In 2021, the Brazilian games market is expected to have 94.7 million players and US$ 2.3 billion in revenue, 5.1% more than in 2020. That’s what Guilherme Fernandes, market consultant at Newzoo, has shown in the Brazilian Independent Games Festival 2021. This growth is also going the opposite direction of the global games market, which is expected to shrink for the first time in years according to another Newzoo report.
Fernandes’s panel “Newzoo: A Spotlight on the Brazilian Games Market – Key Numbers and Trends” showed a lot of data on the Brazilian games market, during both 2020 and 2021. Brazil represents 30% of the Latin American market, and had an abnormal increase due to the pandemic last year, just like the rest of the world. It became the 13th largest games market globally, home to 81.2 million players who generated US$ 1.6 bi in revenue.
The Global Games Market Against The Brazilian Games Market in 2021
According to another Newzoo report, published some days after Fernandes’s panel, the global games market is expected to shrink in 2021 for the first time in years. It is projected to drop 1.1% from US$ 177.8 bi to US$ 175.8 bi, with 2.9 billion players worldwide.
This drop should act as some sort of correction caused by the abnormal increase last year due to pandemic. In 2020, the market had a growth of 23.1%, the highest for the market since Newzoo started making these reports in 2012. This increase happened due to many new consumers joining the medium while being at home and looking for things to do. However, now the responsibility of the market falls on developers and companies releasing new games to be bought, and hardware to be played on, and both of these things are being delayed by the pandemic.
Triple-A games’ development was greatly held back due to the situation. Consoles were the most affected due to the release of a new generation right in the middle of the pandemic, which led to a scarce line-up to support it, and many titles were delayed to the second half of 2021 or even to 2022. This is expected to cause a drop of 8.9% on consoles revenue to US$ 49.2 bi. There’s also the chip shortage that resulted in a supply shortage for the new consoles and for PC parts, making it difficult for people to get into the hobby. The PC market is expected to drop 1.7% to US$ 35.9 bi.
However, it should be just a temporary drop, and soon after the market should recover its growth, being expected to surpass US$ 200 bi by 2023, maintaining a relatively healthy increase. Newzoo also mentioned that we can also expect a short dip when the pandemic is completely under control, since people will probably focus their disposable income on out-of-home activities.
Brazilian Games Market Fighting The Current in 2021
So, with the global picture in mind, it should be safe to say that the Brazilian games market should also be expected to shrink in 2021, right? Well, not really. You see, Brazil is a central figure in the global games market, but with the prices of gaming PCs and consoles being some of the highest in the world, 70% of Brazilian players have turned to mobile gaming. According to Newzoo, as of last year, half of both Brazilian men and women play mobile games, while roughly 40% of men and women play PC and console games. Purchase intent is healthy as well, as 83% of gamers in the region have made an in-game purchase within the past six months.
All of this matches up with the fact that the mobile market is actually the only one that is expected to increase globally in 2021, by 4.4% to reach US$ 90.7 bi. This can be explained due to the development of mobile games having a relatively lower complexity, not being affected as much by the pandemic, and maintaining regular releases and support to existing games.
This brings us back to the report made by Fernandes at BIG Festival 2021, where he showed a lot of data about the expected growth of the Brazilian games market this year. Brazil is projected to have a 5.1% increase in revenue, accounting to US$ 2.3 bi, of which 47% is mobile, 29% is consoles and 24% is PC. With this, Brazil is to become the market with the biggest revenue in Latin America, and the 12th largest market globally.
Some Insights on the Brazilian Games Market in 2021
Fernandes also gave some valuable information about the Brazilian games market for people looking to invest in it in 2021. The majority of Brazilian gamers is formed by people from 21 to 35 years old, and the gender ratio is actually quite proportional, being 51% female. In terms of the most played genres, Adventure games appear in the top 5 of all platforms, being the first on console, while on mobile it’s Battle Royale, and on PC it’s MOBA.
He also talked about how mobile games are becoming more and more important due to their increased complexity thanks to the hardware and broadband improvements, the fact that many people only have a phone to game on, and the rise of cloud gaming, which has a lot of disruption potential, allowing people to enter the hobby without a powerful device, and it has just recently started growing in Latin America.
With this, Fernandes ended with a summary and some tips for investors. The biggest opportunities in the Brazilian games market in 2021 are mobile, but that doesn’t mean people should discard the PC and consoles, since they are still a significant share of the market. But still, mobile has a lot of potential and should keep its fast growth rate. There’s also the cloud gaming market which has big potential for developing in the region, and Fernandes even goes to talk about the possibility of cloud-only consoles in the future, allowing for a cheap entry in the medium. The only certainty is that the future is bright for gaming in Brazil.
Lucas Savicki
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