“There’s before 2024, and after 2024”. That’s the main message from Brazil’s first ever Gamescom, Gamescom Latam. The traditionally German show teamed up with BIG – a storied, local festival in Brazil – to really show off what Brazil can do on the global stage. And at the opening night of the show, the organisers were keen to really hammer home how important Brazil is going to become to you, me, and everyone else that plays games across the globe.
Game development, as it stands, is dominated by the global North and West – there’s not a lot of support for game development in the global South or, especially, in Latin America. But Brazil is keen to change that narrative. In May 2024, the country passed a law that did a lot of things that will help make game development in the country an easier concept; the new law makes it easier to get hold of dev kits, for example, and provides monetary relief for grassroots developers, to name just a few elements of the framework.
But why does that matter to you, a gamer assumedly in the US or UK or Europe? Simply speaking, the Brazilian government passed a law that – all at once – recognised games as a vector for innovation, commercial investment, and cultural expression. As it goes, that’s a rare trifecta of things for a national government to understand. Gaming is a young industry compared to its entertainment peers, and needs to be aggressive about getting access to the same cultural and government recognition (and tax relief) that film, TV or music does. Brazil, here, is trailblazing.
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