The number of game studios in Brazil grew by 3.2% year-over-year to 1,042 in 2023, according to a new report.

The Second National Survey of Brazil's Games Industry, conducted by the Brazil Games export program - a partnership between Abragames and ApexBrasil - showed that the country's industry employed 13,225 people, up 6.3% Y/Y.

Most Brazil's studios are based in São Paulo, which is home to 302 games companies. Rio de Janeiro has 107, while Rio Grande do Sul has 69.

Regionally, 56% of studios are based in the South East, 20% in the South, 16% in the North East, 6% in the Mid West, and 2% in the North.

Between 2020 to 2022, local developers released more than 2,600 games. The number of studios developing their own IPs also increased to 93% in 2022.

Meanwhile, 13% of studios licensed their own IPs, while 10% of studios licensed third-party products (down from 18% in 2021). 

Most of Brazil's developers worked across PC (24.9%) and mobile (24%). However, console game production continues to grow, reaching 19% in 2022, with handheld console production doubling to 4%.

Market estimates

Overall, Brazil's games developers were estimated to have generated $251.6 million in revenue in 2022. The figures were from a combination of survey results and AppMagic data. It should be noted that a new method to calculate this figure was used for 2022, meaning accurate comparisons for growth cannot be made to previous years.

Revenue from the sale of games via digital platforms increased from 54% to 62% in 2022, while revenue from direct sales decreased from 30% to 23%. Microtransactions followed at 20%, while ads generated 16%.

PC games were said to generate the most revenue for Brazil's developers at 44%, while mobile accounted for 23% and consoles 12%.

"The data presented in the second edition of the survey also reinforces Brazil's position as one of the most promising regions for providing External Development services, as had already been indicated in the reports of the XDS Summit, a global reference on the subject," said Abragames president Rodrigo Terra.

"The work done by Brazilians has been meeting international demands with quality and standing out, among other aspects, for artistic, engineering, and co-dev issues. As a result, we have half of Brazilian developers operating in other markets with more than 70% of their revenues coming from various countries."

You can read the full version of the Second National Survey of Brazil's Games Industry here.