ABRA Games: Brazilian Gaming Industry in 2023
The number of gaming studios and industry workers is increasing.
❗️In the report - besides the classic gaming companies - developers of educational games, "serious” games are also featured. Therefore, the picture becomes a bit blurry. It is worth taking it with a grain of skepticism.
State of the Brazilian gaming market
Industry surveys show that by the end of 2023, 1042 gaming companies were operating in Brazil. This includes all studios showing activity - being part of associations, having games on accounts, having legal entities, and so on.
309 gaming companies participated in the ABRA Games survey. 98 of them were exclusively involved in game development; 211 were also engaged in other activities. Mainly - art outsourcing (28%); gamification (24%); animations (23%).
3% of companies in the Brazilian market have been in existence for over 15 years; 14% - from 10 to 15 years; 28% - from 5 to 10 years; 35% - from 2 to 5 years; 19% - less than 2 years.
❗️The percentage of mature companies present in the market for more than 5 years decreased in 2023 compared to 2022. ABRA Games notes that this may be due to sample peculiarities - in 2023, some companies did not participate in surveys due to investment deals.
93% of Brazilian developers work on their own IP. 15% work on transmedia projects; 13% - on the IP of other companies; 10% - license external IP.
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Most game companies in Brazil are located in São Paulo (302) and Rio de Janeiro (107).
Games from Brazilian developers
The number of released games is increasing. In 2022, 1009 projects were released by Brazilian developers. For comparison, in 2020 there were 715.
58% of developed games in 2022 are games in the classical sense. 18% - "branded" games (Advergames); 17.5% - educational games.
❗️A significant share of games for brands and educational projects looks atypical. Perhaps, it's the market's specificity.
25% of projects are developed for PC; 25% - for smartphones; 23% - for the web; 18% - for consoles; 8% - for VR/AR devices.
80% of studios work on Unity; 26% - on Unreal Engine; 7.8% use Construct; 5.5% - GameMaker; 5.5% - Godot.
People in the Brazilian gaming industry
According to ABRA Games estimates, 13,225 people are working in the gaming industry in Brazil. Growth compared to last year is 6%.
70% of employees in Brazil work remotely; 16% - in a hybrid format; 14% - in the office.
74.1% of employees are men; 24.4% - women, and 1.5% - non-binary individuals.
80% of Brazilian studios have multilingual employees.