, and your language support comes from your in-game languages, not your store page.
Do I need to translate my Steam store page?
Yes, alongside the game: a player who can't read your page is unlikely to wishlist it. Store translations alone don't add a supported language.
Sources
Valve's rules can change: the official Steamworks page always wins. Practitioner benchmarks are surveys of developers, given as ranges.
- Valve, Steam Hardware & Software Survey, languages (September 2026 survey, read Oct 28, 2026)
- Valve, Localization and languages (Steamworks) (read Oct 28, 2026)
- Valve, Wishlists (Steamworks) (read Oct 28, 2026)
- Valve, Store page written description (Steamworks) (read Oct 28, 2026)
- Valve, Events and announcements (Steamworks) (read Oct 28, 2026)
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Your capsule, trailer, tags and description compared with Valve's rules and with the pages of games like yours, with what to fix first. NextWishlist is a Steam marketing tool for indie developers, in private beta.