The First Fully Online Version of Latin America’s Largest Independent Games Festival Hosted an Incredible Turn-out For Talks, Industry Panels, and More than 3,800 Business Meetings
SÃO PAULO, BRAZIL (July 15, 2020) — Today, Brazil Games is pleased to announce record-setting virtual attendance for BIG Digital — the fully online version of Brazil’s Independent Games (BIG) Festival — Latin America’s largest and most important games industry event. Reaffirming that BIG Digital is truly a vital hub for the gaming business, more than 22,000 people tuned in to the online expo to enjoy 25 seminars on game development from 72 industry luminaries such as Epic Games, Facebook, Google, Microsoft, (Xbox), Nintendo, Snapchat, and Ubisoft, generating more than two million views.
From June 22 through June 26, 2020, more than 333 publishers, developers, and investors from 38 countries participated in 3,876 business meetings. These crucial virtual face-to-face meetings resulted in an estimated $7 million USD in business deals during the show, which is anticipated to result in an estimated $31 million USD in games-related business over the next 12 months.
“While it was not possible to hold our physical festival this year, we are thrilled to see how well the online version of BIG Festival was received,” said Gustavo Steinberg, Director of BIG Festival. “For the first time, distance was no longer a limitation to those who wished to participate, and as a result, the content, which was available to everyone, reached an even wider international audience. The quality of the lectures and the number of viewers in attendance demonstrates that our efforts were worth it.”
During BIG Digital, viewers from all over the world were able to experience the exciting things to come from Brazil’s rapidly growing games industry. For example, those who watched the “Showcase of Brazilian Games 2020” were privy to some of the most promising Brazil-made games to be launched later this year. Nintendo took advantage of BIG Digital to announce the certification of development kits for the Switch platform in Brazil. “All of [the kits] can now be officially ordered with us and certified for Brazil,” said Scott Hawkins, Nintendo’s Head of Developer Relations – Americas, during the lecture.
With support from Brazil Games Export Program, a partnership between the Brazilian Game Companies Association, ABRAGAMES, and the Brazilian Trade and Investment Promotion Agency (Apex-Brasil), BIG Digital carries the tradition of its massively successful physical counterpart as a fundamental business hub for video game professionals across the globe through its lectures, networking events and digital face-to-face meetings. It was a golden opportunity for developers, not just those in Brazil, but from a global audience, to meet with giants in the segment, such as Nintendo, Microsoft, Sony, Ubisoft, Electronic Arts, Valve Software and Epic Games, who see BIG as an opportunity to see Brazil’s video games industry up close.
The next edition of the BIG Festival, in an on-site, face-to-face format, is scheduled to take place from May 5 to 9, 2021, in São Paulo. For more information about the upcoming event, visit the official website.
About BIG Festival and BIG Digital
BIG Festival, which received more than 20,000 visitors last year, is the largest and most important game festival in Latin America. Since 2012, the event has become a central meeting point for studios to attend lectures and workshops, network, and meet with industry peers to learn more about the business of gaming. BIG has helped hundreds of innovative games from all over the world connect with an international audience. Networking opportunities held at the event generated more than 4,000 meetings between 630 game industry professionals from 34 countries. BIG estimates that more than USD 63 million in games-related business will result over the next 12 months based on these connections.
The Games Industry and Brazil
Brazil is now the 13th largest video game market in the world and second in Latin America, only to Mexico. The $1.6 billion (USD) Brazilian games industry has nearly doubled in size since 2014, and the number of local gamers reached 75.7 million as of 2018, making Brazil the fourth-largest consumer market in the world. Half of both men and women in Brazil play mobile games, while roughly 40 percent of men and women play PC games, according to Newzoo. Purchase intent is healthy as well, as 83 percent of gamers in the region have made an in-game purchase within the past six months.
About Brazil Games
Brazil Games is the export program created by the Brazilian Independent Game Companies Association, ABRAGAMES, in partnership with Apex-Brasil, the Brazilian Trade and Investment Promotion Agency. Our goal is to promote the Brazilian Indie Game industry internationally, developing new business opportunities for our companies. The Brazil Games Program also promotes Brazil as the hub for business in Latin America and invites buyers, investors, and publishers for BIG Festival, Brazil’s Independent Games Festival, the most important international indie games festival, and the hub for international business in Latin America.
About Apex-Brasil
The Brazilian Trade and Investment Promotion Agency (Apex-Brasil) works to promote Brazilian products and services abroad and to attract foreign investment to strategic sectors of the Brazilian economy. The Agency’s efforts comprise trade and prospective missions, business rounds, support for the participation of Brazilian companies in major international trade fairs, the arrangement of technical visits of foreign buyers and opinion makers to learn about the Brazilian productive structure, and other select activities designed to strengthen the country’s branding abroad. Apex-Brasil also plays a leading role in attracting foreign direct investment (FDI) to Brazil, by working to identify business opportunities, promoting strategic events, and providing support to foreign investors interested in allocating resources in Brazil.
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