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Forums - Sales Discussion - Latin America: Mexico, Central America, & South America Sales Thread

Driven video game industry in Mexico

Anton Bruehl, president of the International Development Group (IDG) and one of the most famous gurus of the digital entertainment industry, said: "In 2011 according to our estimates, the global market for video games will reach a value of 45 billion dollars. "

He assured that "Mexico is the fifth largest in the world market for Xbox 360, even ahead of Spain. However, still not among the 10 major markets Sony and Nintendo. "

He described that although 2007 sales of video game hardware and software in Latin America accounted for barely two percent of the world total, the region finally began to develop led by Mexico, representing about 50 percent the total regional market.

This contrasts with countries like Venezuela, Central americas, Chile and Colombia, which together totalled just five percent of the total Latin American. The 2009 sales of software in the local retail market will reach $ 500 million.

The manager, who participated as a speaker at a conference masterful during the National Meeting PROSOFT 2.0., Asserted that: "In 2011, it is estimated that Latin America will be a market larger than Canada, Italy or Australia in terms of video games. Globally the United States still dominate the market, closely followed by Japan and Europe. " The government aims to boost initiatives on average, in collaboration with other bodies. For its part, Mauricio Santillan, head of Visionary, said the video game industry in Mexico is growing at rates of 25% per annum. Wanted to invite the developer community, creative and academics to form a nucleus to develop this sector in Mexico. The executive announced the creation of a unit to develop video games to launch at year's end: "The problem that has been presented is articulation; lack talent, focus and information in the Mexican market."

He added that "in Mexico there are about 35 thousand hardcore gamers and nearly 10 million casual players located in the socioeconomic strata B and B +. The objective is to double the number of expert players to generate a traction effect on the industry. He commented that in 2007 sold a million consoles and five million units of video games.With accessories, total sales amounted to 700 million pesos, for what is expected to reach one billion by 2009.

In his view, Mexico could begin to produce some titles, develop casual games, cheap and massive sales over the Internet. He commented that 75 percent of retail sales of videogames in the country are concentrated in Games Planet, Liverpool, Sam's Club, Wal-Mart and blockbusters, leading sales of console software. Sales of PCs are different; heads the Sam's Club, followed by Office Depot.


Link



IDG Report (PDF)



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In 2004, Sony brought the PlayStation 2 to Mexico, officially. According to Jeffrey Wright at America's News Intelligence, they opened a distribution facility to put the console in retail stores at an affordable price and Sony has sold over 860,000 units in Mexico as of Q4 2007.


Link



Fifth largest would put it behind the US, the UK, Canada and France at around 600k LTD. It would also put Mexico ahead of Japan, Germany, Italy and Spain, which makes it weird they're only talking about Spain. I don't really think they should be happy saying Mexico is their fifth largest market while Mexico isn't even in Sony's and Nintendo's top 10, cause it really shows their weakness in other countries instead of their strength in Mexico. 600k LTD for 360 in Mexico would be pretty much in line with Vgchartz btw.



is there any sales info on Brazil?



al least here in mexicali (a mexican city that is in the border with united states) some universitys are staring to teach some videogames carrees, and also we have some companies like gameloft here. and the silicon valley is coming to the city ,i thing that will help the market. and maybe in 2010 or at least before 2012 we gonna have some dev. companies



jugando ahora: Super Street fighter 4, ninokuni "ds"
playing now: NINOKUNI, Super Street fighter 4, kof 13
waiting for: 3ds to play street fighter 4 and zelda

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Nice find BKK2.



People are difficult to govern because they have too much knowledge.

When there are more laws, there are more criminals.

- Lao Tzu

Great info BKK2. The Xbox 360 is VERY popular among the non-enthusiast gamers, and with kids too, so it's not surprising 360 has strong sales here. It has taken the spot the PS2 left.

In the case of the Wii, its sold to the very enthusiast like myself.



Yup, most of my friends from XboX Live are from Mexico



"I envy you. You North Americans are very lucky. You are fighting the most important fight of all- you live in the heart of the beast." 

Ernesto "Che" Guevara.

Here's my contribution, a bit old, but I hope it shows a picture of my country. 500000 PS2 sold here (at that moment), for those who don't want to read it.

http://www.theinquirer.net/en/inquirer/news/2006/12/04/playstation-2-is-xbox-360s-biggest-challenger-in-south-america

Playstation 2 is Xbox 360's biggest challenger in South America

AEShow 2006 Cheap and more cheerful

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AT THE AEShow 2006 exhibition held in Buenos Aires city last month, we witnessed an interesting scenario: people were flocking to Sony's booth which showcased a handful of Playstation 2 consoles.


People at Microsoft's booth at AEShow 2006 last month

With the Playstation 3 not yet available locally, and with Microsoft showcasing its Xbox 360, Sony decided to fight the Vole's latest greatest at the show with a proven weapon: the ubiquitous and immensely popular PS2.

And guess what? people were gathering around Sony's PS2 booth with arguably the same interest -if not more- than Microsoft's. Judging by the cheering of the crowd, the folks playing with the PS2 seemed to be having more fun, and not to care about the Microsoft booth a few metres away. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that Microsoft might not sell a lot of Xbox 360 consoles... perhaps it will. But one thing is certain, down here it's Sony which appears to 'own' the gaming console mind set with its ubiquitous Playstation 2 and its associated product brand awareness, especially among the younger gaming crowd.


November 2006: What is this crowd? Sony's booth? What are they showcasing?

Another important issue is the price. The challenge for Microsoft will be selling the Xbox 360 to users for whom the Playstation 2 is technologically "good enough" and costs much less. The price difference is something not to be taken lightly, as few people down here would be willing to put their monthly pay cheque - for some even two month's worth - into a game console.

All game consoles are considerably more expensive, and I'm not sure that import duties and taxes are only to blame, as the price difference is not nearly as high on other IT hardware products.

Sony's PS2 can be found locally for a price between $265 and $320 while the Vole's Xbox 360 is astonishingly selling for around $700 to $800. An editorial published on Saturday by the L.A. Times entitled "Price isn't a game" touts the Wii's low price as one of the reasons for its success, and ends up with: "for this Christmas at least, more affordable means more successful."


Must be something good and new and exciting...

Of course, that means Sony will have a hard time selling its PS3 down here too, but that is not something that appeared to bother Sony's local branch, at least not right now. According to a radio interview quoted last month on the web, the PS3 won't hit the local shelves until mid-2007. We're not sure why it'd take so long to come up with PAL/N-M version for the Southern Cone region with region 4 DVD playback. In any case, I personally think that the PS2 gamers will be more likely to wait and upgrade to a PS3 - IF they feel the need to, and I'm not sure that's the case yet - rather than switch to a Xbox 360, as the Playstation brand name is down here a synonym for "game console". As of today, the only PS3 I was able to spot from a local seller is going for an astonishing $1790 price tag. Yes, that's greenbacks!.


Oops! Sony preferred to show off its Playstation 2...

Some numbers from the local Sony branch
In a radio interview, Federico Augspach, product manager for the Playstation line at Sony Argentina said there are around half a million Playstation consoles in the country, and only around 20% of its users are women. Augspach added that the most popular game on the PS2 in the land of Maradona is "Winning Eleven", a soccer game -known as "Pro Evolution Soccer" in Euroland. "PS2 users are mostly male," he said, adding, "the U.S. is obviously the country with the most consoles, and they prefer the FIFA version".

According to an article over here, over 2,000 PS 2 software titles have been released in Europe and another batch of 50 games will hit the shelves this Christmas."


Sony Argentina said there are around half a million Playstation consoles in the country

Will Sony help customers get legit games with "localised" prices?
We don't approve of piracy, but it's a reality of the local market that nobody can overlook: a lot of people down here buy the PS2 because they can go and buy inexpensive games for it on street markets and the like.

Sony Argentina says it is aware of the problem and wants to tackle it by offering lower-cost editions of the games more according to the income levels of the local marketplace. Augspach said, "due to the exchange rate with the dollar and local income levels, the majority of the population cannot reach the cost of imported games, then they buy pirate games. But we are working to bring games to the country at better prices, and educating the marketplace."

If you look at the PS2 console auctions on the local eBay affiliate site MercadoLibre, you'll see an awful lot are described as "con chip" - that means with a modchip installed by the third-party vendors.

Conclusions Don't count the PS2 out just yet. I'm sure thousands of these consoles will land on kids', teens', and grown-ups' rooms this coming Yuletide. It's affordable and everywhere, while the Xbox 360 is a bit on the expensive side for the local wallet.

That Sony's local branch decided to give the XBox 360 a challenge with the proven PS2 - instead of bringing a PS3 pre-release version - is an indication of this. I repeat: I am referring exclusively to the situation in the local market, and what I saw at AEShow. But I dare to wonder aloud what was behind Sony's decision to release the Silver Playstation 2 at such a low -$129- sale price. Even in Europe, lots of new game titles are coming out for the unfortunate child who will have to keep gaming on their PS2, so it's quite possible that the PS2 will continue to breathe some oxygen into Sony's battered lungs for some time to come, at least until the PS3 gets on its feet.

Speaking of low-cost, some say Nintendo's Wii will be the ultimate winner in the U.S. and Europe on this year's Yuletide shopping craze, and as things look right now, it's also possible that the Xbox 360 will win the high-end wars in the developed world - as it's apparently exceeding Microsoft's expectations. But one thing is for certain: the biggest competitor this Yuletide season down here, based on price, will still be the PS2. Nintendo's was nowhere to be seen at the show floor.




I stickied this thread so that we can explain why 'Americas' != USA or even USA+Canada.

Keep the articles coming.

But the main point is this:

Latin America is tiny compared to Japan/USA/Europe for videogame sales, and most software is pirated. So while hw is taken into account for places like Mexico & Argentina...sw is largely negligible compared to other regions.



People are difficult to govern because they have too much knowledge.

When there are more laws, there are more criminals.

- Lao Tzu