Brazil aims to sweet talk the global games industry at Gamescom LATAM
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Gamescom Latam kicks off tomorrow, the evolution of BIG Festival which was designed to promote Brazil and the wider Latin America games industry to the region and the rest of the world.
Ahead of the show, PocketGamer.biz spoke with Patricia Sato, executive manager of the Brazil Games Program, which aims to create new opportunities for local developers in the international market, and Rodrigo Terra, president of the country’s trade association Abragames, to discuss their thoughts on the industry right now as it heads into the event.
“We’re doing okay, we are very happy to see that our industry has had a boom since the pandemic,” says Sato. She explains that following COVID, the industry banded together and saw the formation of larger companies, and that the country now has over 1,000 studios.
Developers include Wildlife Studios, Kokku, Epic Games Brasil, Tapps Games, Clap Clap Games, Hermit Crab Game Studio, and more.
Terra says that Brazil has built a solid ecosystem with which it can build upon, with studios, original IP, experience in external development, and talent emerging from educational programmes
“So now it’s just a matter of growing and being more solid,” he says.
Facing global challenges
Asked how Brazil’s games sector has really fared over the last couple of years when the global industry has struggled with closures and mass layoffs, Sato admitted the sector is not past the same struggles seen elsewhere, but is bullish on its resilience.
“From the companies that joined Abragames, we didn’t see that many losses,” she claims. “Brazillians are very innovative, we like to adapt and we are good at that.”
Terra says VC money has dried up, though still believes investors and buyers are looking into Brazil. He highlights Riot Games’ investment into Atomic Picnic developer BitCake Studio last year as an example of Brazil’s growing status, as well as other previous deals by Room 8 Group and Epic Games into the sector.
Brazil’s industry isn’t above the wider industry challenges of course. During the past two years, two of its biggest developers, Wildlife Studios and Epic Games Brasil (formerly Aquiris), laid off a number of staff, in keeping with a global trend.
Much of the publicly available data on the state of Brazil’s games industry is out of date, pending a new report, so it’s difficult to gauge how tough the last couple of years have been on the sector from these reports.
Previously, Brazil’s market was experiencing significant growth, rising by 169% between 2018 and 2022. In 2023, the sector employed 13,225 staff, with a Nordicity white paper stating outsourcing had become the predominant work regime for developers. In 2022, the industry was estimated to have generated $251.6 million in revenue.
Converting attention to investment
Brazil has long been promoting its industry through BIG Festival and now Gamescom LATAM.
When we spoke to Gamescom LATAM CEO Gustavo Steinberg – who was already serving as BIG Festival CEO – in 2023 to discuss merger of the events, he said the deal was an “important step forward to demonstrate to potential buyers and investors that it is indeed one of the most relevant hubs for game development in the world.”
Outside of Brazil, the country also sends delegations to international events, with approximately 50 companies represented at GDC this year, aimed at driving both publicity and investment to “bring Brazil to the world”.
“Being the radar now is what we really want to foster,” says Terra. “We did that for the past years and now we are collecting the first results.”
He adds: “Now the challenge is to convert this attention into more presence and more investment.”
We’ll be reporting on the ground in Sao Paulo, Brazil at Gamescom Latam this week to discuss the state of the industry with local and regional developers.
Full disclosure: Event organisers paid for flights and accommodation. Our coverage remains neutral.
