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

Oyvoyvoyv on 26 August 2008

Comparing the Canada figures:

http://vgchartz.com/forum/thread.php?id=39395

NPD Wii - 376K YTD - 1060K LTD - end 07 - 696K

This Graph: 650K

NPD Ps3 - 200K YTD - 520K LTD - 320K end 07

This Graph: 310K

NPD 360 - 154K YTD 870K LTD - 716K end 07

This Graph - 710K


Spot on.



http://www.vgchartz.com/games/userreviewdisp.php?id=261

That is VGChartz LONGEST review. And it's NOT Cute Kitten DS

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BKK2 on 26 August 2008

Canada is close to NPD, but not the same. There is a big difference between GfK and the graph for Italy. We didn't get GfK figures for Spain through 2007, the figures in your link are from AC Nielsen, commisioned by Nintendo.

So the graph doesn't match AC Nielsen, GfK, or NPD, which is why the figures are probably IDG's own estimates.

Several sources suggest PS3 is overtracked in Spain, but this is the least legitimate one to choose to make that point.



jhonip on 27 August 2008
cwbys21 said:
Quick question for all of you in Mexico or other Spanish speaking nations. Do all of those countries speak the same kind of Spanish? Like America and England both speak English, but we have different words for different things so it isn't the same kind of English. I'm kind of wondering because would game companies have to hire on a Mexican company to sell the game in Mexico with the right Spanish translation, and thus driving prices higher, than they would to ship the game to Spain and the hiring of a company to translate the game to the Spanish that Spain might speak.

 

 just like in English, there are some differences among spanish, but there are basically a minor set back. if you see a british movie you would understand it almost in whole. the big difference falls under the accent that each country have. 



not a fan but a gamer

Oyvoyvoyv on 28 August 2008
jhonip said:
cwbys21 said:
Quick question for all of you in Mexico or other Spanish speaking nations. Do all of those countries speak the same kind of Spanish? Like America and England both speak English, but we have different words for different things so it isn't the same kind of English. I'm kind of wondering because would game companies have to hire on a Mexican company to sell the game in Mexico with the right Spanish translation, and thus driving prices higher, than they would to ship the game to Spain and the hiring of a company to translate the game to the Spanish that Spain might speak.

 

 just like in English, there are some differences among spanish, but there are basically a minor set back. if you see a british movie you would understand it almost in whole. the big difference falls under the accent that each country have.

 

 Spain has 5 different languages in just the country, does it not? The Barcelona area has a different language than most of Spain, and they are fairly unrelated, I believe.



http://www.vgchartz.com/games/userreviewdisp.php?id=261

That is VGChartz LONGEST review. And it's NOT Cute Kitten DS

Videogirl on 28 August 2008
Oyvoyvoyv said:
jhonip said:
cwbys21 said:
Quick question for all of you in Mexico or other Spanish speaking nations. Do all of those countries speak the same kind of Spanish? Like America and England both speak English, but we have different words for different things so it isn't the same kind of English. I'm kind of wondering because would game companies have to hire on a Mexican company to sell the game in Mexico with the right Spanish translation, and thus driving prices higher, than they would to ship the game to Spain and the hiring of a company to translate the game to the Spanish that Spain might speak.

 

 just like in English, there are some differences among spanish, but there are basically a minor set back. if you see a british movie you would understand it almost in whole. the big difference falls under the accent that each country have.

 

 Spain has 5 different languages in just the country, does it not? The Barcelona area has a different language than most of Spain, and they are fairly unrelated, I believe.

Exactly there are five main and very different languages in Spain (and a lot of sublanguages) : Castillan which is the official language, Catalan, Valenciano, Gallego and Basque. Basically if you only know Castillan you won't be able to understand fully the four other languages.



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marciosmg on 09 September 2008

I read recently a news story (link - http://jogos.uol.com.br/playstation2/ultnot/2008/09/04/ult185u9018.jhtm - it´s in portuguese though).

The highlights:

  • It says that Sony is going to officialy start producing PS2 and it´s games in Brazil.
  • It also says that they estimate around 8 millions PS2 in my country (both legally bought and pirate ones).
  • PS2 is the highest selling console in Brazil (installed base too)
  • The estimated production is 450 thousand units in the first year reaching 520 thousand by the third year.
  • The investment is a total of 8,8 million reais (~ 5 million dollars)
  • It quotes Reggie saying that Brazil could be Latin America´s biggest market (currently, Mexico) if taxes are reduced (currently they make games cost 257% more)

 

Good for my country and good for Sony. I see each time more and more stores advertising the PS2. If Sony can produce things here and dramatically reduce its price they can stop some of the piracy and make a good amount of money.

EDIT - 1,500 posts. Woo Hoo! 500 to go! :D



www.jamesvandermemes.com

marciosmg on 09 September 2008

I found a link in N4G (http://www.n4g.com/industrynews/News-194417.aspx) that has the link I posted translated through Google, so there might be some error (EDIT - there are horrible errors, but you can get the idea of the story).

Whenever I try to post it here it changes back to Portuguese so click the link to read it in English.

Here´s the link directly to the text:

http://translate.google.com.br/translate?u=http%3A%2F%2Fjogos.uol.com.br%2Fplaystation2%2Fultnot%2F2008%2F09%2F04%2Fult185u9018.jhtm&hl=pt-BR&ie=UTF-8&sl=pt&tl=en



www.jamesvandermemes.com

BKK2 on 09 September 2008
marciosmg said:

I read recently a news story (link - http://jogos.uol.com.br/playstation2/ultnot/2008/09/04/ult185u9018.jhtm - it´s in portuguese though).

The highlights:

  • It says that Sony is going to officialy start producing PS2 and it´s games in Brazil.
  • It also says that they estimate around 8 millions PS2 in my country (both legally bought and pirate ones).
  • PS2 is the highest selling console in Brazil (installed base too)
  • The estimated production is 450 thousand units in the first year reaching 520 thousand by the third year.
  • The investment is a total of 8,8 million reais (~ 5 million dollars)
  • It quotes Reggie saying that Brazil could be Latin America´s biggest market (currently, Mexico) if taxes are reduced (currently they make games cost 257% more)

 

Good for my country and good for Sony. I see each time more and more stores advertising the PS2. If Sony can produce things here and dramatically reduce its price they can stop some of the piracy and make a good amount of money.

EDIT - 1,500 posts. Woo Hoo! 500 to go! :D

Lol, I suggested they do this a couple of months ago.

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.

 

Good to hear they're actually going to do this!

Edit:

EDIT - 1,500 posts. Woo Hoo! 500 to go! :D

What happens when you reach 2,000 posts?



FilaBrasileiro on 09 September 2008
marciosmg said:

I read recently a news story (link - http://jogos.uol.com.br/playstation2/ultnot/2008/09/04/ult185u9018.jhtm - it´s in portuguese though).

The highlights:

  • It says that Sony is going to officialy start producing PS2 and it´s games in Brazil.
  • It also says that they estimate around 8 millions PS2 in my country (both legally bought and pirate ones).
  • PS2 is the highest selling console in Brazil (installed base too)
  • The estimated production is 450 thousand units in the first year reaching 520 thousand by the third year.
  • The investment is a total of 8,8 million reais (~ 5 million dollars)
  • It quotes Reggie saying that Brazil could be Latin America´s biggest market (currently, Mexico) if taxes are reduced (currently they make games cost 257% more)

 

Good for my country and good for Sony. I see each time more and more stores advertising the PS2. If Sony can produce things here and dramatically reduce its price they can stop some of the piracy and make a good amount of money.

EDIT - 1,500 posts. Woo Hoo! 500 to go! :D

 

That's awesome, thanks for the link.

 

How much is a PS2 gonna cost in Brazil now? I think now it's going for R$400 (U$ 230) or so, maybe they could get it down to R$250-R$350 (U$140 - U$200), maybe even less than that since the PS2 should be cheap to manufacture.

 

If they could sell games for R$30-R$70 (U$17 - U$40) or cheaper, then it would really help against pirated games (usually R$10 - R$ 15).

 

I wonder why they're only doing the PS2 and not the PSP, PS3 or even the PSX at this time.....

 



BKK2 on 09 September 2008
FilaBrasileiro said:
marciosmg said:

I read recently a news story (link - http://jogos.uol.com.br/playstation2/ultnot/2008/09/04/ult185u9018.jhtm - it´s in portuguese though).

The highlights:

  • It says that Sony is going to officialy start producing PS2 and it´s games in Brazil.
  • It also says that they estimate around 8 millions PS2 in my country (both legally bought and pirate ones).
  • PS2 is the highest selling console in Brazil (installed base too)
  • The estimated production is 450 thousand units in the first year reaching 520 thousand by the third year.
  • The investment is a total of 8,8 million reais (~ 5 million dollars)
  • It quotes Reggie saying that Brazil could be Latin America´s biggest market (currently, Mexico) if taxes are reduced (currently they make games cost 257% more)

 

Good for my country and good for Sony. I see each time more and more stores advertising the PS2. If Sony can produce things here and dramatically reduce its price they can stop some of the piracy and make a good amount of money.

EDIT - 1,500 posts. Woo Hoo! 500 to go! :D

 

That's awesome, thanks for the link.

 

How much is a PS2 gonna cost in Brazil now? I think now it's going for R$400 (U$ 230) or so, maybe they could get it down to R$250-R$350 (U$140 - U$200), maybe even less than that since the PS2 should be cheap to manufacture.

 

If they could sell games for R$30-R$70 (U$17 - U$40) or cheaper, then it would really help against pirated games (usually R$10 - R$ 15).

 

I wonder why they're only doing the PS2 and not the PSP, PS3 or even the PSX at this time.....

 

Compared to PS2 the investment costs to set up a PS3 production line would be far higher, and the number of sales would be far lower. It just wouldn't be cost effective for them to do this with PS3. I think PSP might be a possibility in the future though.

Incidentally:

The UOL also found that the DVDs for the console will be pressed in Brazil - currently, the copies are imported.The Sony DADC, which handles the replication of CDs and DVDs from Sony group, avoided up and told the story that, at least for now there is nothing concrete about it.

cheap games for Brazil too ... although still a lot more expensive than copies.

The estimated production is 450 thousand units in the first year reaching 520 thousand by the third year.

So, PS2 in production for at least three more years.