Brazil Games Offers a Look at an Exciting Year Ahead with BIG Festival 2022, Gamescom, and More
Now that GDC 2022 has come and passed, Brazil Games, the Brazilian Games Export Program, which is carried out by Abragames (Brazilian Games Companies Association) in partnership with the Brazilian Trade and Investment Promotion Agency – ApexBrasil, wishes to offer a glimpse into the future and show what else they have in store throughout the rest of 2022.
In an industry that is always looking toward new avenues and locations for game development, design, and talent, Brazil has become quite the powerhouse — and people are taking notice. A country with a continuously expanding indie scene garnering international recognition and an external development sector that has lent expertise to massive AAA hits like Horizon: Forbidden West and Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War, Brazil isn’t just becoming the new hot-spot for the industry — it’s already there.
From in-house creation to external development, design, consulting, and more across every platform from PC to VR and mobile, 2022 is going to be a massive year for Brazil Games — especially with in-person events returning. BIG Festival 2022 is shaping up to be the best and boldest it’s ever been, and the Brazil team will be hitting the road for Gamescom, External Development Summit (XDS), the Tokyo Game Show, and more.
BIG Festival 2022
Brazil’s Independent Games Festival (BIG Festival) 2021 — the largest independent games festival and B2B hub in Latin America — was a smashing success and saw record-breaking numbers across the board despite pandemic setbacks and BIG Festival 2022 looks to be holding nothing back. Taking place July 6th through 10th, BIG Festival 2022 is excited to return as an in-person event with tickets available soon.
“We couldn’t be more excited about BIG Festival 2022,” said Eliana Russi, Director of Operations at Brazil Games. “The growth of our country’s development scene during a global pandemic showcased the resilience and dedication of the Brazilian people — and with plenty of in-person conferences and events ahead for this year, the sky’s the limit for what our industry can accomplish. BIG Festival 2022 is going to be the most exciting event of the year and we simply cannot wait to show the world what we’ve been cooking up.”
In 2019, BIG Festival welcomed a whopping 20,000 people in sunny São Paulo to check out 75 games and saw 4,810 meetings promoted — a total of 1,600 hours — in the business rounds. Last year’s digital event hosted 545 companies from 64 countries, over 120 games were showcased, and panels from some of the industry’s biggest names. An incredible 40 million estimated users accessed the games of BIG Festival across the Microsoft Store, Google Play Store, and iOS App Store. The event keeps growing and now that everyone can hang out in-person again, these numbers will continue to skyrocket as more and more people look to Brazil as the new hot-spot for indie developers. Plus, spending a few days in the beautiful Brazilian weather never hurt anyone.
And that’s not all! The Brazil Games team and its umbrella of incredible, talented studios will also be attending the following events in 2022, with more to be announced. Brazil Games is looking to tear things up this year and put the world on notice that their country is the new mecca for indie game development — and now you can see why, live and in-person.
- Gamescom — Wednesday, Aug 24, 2022 to Sunday, Aug 28, 2022
- External Development Summit (XDS) — Wednesday, September 7, 2022 to Friday, September 9, 2022
- Tokyo Game Show (TGS) — Thursday, September 15, 2022 to Sunday, September 18, 2022
Brazil is now the largest market by games revenues in LATAM and #12 in the world in 2022. The $2.3 billion (USD) Brazilian games industry has seen explosive growth over the last several years, with the number of local gamers reaching a staggering 94.7 million as of 2021. The mobile gaming market accounts for nearly half the revenue, and is the fastest-growing sector, however, both console and PC account for $657 million and $556 million respectively.
