Episode 30; Carlos Estigarribia Talks About Gaming in Latin America (LATAM)

Inside Video Gaming News 24/7

In Episode 8 I did ask Carlos Estigarribia some questions concerning Latin America, or LATAM as people call it. Gaming in LATAM. You can listen to this episode to get to know more about game studios, publishers and more. Today I want to know more Esports, localization of games, game events and other interesting topics that you should know about when targetting LATAM for your games.

Who is Carlos;

Carlos Estigarribia is a Brazilian game industry veteran, who founded LocZ Games in 1996. Sold LocZ to Playphone/Skyzone in 2006 and then established Electronic Arts their first studio in Latin America in 2008.

He was also one of the founders of Abragames, the Brazilian Game Developer Association, and RightZero, a consulting company focused in helping publishers to setup or launch games in Brazil. Currently is GM Brazil and LATAM at Lockwood Publishing, developer of Avakin Life.

Carlos and I talk about an event, where he is hosting a panel. The event is called BIG Festival (Brazil's Independent Games Festival) and is there since 2012 and is the most important independent games festival and business forum in Latin America.

On top of exhibiting the most innovative games in the world, the event is also the most important meeting point for those who want to have a deep understanding of games, with lectures, workshops, keynotes and the biggest games business forum in Latin America.

Local Play in LATAM;

But also we dicuss a local hero game, which was eveloped by an internal studio of Garena. Free Fire was released in 2017 and has since built a strong audience in Latin America and south east Asia. Carlos is telling me that this is a game that is growing fast.

Somehow, in a market that holds both cultural behemoth Fortnite and original trendsetter PUBG, there is still room for battle royales to breathe. Garena's Free Fire is one such game, yet another mobile battle royale that sticks X number of players on a big island and tells them to murder each other for fun. But Free Fire is thriving, having recently hit 80 million daily active users and surpassing $1 billion in revenue last November, just two years after it first launched.

Gaming in General;

Across all three segments (PC, console, and mobile), almost half of consumer spending on games will come from China and the U.S. in 2020. However, growth will be driven by emerging markets in regions like Latin America and Asia-Pacific in the years to come.

Esports;

Multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) games have become incredibly popular among video gamers in recent years. MOBAs are witnessing continuous growth in emerging markets, especially in Latin America. Latin America is in the perfect position for a major upswing when it comes to esports. The region has 45 million viewers, with profits soaring close to $12 million in 2019. Mexico was the second country that generated more audiences in the region after Brazil. While the MOBA segment in Latin America is expected to grow at a CAGR of over 20% during the forecast period, the PC and console segments are projected to observe grow rates of over 20% each for the same period.

Furtheron;

Next to that I have Cris Reed, talking about the recent events in the USA and Esport. Joakim Achren is sharing his vision on the Zynga/Peak acquisition.