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Forums - Sony - PS3 will officially launch in Latin America this year....

FilaBrasileiro on 21 July 2008
BKK2 said:
SlorgNet said:
Actually, Sony should be doing more than just distribution in Latin America, a region of the world undergoing vast (and overwhelmingly positive) social and political change. They should be investing heavily in local studios -- e.g. Brazil-themed FIFA games, tie-ins with Lat Am's bourgeoning media cultures, etc. The result will not only be great games at affordable prices, but will also reduce piracy and encourage consumers to buy legit (because legit purchases support their local media industry) - win-win for everyone.

Sony's experience in Russia was that piracy starts to disappear around the $7,500 per capita GDP level. Basically, once consumers can afford to buy legitimate media at reasonable prices, they do so - it's easier and more convenient, people want decent customer service, etc. A number of Lat Am countries are at or close to this mark:

Chile $9879
Venezuela $8596
Mexico $8479
Brazil $6983
Argentina $6606

(This is IMF data for 2007).

I agree that Sony should be doing more than just distribution, but before investing in local studios and local content I think they need to bring prices down to a reasonable level on existing products. These thoughts are primarily aimed at PS2.

The first thing they need to do is bring down the price of software by eliminating import duty and start replicating games in South America. Sony have started doing this in India which is probably currently much a smaller market than Latin America. My guess is Sony already plan to do this for PS2, but for PS3 it may not be so easy due to BD replication facilities not being widespread. The size of the market probably doesn't warrant investment in this.

That will take care of import duty, but even US prices are prohibitiely high for most people, especially when compared to a pirated version, so Sony need sell their PS2 games a lot cheaper than they do in developed nations. In India PS2 games start from Rs. 499 ($12), they need a similar pricing scheme in Latin America.

It's not so easy to manufacture hardware there, but it's been done before. Tectoy, a Brazilian company who used to be Sega's distributor obtained the licensing from Sega to manufacture Master Systems in Brazil. It ended up selling over 2 million, and actually still sell a version which comes with the games built in. PS2 should be simple enough by now that it's feasible to start production in Brazil for the domestic market, and if not now, it should be feasible at some point in the future.

As for local content, I'm sure a Brazilian version of Singstar would be a cheap low risk way to start.

I think Sony probably has at least some of this planned, as Kaz Hirai had this to say at the last TGS:

Further Expansion of the PlayStation®2 business

In the 8th year from launch, PlayStation 2 still sees steady demands particularly in North America and Europe. Reaching the remarkable milestone of the 120 millionth shipment in the 7th year from launch, PlayStation 2 will have longer-tail business compared to its predecessor, the original PlayStation. Targeting at further expanding the business into the emerging markets, SCEI will continue to vigorously promote PlayStation 2, by introducing more and more exciting new games.

Sony Press Release

Clearly the Latin American distribution announcement is the start of Sony's future plans for PS2 mentioned at TGS.

 

That is extremely important, I'm sure that if PS2 games were being sold for $20-$30 Brazilian Reais, there would be a lot more sales of (legit) games there. I read somewhere that they are trying to manufacture some of the PS3's (or possibly PS2) part in Brazil as to cut down on the import taxes (60%+).

 

However I don't see that happening, DVDs in general are still 40 Reais in Brazil and you can get 5 movies for 10 reais pirated. I'm sure some people would buy DVDs if the price were similar to the US (10-20 bucks), but at that price, it's really a no brainer. Also everything that's cars and electronic costs an arm and a leg in Brazil, Brazil is the worst country in terms of taxing the fuck out of people and making that collected money dissapear.



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halogamer1989 on 21 July 2008
Aprisaiden said:
Umm as far as i know their are 3 kinds of countries.

Dev loped - eg. USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, etc.
Developing - eg. China
3rd world - Most places in Africa, some of Latin America...

So it is fair to call parts of Latin America 3rd world due to alot of counties ending up with in incredible amount of poverty due to cash crops and other economic factors... overall PS3 hardware should sell reasonably well in the region, however do not expect software to sell well. Its far to expensive for the general masses to buy when other items take precedence (esp. when its much cheaper to buy pirate software.)

Actually it's:

Developed: USA, Japan, Australia, South Korea, New Zealand, etc.

Developing: Same as above

Least developed countries or LDCs: literally dirt poor.  http://www.un.org/special-rep/ohrlls/ldc/list.htm

 



Shura on 21 July 2008

In mexico has been official sins almost 1 year, but no the psn, or suport (as far as i know), so that might be the now thing here.

And the price of a ps3 here is around 650-700 dlrs.

The best console here is the xbox 360, mexico is the country number 4 with more xbox solds, I just after eua, uk and canada i think, so, maybe have sold around 1 million consoles here.

Maybe the official suport of sony could make the ps3 more succesful.



End of 2011 (made 02/01/11) 
Wii: 99.453 m
Xbox 360: 67.837 m 
Ps 3: 60.726 m

Best Games/Serie of the Generation

kate_br on 16 September 2008

Hello there!

  I read this post and I was impressed! If you come to think Brazil is the biggest country in Latin America, our GDP in 2006 was 1.655 trillion dollars, that was back in 2006!

 Sao Paulo is the 2nd biggest CITY in the world, with 10.231 million people (http://www.citymayors.com/features/largest_cities1.html), the state of Sao Paulo has more than 33 million people, and Sao Paulo is responsible for almost 90% of the whole Brazilian GDP.

 In here (Sao Paulo), some people live better than 1st world country, although the vast majority of the population is very poor, the money distribution is bad, probably 5% to 10% of the popularion is responsible for 95% of the GDP, and trust me, most of then live in Sao Paulo. Middle and high classes have big houses and condos, with something like 400 to 1000 meters squared sometimes even more! My parents live in house with 1200 meters squared, I can give you the google earh info if you want to...

 I do not want to show off, but most all of my friends have 1 or 2 new game consoles, including PS3, XBOX 360 and Nintendo Wii... I have a PS3, hooked in a 60" Pioneer Kuro Plasma Full HD, with B&W Speakers, Rotel Processors and Powers. A few people in here can afford this luxury but A LOT of people I know have very very high end cars, boats, electronics and much much more.

 Brazil is a poor country for sure, the money distribution is very bad. Piracy is a big issue here, we have this so called "Brazilian way" so even people who can actually afford to buy original software and games, buy fake and non-original or bootleg copies, simply because it is cheaper.

 I am not really sure if a lot of people would buy PS3, because most of the people who could, potentialy, buy it, already bought  it. Those who want will simply import, or buy during travels (I bought mine on Nov 17 2007, when I went to Japan).

 Please do not assume, that we live in swaps! Trust me, a lot of people in Sao Paulo, have much more buying power than most of the avarage and middle class americans.

 



Jo21 on 16 September 2008

its sold here, but with over 200$ the original price

80gb goes sometimes over 800$.

must of the people i know want one but the price its too much for most of the people to afford.

many still keep their ps2, have ds or wii and maybe a psp only one never more than 2.

i hope this brings a better price to us, since 499$ fora 40gb is insane.
i bought my overseas so i got warranty for a year. but not everybody



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Dianko on 16 September 2008
paulatreides25 said:
jkimball said:
FilaBrasileiro said:
amp316 said:
The pricing is high. Third world means that they don't have things like shoes or electricity.

 

That's the most retarded shit I've ever heard.

In the mid 50's when the term was first used, that is pretty close to what it meant. The overall wealth of the world has improved, so that even third world countries now have shoes and electricity but it wasn't that long ago when they did not.

Brazil was never really part of that group, it was industrializing when much poorer countries (think Chad, Afghanistan) were still working on getting electricity.  Today Brazil is the B in BRIC - a group of emerging countries with huge potentail: Brazil, Russia,India, China. Of those four only China has a stable political climate, so it is has basically taken over. So much potential in Brazil wasted... 

 

Yeah, now the poor are far more richier, just look in wikipedia for Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, Chile, or look in google for images of Mexico city, monterrey, Sao Paulo, Buenos Aires, Santiago and you will see

 

 

It's not that they're poor, it's the distribution of the wealth. Brazil and Mexico, for example, are the 8th and 12th largest economies in the world. They are not poor at all overall as countries, but the distribution of wealth is ridiculously bad for the poor and the smaller middle classes. Buenos Aires is a world class city, very modern, but at night there isn't a trash can or bin that someone isn't going to town on. I saw horse-drawn carts going through San Telmo with their trash loot.

It's really too bad, if the governments weren't so horrible, Latin America would occupy a much more influential place in the world. I see Latin America overall being one the largest growth areas economically over the next few decades, there so much potential there. Hopefully they don't succumb to foreign influences. I know the US was fucking it up with our influences for a long time, but when I read about the deals Peru is making with China over minerals, I get a little worried that the same thing is going to happen again.



kibebr on 01 October 2008

Please, ANY news about Latin America getting into PSN/Official???? I am saaad :(



PSN: franco-br
MGS4, GH, MW2, GT5p, WipeoutHD, etc..etc..

lightbleeder on 01 October 2008

Haven't heard of an official Latin American PSN launching anytime soon, we're able to buy games from the PSN store but we can't buy movies! If Sony doesn't want my money for movies I can always find them pirated anywhere :)



superkasei on 01 October 2008

The 360 in mexico is a very popular brand, and the prices are almost equal to the USA prices, and here in mexico not all people are poor, only the lazy people are poor



100% Mexican Power



radha on 01 October 2008

Well, im in latin america and i just got me a PS3, bought it at amazon and told a friend to bring it here cost me 580 bucks, but if you want to buy it in a store here, it will cost you UD$1000 (most poeple have to save for more than a year to see this amount of money and a parents will never pay that much for a "toy"), amazing, i know, but guess what? the wii is US$500. Store offer loans to buy next gen consoles but even then they sell very few. If you are wondering why the PS2 is still selling, look no further, here it still beats the crap out of all next gen console put together in terms of sales.

the PlayStation brand is very strong here but, game companies often overlook this market because of piracy, about 50% of console owner use only copies and they dont care that they are banned from the XBL or PSN, and goverments do very little or nothing to prevent it or stop it.

The only way for sony to sell it here, is if it sell for at least the real US price , but local taxes will make that very difficult.



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