Video games in Brazil

Brazil is the 13th largest video game market in the world as of 2017, and the largest in Latin America, with a revenue of 1,3 billion US dollars. Video games were not permitted for import into Brazil until the 1990s, and were then heavily taxed as non-essential goods. As a result, a black market developed around pirating games, driven by the lack of official channels for purchasing games. Many game companies avoided expansion into the country for these reasons until 2009. Blaming high tariffs, Nintendo officially left the market in 2015, but returned in 2017. Sega once retained a strong foothold in the country. In a three-episode series named "Red Bull Parallels", Red Bull explored the country's relation with gaming.
Censorship.
In January 2008, the marketing of "Counter-Strike" was prohibited in the Brazilian territory by judicial decision. The judge argued that Counter-Strike and "EverQuest" games subvert social order.
It has since been lifted, although "EverQuest" is still illegal in physical form in Minas Gerais.
Video game development.
Video game development exists in Brazil since as early as 1983, when Renato Degiovani developed the first computer games in Portuguese called ""Aventuras na Selva" (later renamed "Amazônia") and "Aeroporto 83"" (Airport 83) for a computer specialized magazine called "Micro Sistemas". Several years have passed with little to no significant development until the 2000s, when several companies started creating advergames and/or MMORPGs, and universities started offering game development degrees. Hoplon was one of the first to be successful in the industry with Taikodom.
The 2010s have been marked by a growing number of studios getting bigger relevance with proprietary indie game titles. The BIG Festival (Brazilian Independent Games Festival) was conceived in 2012 and is held every year in São Paulo, gathering game industry professionals from the country and abroad and promoting indie titles for the Brazilian market.
The biggest game dev scenes are from São Paulo, Porto Alegre and Brasília.
Media.
Print Media
Brazilian video game rating.
The ClassInd (advisory rating) is the institute responsible for the software given for review on Brazil.