If Brazil is famous for one thing, it’s laughter.
Or it could be the Amazon River. The whole rainforest is a big deal. Or maybe the legendary soccer player Pele. Or is it right-wing President Jair Bolsonaro? Or is it the national drink Caipirinha? You see, Brazil is the fifth largest country in the world. There are many famous countries. Let those who are crazy about video games know what Brazil is unique and definitely. It tells us about the history of Sega Master System clone consoles and bootleg game cartridges, and creative workarounds for import prices, which are prone to monthly rent. .. But when I asked a PC gamer, huehuehue.
I’m always afraid that the GPU will burn when the electricity goes down
Thiago Cancian
Brazilian Portuguese version of Hahaha The game attracted a huge number of Brazilian players, so it became a meme in early MMOs and later in League of Legends. Hue Hue How to use in Brazil Racist, a trolley way to look down on Brazilian playersThe indie developers I met in Sao Paulo Brazil International Game Festival I felt like they were joking firmly.
“We from Brazil love this,” said Leonardo Castanho, founder of the indie team behind Astrea. “We sometimes make this joke ourselves. Latin American players use jajajaja and we also make fun of it.”
Brazil’s famous laughter may have something to do with Brazil’s competitiveness in sports and esports.Camilla Slotfeld, Founder BitCake StudioThere was a prank in her eyes when she broke the difference between huehuehue And real Brazilian laughter. “It’s very common for people to laugh like this: Hua Hua“She said.”Hue Hue Is a troll-like laugh and has become a meme that represents the trolling aspect of Brazilians. There, you do things in ways you shouldn’t really do, but it’s like avoiding them.that is huehue.. “
Before I went to Brazil, I thought that laughter was used to mock Portuguese-speaking players above all else.But after talking to a slot felt I’ve never seen before huehuehue When other Brazilians typed, I noticed that many of the country’s PC gamers experienced it only as amicable in-joke. The Brazilian game scene is actually a unique pocket galaxy.This is partly because it hasn’t received enough attention from other parts of the world, and partly because Brazil actually That big All on its own. What’s the little trolling between you and 95 million gamers?
Why it’s hard to get the hardware
According to statistics Published by Newzoo At the 2021 BIG Festival, nearly half of Brazil’s 215 million population will play games. Almost half of these players are mobile, and the rest are divided into consoles (29%) and PCs (24%).
The PC market may be the smallest, but according to the developers I talked to, it’s mostly about access, not a preference. Compared to US players, Brazilian mobile gamers prefer competitive games and strategies to puzzles.The most popular game in the country is battle royale Free fire.. Being a PC gamer in Brazil means that you’re likely to be wealthy enough to buy sneaky and expensive hardware, or you’re likely playing a free game like CS: GO on a low-spec machine. Means
Or, in more dramatic terms, becoming a PC gamer in Brazil means “always afraid of the GPU burning.” [out] When the electricity goes down. ” Chiago Kansian, the lead designer of the indie team that makes Knights0047Deep, said.
GPU shortages and Ebay flipping over the last two years can make you feel like you’re trying to buy PC hardware in Brazil. “In the US, can you get a decent GPU for $ 300?” Kansian asked. “This is a payment of more than two months for the average Brazilian. The hardware here is really expensive.”
Purchasing expensive technology from abroad is impractical for the average Brazilian, thanks to taxes and low exchange rates, especially against the US dollar. For years, imports purchased online are taxed at 60%, so a $ 1,000 PC actually costs $ 1,600. 8,000 Brazilian real. According to the Brazilian government, the average monthly income is about R $ 2,600, or $ 520 USD. Modest PCs cost more than three months, even without the hassle of food and rent.
For a long time, PC games were huge, but now many young people don’t have a PC, they just have a phone.
Camilla slot felt
Despite the popularity of free-to-play games, participating in PC games will eventually return to hardware.For 12 million Brazilians living in shantytowns, owning a PC Impossible Out of reach 2021 surveyForty-three percent of Brazilians in shantytowns have poor or no mobile internet at home. Cyber Cafe provides important access to the internet and games.
Esports is beginning to look like a viable career for a small number of lucky people, thanks to organizations such as: AfroGamesHowever, most of the money that flows into the shantytown esports scene has so far not been in the player’s pocket.Non-profit publications and other areas highlight How e-sports sponsors see the surge in product sales in Brazil, players still can’t afford their own PCs. The three winners of the Free Fire tournament “totaled less than $ 6,000, given that the tournament’s final was broadcast by SporTv, one of Brazil’s largest sports channels,” the Rest of World reported. ..
But for middle-class Brazilians, things are a little better. 20% reduction in import tax rate Last year to fight inflation. However, high-end hardware is still scarce and out of reach. Until recently, Cancian’s three indie team was working on hardware 10 years ago. “Last week we bought the notebooks we’re playing here at the event, and they were cheaper,” Kansian said. “But Brazil was also hit hard by Covid’s pandemic. The situation is slowly improving. We look forward to the next decade. Hardware is more accessible and more people Will be able to start developing games here. Hardware is as expensive as it really is, which is a tough barrier to entry. ”
Camilla Slotfeld, who played Korean MMO Ragnarok Online as a teenager, huehuehue Celebrities said that today’s PC games seem a bit out of date because of mobile. “For a long time, PC games were huge, but now many young people don’t have a PC, they just have a phone. Here in Brazil, MMOs have become huge, then MOBAs … [now] Some households don’t have a PC, which is very strange to me, but each one has a phone and basically does everything over the phone. “
Still, all the developers I talked to were prioritizing the PC. Because they see PCs as a bigger opportunity than the overcrowded mobile market. Brazil has many players, but the dream is to break through to an international audience.
Made in Brazil
Cancian said Brazil has only overcome some of the biggest hurdles for game developers to develop and sell games there in the last decade. “We had a piracy issue for a very long time, and we had a purchasing power parity issue, and then we had real access to internet and banking issues. “He said. “Brazilian players on Steam are currently buying titles and piracy is not so rampant.” Leonardo Castanho said he and other developers he knew about piracy. I heard that I wasn’t really worried. Recent games like Monster Hunter Rise cost $ 60 on Steam in the US and Real 180, or about $ 33.
Selling games internationally is one area where exchange rates work for Brazilian-based developers, and in reality it’s the only way indie studios can grow. There is no way to make games like Valorant or CS: GO, which are especially popular in Brazil. When I visited this year, 2D indie games dominated the BIG Festival. Most of them were made by a small team, like Keylocker. For the developers behind these games, BIG is a stepping stone to the attention of US or European publishers.
For Brazilian PC gamers, what’s popular is very similar to what’s popular elsewhere.Best-selling games Nuuvem in June 2020, Brazil’s online stores are all familiar names: Civilization 6, Monster Train, Darkest Dungeon, Dark Souls.But the language can be an obstacle: according to SteamSpy Only about 8000 Of the 63,000 games on Steam, only available in Portuguese Only about 5% Many Brazilians speak English.
“I learned from Pokemon,” Slotfeld said. “The game was in English only. Still, to this day, in fact, Pokemon doesn’t have Portuguese. Many people aren’t happy with it.”
It’s an understandable frustration. Nintendo launched the Switch in Brazil in 2020, so it’s clearly interested in the population of 215 million Portuguese-speaking players, Only one game has been localized so far.. This is one of the reasons why big competitive games have found viewers in Brazil. CS: GO, Valorant, Fortnite, League of Legends, Rainbow Six Siege, Dota 2, Apex Legends all support Portuguese.
Talked to Young CS: GO Streamer at BIG Festival Renata Catherini, Started streaming during a pandemic to catch up with college friends. She streamed at night after her daytime work as an engineer, Local esports league.. She is interested in working full-time in esports, even though she already has a career. These opportunities are rarer in Brazil than in the United States, but again, it’s easy for outsiders to underestimate the size of their Brazilian audience.The country contains more than 90% of the Portuguese speakers in the world, with streamer Alexandre “Gaules” Borba. 700,000 Those at the same time during the CS: GO major earlier this year. It put him in the top 10 most watched Twitch streams ever, and he didn’t even need a drake to do it.
“We hope that access to the game will be much easier and young people will be more active in playing the game as professionals like Free Fire,” says Katherini. “Language is a kind of barrier [Brazilians watching big streamers from the US and Europe], But when action is happening, everyone speaks the same language. ”
Of course, it’s ridiculous to put all Brazilian gamers together in an esports bucket. No other country is made up of millions of people and has such a narrow hobby. However, I think Brazil’s gaming population is unique in that it is a monolith and a global minority. It’s big enough to fill the local servers and create a meme about laughter, but still want to learn English or translate the game into Portuguese. .. Without the kind of money needed to fund dozens of competing local esports teams, Brazilians would unite like Olympic athletes on the world stage and beloved teams like MIBR. Gather around. By being forever tossed by a game studio that is hemisphere away, you will find that you can intertwined with the pride of the country and create a unique, passionate and competitive audience.
Or maybe it happens when everyone really likes soccer.
In any case, being a PC gamer in Brazil means having a continuum of competitiveness, whether you play or make games. “Brazilians really like competitive games, and Brazilian viewers tend to prefer free games. That’s true. Especially on mobile, we expect games to be free. Really It’s another kind of gamer, “says Slotfeld.
“Maybe the Brazilian people are having a little more trouble making games,” Castagno said. “We’re used to the struggle. We don’t want to say we’re working harder than everyone in the United States, but when it’s harder, we chase more.”
