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Brazil is the9th-largest video game market in the world as of 2023, and the largest in Latin America, with a revenue of 2.6 billion US dollars.^[1] Video games were not permitted for import into Brazil until the 1990s, and were then heavily taxed as non-essential goods. As a result, agrey market developed aroundpirating games, driven by the lack of official channels for purchasing games. Many game companies avoided expansion into the country for these reasons until 2009.^[2] An exception wasSega, which retained a strong foothold in the country with theMaster System andMega Drive.^[3] Blaming high tariffs,Nintendo officially left the market in 2015, but returned in 2017,^[4] though Nintendo actually returned in 2020 withNintendo Switch. In a three-episode series namedRed Bull Parallels, Red Bull explored the country's relation with gaming.^[5]

The first consoles manufactured in Brazil were in the style ofPong, in the late 1970s, with TVBol being the first one completely manufactured and distributed in the country, launched in Rio de Janeiro in 1976. Following that, other Pong clones entered the market, such as the well-knownTelejogo andTelejogo II by Philco/Ford, and later the TvJogo3 and TVjogo4 by Superkit, and the Videorama.

Starting in the 1980s, the production of national original games began. The 2022 Brazilian Game Industry booklet by Abragames divides this history into four segments:

The first known commercial Brazilian game wasAmazônia, a text adventure developed by Renato Degiovani in January 1983 and published later that year byMicro Sistemas (pt) in its August 1983 edition.^[6] In this initial phase of the industry, individual developers and small groups were part of a rich community of game creators for MSX, ZX Spectrum, and Apple II, and later for PCs with MS-DOS, distributed in magazines, cassette tapes, and floppy disks.

During this time, the protectionist policies created by the military governments in Brazil prevented the official importation of microcomputers and video games. It was an era marked by various global console clones and official software piracy, as there were no means for importing and exporting games. There was also smuggling of game cartridges for clone consoles developed in theManaus Free Trade Zone. This first phase of the industry could not withstand the successive economic plans and hyperinflation of the 1980s and early 1990s.

In 1987,Tectoy was founded^[7] and, despite being a young company, eventually struck up a licensing agreement with Sega to become the official distributor of the Master System in Brazil.^[8] Tectoy's marketing efforts included television commercials, magazines, and a daily program calledMaster Dicas (laterSega Dicas) onRede Globo. The Master System in Brazil dominated 85% of the market over its competitors (mostly Famiclones) to the extent that it became the only country where the Master System outsold theNES.^{[citation needed]}

In 1991, Tectoy published Sega'sPhantasy Star, which gained widespread media attention in Brazil due to it being one of the first console games localized into Brazilian Portuguese. This translation, in addition to the extensive marketing campaign by Tectoy, helped establishrole-playing games' place in the Brazilian video game market.^[9]

Notable titles: Amazonia (TILT Online, 1983), Aeroporto 83 (TILT Online, 1983).

While games in the first phase of the industry were primarily developed by individual developers, development groups and companies focused on the emerging CD-ROM game distribution market started to appear. In 1997, the gameGuimo by Southlogic became the first documented Brazilian game to be internationally distributed by Airsoft in Germany.Outlive by Continuum was the first Brazilian game to be distributed in 2001 by a major publisher,Take-Two Interactive.

The first Brazilian game publisher was Brasoft, which started its activities in 1990, licensing and distributing international games in Brazil from producers such asLucasArts andSierra Entertainment. It was sold to Pi Editora in 1998 and became known for publishing games based on TV Globo properties, such asBig Brother Brasil (2002) andNo Limite (2002).

In the console market, in 1993, Gradiente, together withEstrela, created Playtronic, which represented Nintendo in Brazil to compete with Tectoy, which represented its competitor, Sega.^[10]

Notable titles: Enigma da Esfinge (44 Bico Largo, 1996); Guimo (Southlogic Studios, 1997);Incidente em Varginha (Perceptum Informática, 1998); Outlive (Continuum Entertainment, 2000); Show do Milhão (SBT Multimídia, 2000).

This phase was mostly characterized by industry coordination efforts. In 2002, GameNet – Paraná Network of Entertainment Game Companies, started organizing In2Game – International Congress of Technology and Innovation in Computer Games, the first major gathering of industry companies.

In the same year, the SBC – Brazilian Computing Society organized WJogos – Brazilian Workshop on Games and Digital Entertainment, an event for researchers, programmers, and game developers focused on computer science. In 2004, the events joined forces and organized the first SBGames – Brazilian Symposium on Games and Digital Entertainment, which also launched the 1st Independent Games Festival of Brazil. Finally, in 2004, the Abragames – Brazilian Association of Electronic Game Developers was founded, and its first sector mapping, promoted by the association that year, identified the existence of 55 companies in Brazil.

Returning to 2003, this year marked the first time that electronic games became a specific agenda item in Brazilian politics, with the sector being recognized by the Ministry of Culture, under the leadership of then MinisterGilberto Gil. It was in this context that the first call for projects specifically for the electronic game sector was launched in 2004, named JogosBR. This call had a new edition in 2005 and was reissued in 2008 under the name BRGames.

Notable games from this period includeTrophy Hunter 2003, released by Southlogic in 2002, the first national custom-made game for the international market, commissioned byInfogames in the US. With the high costs and difficulties of distributing games on CD-ROM and the expansion of internet access, the first decade of the 21st century was also marked by a series of Brazilian games that focused on multiplayer online experiences. The first registered BrazilianMMO wasFutsim by Jynx Playware in 2003. In the following year, theMMORPGErinia by Ignis Games was released. Another notable Brazilian game in the genre wasTaikodom byHoplon, launched in 2008. In 2009, the first acquisition of a Brazilian studio by an international publisher took place, with Southlogic being purchased byUbisoft. However, Ubisoft Brazil Studio would close in less than two years. During this decade, Brazil won a Bronze Lion atCannes with the gameWeAther, developed by game developer Fabiano Onça forGreenpeace Brazil.

The first higher education courses in the field in Brazil emerged during this time, such as the bachelor's degree in Game Design atAnhembi Morumbi University (2003); Technologist degree in Digital Games at Cruzeiro do Sul University (2005); Technologist degree in Digital Games atPUC-SP (2006) in São Paulo, SP; and Technologist degree in Digital Games atPUC Minas (2006). This was a thriving time for the development of national games on social platforms (Orkut) and mobile platforms (due to the emergence of theApp Store business model, which facilitated and made game publishing more transparent), as well as the use ofFlash, which was later discontinued. Many smalladvergames were developed during this period.

Notable titles: Trophy Hunter 2003 (Southlogic Studios, 2002); Futsim (Jynx Playware, 2003); Erinia (Ignis Games, 2004); Taikodom (Hoplon, 2008).

During this decade, the industry saw its revenue double in size. The popularization of game development engines likeUnity, increased internet access among the population, the advent of digital game distribution, the arrival of the first wave of professionals trained in the field, and the emergence ofsmartphones were factors that created a new paradigm in the industry. The phenomenon of independent game development, orindie, brought new and talented game creators into the market. However, many ventures in the industry did not survive, as their operations either changed completely or simply became economically unviable.

In this process of renewal, the Brazilian industry finally began to break down barriers that hindered the success of domestic games on a global scale. Games likeKnights of Pen and Paper byBehold Studios,Oniken by Joymasher, andMomodora by Bombservice took advantage of the rise of indies and became successful internationally. The emergence of the App Store in 2007 with theiPhone gave rise to companies that would become market leaders by exploring the growing and untapped segment of smartphone games, such as Tapps Games, TFG (which later became Wildlife), and Fanatee.

In 2011, the Socioenvironmental Institute won 3rd place in the Digital and Interactive category at the 5th comKids Festival - Prix Jeunesse Iberoamericano with the MMORPG Aldeia Virtual, developed by 8D Games. In the structuring of the industry's relationship with the government, the decade also began with a historic milestone: the realization of the 1st Workshop for the Creation of Projects for the Development of a Digital Games Industry in Brazil. Organized by the then Ministry of Development, Industry, Foreign Trade, and Services (MDIC), the event brought together key stakeholders from civil society, businesses, universities, and policymakers to discuss steps for sectoral development. This event led to the establishment of the FEP-Games - Project Structuring Fund, created by the National Bank for Economic and Social Development (BNDES), to conduct the first large-scale study mapping the global and Brazilian industry and proposing public policies for the sector. The report was launched in 2014, including the 1st Census of the Brazilian Digital Games Industry.

In 2012, the first edition of the Brazilian Independent Games Festival (BIG Festival) took place, becoming the main business arena and a platform for interaction between the industry and the government, with the periodic establishment of a Working Group to discuss sectoral actions. In 2013, the sector gained its own game export program in partnership with theApexBrasil, and since then, it has been conducting activities at various international events. The BGD - Brazilian Game Developers program, later renamed Brazil Games, became the main gateway for domestic companies to enter the export market.

For foreign video game console manufacturers, the Brazilian government's protectionist policies play a major role in consumer preferences in the country. An example of this was seen in 2013, when negative reactions followed the announcement of the price ofSony's then-upcomingPlayStation 4 being roughly being $1,845 in Brazil compared to $400 in the United States, which was a result of Brazil's heavy taxes and import fees on foreign electronics. By contrast, rivalXbox One was sold at just over $1,000 in Brazil due to its manufacturer,Microsoft, having a factory to produce it in the country.^[11]

Notable titles: Knights of Pen and Paper +1 Edition (Behold, 2013); Dungeonland (Critical Studio, 2013); Oniken (JoyMasher, 2014); Toren (Swordtales, 2015); Starlit Adventures (Rockhead, 2015); Momodora: Reverie Under The Moonlight (Bombservice, 2016);Horizon Chase (Aquiris, 2016).

In 2018, the Ministry of Culture conducted the 2nd Census of Digital Games, which indicated the sector's growth, with 375 companies participating in the survey. Additionally, in 2019, Wildlife received a $60 million investment led by the American venture capital fund Benchmark, making it a Brazilian "unicorn" valued at $1.3 billion. In the same year, the ARVORE studio, specialized in virtual reality, received the first Venice Lion at the Film Festival for a Brazilian production. Independent gamesDandara andCeleste, the latter developed in partnership with an international studio, were among the top 10 games of the year in the ranking of the American magazineTime.

In the years 2020/2021, theCOVID-19 pandemic brought various transformations to the game industry and market, with game consumption significantly increasing during this period. With this boost, in 2020, Wildlife was valued at $3 billion. Another change was the widespread adoption of remote work and the rise of companies that operate entirely remotely, such as Afterverse. The company is a spin-off of Play Kids (Movile Group), which reached 50 million monthly active users within a year with the game "PK XD," available in 11 languages and with a strong presence in Latin America, the United States, the Middle East, and Eastern Europe. PlayKids, which also develops games, provided the foundation for Afterverse's expansion.

In 2020, the ARVORE developer received the Extraordinary Innovation Primetime Emmy from the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences for an interactive short film. In 2021, Gazeus had the first Brazilian game distributed byNetflix. The year 2022 was marked by major acquisitions and international partnerships. Aquiris Studio received an investment fromEpic Games, forming an agreement for the publication of multiple multi-platform games that have yet to be announced. London-based Oktagon was acquired by Fortis, a multinational game developer newly created as part of the Las Vegas Sands resorts and casinos group. The 100% remote Rogue Snail studio had its game Relic Hunters Rebels exclusively distributed by Netflix.

Notable titles:Dandara (Long Hat House, 2018),Celeste (Extremely OK Games/ MiniBoss, 2018),Wonderbox (Aquiris, 2021),PK XD (Afterverse, 2020),Suspects (Wildlife, 2020), andRelic Hunters Rebels (2021).

In 2023, the Brazilian developerQuasares Game Studio, based inRibeirão Preto, presented at theBrasil Game Show event its historical game projectPedro of Brazil, one of the first national games to use the Unreal Engine 5 graphics engine from Epic Games.

In January 2008, the marketing ofCounter-Strike was prohibited in Brazil by judicial decision. The judge argued that Counter-Strike andEverQuest games subvert social order.^[12]

It has since been lifted, althoughEverQuest is still illegal in physical form inMinas Gerais.

Video game development exists in Brazil since as early as 1983, when Renato Degiovani developed the first computer games inPortuguese called "Aventuras na Selva" (later renamedAmazônia) and "Aeroporto 83" (Airport 83) for a computer specialized magazine called "Micro Sistemas".^[13][14] Several years have passed with little to no significant development until the 2000s, when several companies started creatingadvergames and/orMMORPGs, and universities started offering game development degrees. Hoplon was one of the first to be successful in the industry withTaikodom.

The 2010s have been marked by a growing number of studios getting bigger relevance with proprietaryindie game titles. The BIG Festival (Brazilian Independent Games Festival) was conceived in 2012 and is held every year inSão Paulo, gathering game industry professionals from the country and abroad and promoting indie titles for the Brazilian market.^[15]

The biggest game dev scenes are fromSão Paulo,Porto Alegre andBrasília.

Video game localization is often critical to any video game's success in many parts of the world, and this is the case in Brazil. Despite beginning in the 1980s, the practice started to show immense success during the 1990s, which was seen in Tectoy's translations of some games intoBrazilian Portuguese resulting in the Master System gaining a massive share of the video game console market in the country.^[16]

Demand for Brazilian Portuguese translations remains high for video games, as the language is the fourth highest language in-demand among developers according to LocalizeDirect.^[17] One of the biggest reasons for this isLatin America's above average growth in the global video game market,^[18] with Brazil being the largest singular player market in the region as of 2022.^[19]

Print Media

• EGM Brasil, since 2002
• Nintendo World, since 1998
• Revista Xbox 360, since 2008

TheClassInd (advisory rating) is the institute responsible for the software given for review on Brazil.

• Jogo Justo, an initiative to have tariffs on video games lowered
• Latin American communities and video games

• ABRAGAMES (Brazilian Association of Game Developers)(in Portuguese)
  • Brazil Games Export Program (Also includes ABRAGAMES section. Check newsletters page under Information tab for company details.)(in English)
• ACIGAMES (Commercial, Industrial and Cultural Gaming Association)(in Portuguese)
• ADJOGOSRS (Associação dos Desenvolvedores de Jogos Digitais do Rio Grande do Sul)(in Portuguese)(in English)
• gamescom latam (Biggest hub of gaming industry in Latin America, based in São Paulo. Division ofGamescom.)(in Portuguese)(in English)
  • BIG Festival (Best International Games Festival) (The organisation, gamescom latam, hosts the BIG Festival for game awards & show since 2024. Though, the festival started in 2012.)(in Portuguese)(in English)

• Video gaming in Brazil

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