From May 4 to 8, Attendees Can Enjoy Feature Presentations from Giants Like Nintendo, Xbox Game Studios, and Many More
What You Need to Know:
- Brazil’s Independent Games (BIG) Festival, the largest independent games festival in Latin America, is excited to announce some of the incredible companies to be featured at this year’s event. Along with more than 500 games, BIG Festival will be presenting several enlightening and informative panels from May 4 to May 8.
- The festival has revealed the full program guide with details on all the talks and participants, which include industry titans such as Nintendo, who will be presenting on how to bring a game to the immensely popular Switch platform, and Paul Viglienzone of Games at Amazon Web Services exploring the future of cloud-based gaming — as well as panels from Google, HTC, Xbox Game Studios, Bioware, and many others. Tune in here for some enthralling talks and insight into the industry’s future and get ready for some big announcements!
- The Brazilian games industry is growing at a breakneck pace, and is becoming a hot spot for developers and publishers looking to expand in the industry. Brazil has an estimated 81.2 million people who play games, generating revenues up to $1.6 billion USD. It’s no surprise then that big-name companies are flocking to the largest and most successful event of its kind —BIG Festival. Last year, giants in the segment, such as Nintendo, Microsoft, Sony, Ubisoft, Electronic Arts, Valve Software, and Epic Games, used BIG as an opportunity to see Brazil’s video games industry up close.
- At this year’s festival, established companies like Bioware and Ubisoft will share their knowledge and expertise on how to take an indie title to the next level with presentations on AAA games from a producer's standpoint. With Xbox Game Studios, Warner DC, Capcom, SEGA, Snapchat, Dreamhack, all in attendance, the sheer level of combined industry knowledge at this year’s event — from development to publishing and everything in between — is staggering. For a nominal fee, registered attendees can also engage in more personal virtual one-on-one meetings by booking an appointment with any of the companies presenting at the festival. For nominated titles present at the festival, chatting with the developers about their titles is totally free.
- Some of the Key Panels Include
- Nintendo: Nintendo representatives will present panels on topics like: How to successfully ship a console game from Latin America, and how to ship Nintendo Switch titles out of Brazil, along with examples of support, and why Nintendo wants more Brazilian titles on their popular console
- Amazon: The biggest company in the world will send Paul Viglienzone, Head of North America Business Development, to present "10 things the Cloud can do for your Game”
- DreamHack: Esports business phenoms DreamHack will break down the steps involved and the milestones needed to go from a humble start-up to a globally recognized brand
- Ubisoft: Anne Blondel, VP — Open Innovation at Ubisoft, will present a panel on the importance of the vital relationship between Ubisoft and Indie devs.
- The presentations will kick off Tuesday, May 4, 2021 at 9:30 AM Brazil Time / 8:30 AM EDT with a warm introduction, and “Welcome to BIG.” The following four days will be jam-packed with interesting and enlightening talks and presentations, and a full schedule can be found here.
- Register to attend BIG Festival 2021 by visiting the official website: https://www.bigfestival.com.br/.
- Follow BIG Festival on LinkedIn, and keep current with BIG Festival 2021 by following the event on Twitter, Instagram, and subscribe to the BIG Festival YouTube channel.
“BIG Festival has always been a great place to shine a light on the rapidly growing Brazilian game development industry, and this year not only do we have an incredible number of amazing games to display, but some of the most renowned technology and gaming companies in the world are going to be presenting, further demonstrating why Brazil is becoming such a hotspot for the industry.”
Gustavo Steinberg, director of BIG Festival
“Despite complications from the pandemic, last year’s digital event was an enormous success. This year, we’re taking things to the next level with some of the biggest companies in the world, showcasing the incredible growth and exciting future of the Brazilian gaming industry.”
“With support from Brazil Games Export Program, a partnership between the Brazilian Game Companies Association, ABRAGAMES, and the Brazilian Trade and Investment Promotion Agency (Apex-Brasil), BIG Festival will continue to function as a fundamental business hub for video game professionals across the globe through its lectures, networking events, and digital face-to-face meetings.”
Eliana Russi, Executive Manager at Brazil Games
Source: Official Press Release
About the BIG Festival
BIG Festival, which received more than 20,000 visitors in 2019, is the largest and most important game festival in Latin America. Since 2012, the event has become a central meeting point for studios to attend lectures and workshops, network, and meet with industry peers to learn more about the business of gaming. BIG has helped hundreds of innovative games from all over the world connect with an international audience. Networking opportunities held at the event generated more than 4,000 meetings between 630 game industry professionals from 34 countries. In light of complications resulting from the global pandemic, BIG Festival transitioned to an online-only event, BIG Digital in 2020 and the Festival still managed to draw record numbers, with more than 22,000 viewers tuning in to the event online. The BIG Festival’s digital version generated 3,876 business meetings between more than 333 publishers, developers, and investors from a stunning 38 countries. These vital interactions led to an estimated $7 million USD in business deals!
For more information about the upcoming event, visit the official website: https://www.bigfestival.com.br/.
About the Games Industry in Brazil
Brazil is now the 13th largest video game market globally and second in Latin America, only to Mexico. The $1.6 billion (USD) Brazilian games industry has nearly doubled in size since 2014, and the number of local gamers reached 81.2 million as of 2019, making Brazil the fourth-largest consumer market in the world. Half of both men and women in Brazil play mobile games, while roughly 40 percent of men and women play PC games, according to Newzoo. Purchase intent is healthy as well, as 83 percent of gamers in the region have made an in-game purchase within the past six months.
