The challenge: When "honks" aren't enough

In the world of Sky: Children of the Light, connection started with non-verbal cues, like a "honk". Players can also hold hands and explore together, but as Matthew Prince - Senior Backend Engineer and part of the team that implemented DeepL - explains, there was a ceiling to these relationships when each player could only speak to those who shared a language.

To move from a fleeting interaction to a lifelong friendship in this global game, players needed to talk to one another, regardless of their physical location. The challenge was enabling them to do so without the "clunky" or "lossy" results found in standard translation tools that often stripped the personality out of the conversation.

The solution: High-fidelity communication at scale

Matthew shared how thatgamecompany looked past simple metrics like cost or latency to focus on the most important component: quality.

While DeepL API meets their latency requirements, there's an additional benefit that set it apart. DeepL API bypasses the common industry pitfall where English is used as a "medium language"; a process Matthew describes as inherently "lossy." Meaning the team at Sky were able to implement a direct, high-fidelity translation layer that preserves the nuance of a player's native thought.

The results: A window into the world

The result is a game where language is no longer a barrier to opportunities for connection or empathy. Matthew tells the moving story of a young player on a remote island who, through Sky's in-game translation, was able to learn about the Northern Lights and different cultures from friends thousands of miles away.

Creating meaningful interactions like this is central to how thatgamecompany thinks about the world and their players. Their intentional focus on quality means they're able to move past "just translating text"; they are facilitating a global community that is as unique as it is impressive.