So it has come to this. Nintendo abandoned Brazil, #11 according to new zoo in gaming revenue WW with almost 34M console gamers (as of 2013). http://www.newzoo.com/infographics/infographic-the-brazilian-games-market/

In the light of these new events, i want to talk about the situation here. I am writing a paper on a close subject, if anyone want to recommend a read or point out any information/mistake, please be my guest. 

Picture: Pokemon X/Y launch lines in a brazilian store. Never again. =/

What happened?

In case you don't know yet, Nintendo announced today that it is leaving the brazilian market. They blamed (rightfully, to an extend) the import taxes, which can reach 72.18% . That's more than firearms (71.58%) and close to smoking (80.42%) or vodka (81.52%).

That said, this may strike brazilian gamers the wrong way, since MS/Sony are still there. During last gen X360 reached 80% market share, partly because they had a price advantage for being made in the country. That lasted until Sony started their own manufacture. Despite the Wii/DS WW success, Nintendo never installed a production in the country.

Despite already having a good price, MS already announced a 50M investment to adapt a factory to XONE (as of now, i believe XONE is only assembled in Brazil).

Picture: Wii U launch event in Brazil. With Charles Martinet.

Why the taxes are so high?

Many believe the taxes are high because of a strong protectionism. While that's not wrong, there is more to that. 

Another problem is that those rates are from 1988. At the time people were still insecure about the long term effects of gaming and consoles were a luxury of few. That's why gaming is taxed next to alcoholic beverages, guns, smoking and other unpopular, dangerous or addictive things.

Today those taxes are just nuts, even from a protectionism point of view, most likely they are at a point where they actually decrease government revenue by the way they affect demand. Unfortunately there is not enought political will to change that (or any other tax rate) anytime soon.

Computer parts taxes vary from 24.3% to 33.62%, just so you know.

Is this nintendo fault?

Hard to say. Maybe? I am sure it was their interest to remain here, but their lack of investment on the country and unsuccess with their products WW are a factor here too (something that obviously they wanted to avoid anyway). As of now Nintendo don't have enought sales to justify getting a factory here.

This is also not the first time this happens. During GameCube era Nintendo abandoned Brazil too. And this is bad for their image here.

Conclusion

Nintendo market here will shrink even more, and the remaining nintendo fans are going to pay even more for games from importers. 

Smash is being sold for $95 and Amiibos for $70. And this is only the beginning.

This is a shame, alot of people considered Brazil, Mexico and Puerto Rico as the main Video Game consumers IN South America. So for Nintendo to leave Brazil is also a big hit for the possibility of expandion towards South America by the Gaming Industry. I know it's Only Nintendo but when you think about It's Nintendo, one of the giants in the Gaming industry so them leaving is going to leave a dent in South America in general.

Wow, quite an informative thread! Thanks for making it! Its such a shame Nintendo doesn't do their own factory there but I guess it makes sense if the sales don't justify it. They aren't exactly as big as Sony or MS so if they spend a lot of money on something with a low return, it doesn't really make a good business decision.

But it does suck none the less. Can't the people in Brazil just like download the games digitally and use the US eshop or something?

Also Games are Sold for ALOT more in Brazil. Most games sell for 120-160 dollars.

That's why Piracy is a big issue in Brazil, no one wants to pay for the games.

That's what I did. But I think Nintendo made it impossible to change regions when the 3DS got NNIDs. Sooooo, they're fucked.

Unfortunately No, See Brazil doesn't even Have Things like Amazon Or Steam, So I don't know if Eshop is there (highly doubtable) but It's a hard place for Gamers over there none the less.

Kinda the feeling when I heard gerrards leaving liverpool

Well, I believe if they factory reset the 3ds, they let you choose your region again. Although, I think you might be right about the NNIDs but if they havn't bought many Nintendo games via digital, they I doubt that making a new NNID is going to be that big of an issue if they want to play the said games

Well, what some people do (like Slarvax who lives in Venezuela) is that when you are doing your inital settings of the 3ds, it lets you choose your region so I thought you can do it that way? Like, choose Canada as your country or US as your country and from what Slarvax tells me, you will get the US/Canadian eshop even if you do not live in Canada/US although I believe its better to choose Canada than US cause the Canadian eshop accepts visa cards even if you are not in Canada but the US doesn't but don't quote me on that cause idk for sure. But the currency is obviously CAD/USD and not whatever the people in Brazil use