Gamescom LATAM took place from June 26 to June 30 in São Paulo, Brazil, being the first convention there that combines the premiere event branding of Gamescom with BIG Festival, the largest game festival in Latin America. Its show floor featured new and upcoming games like Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth, Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree, and Dragon Ball Sparking Zero, while the event also brought in developers and publishers from across the world (including CD Projekt Red and Skybound Entertainment) to Latin America.
This event is not a one-off occurrence, either; Gamescom LATAM is returning in 2025 with a bigger venue and more to explore from April 30 to May 4, 2025. Combining all of this is no simple feat, but the payoff is worth it. Game ZXC spoke with several attendees at Gamescom LATAM to hear what they thought of the event, what caught their eye the most, and so forth. While the answers varied, the core spirit was the same: there was an atmospheric passion and love for video games. Here's what everyone had to say.
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Pawel Sasko
CD Projekt Red - Associate Director of Games
There's a couple of things. First of all, I was really surprised with how big it is. I was expecting it to be a smaller event since it's like the first one, so that was the first surprise. Another thing is just that there are so many international brands present everywhere here. That's so great to see, and there are so many young creators here showing their games. There are just numerous indie games being made in Brazil, and we spoke with a couple of devs here whose games had roots in Brazilian culture, characters, and so on. It's amazing to see. You can see this market is huge, and it's growing. Numerous players I've met here own multiple consoles, and they know all these games. How professional it is, how big it is, how many small devs are here, and how many international companies showed up, to be here, to show Brazilian gamers and the Brazilian community, I think, shows how important the market here is. Also, the food here is f*cking great.
Pawel Sasko has worked on Two Worlds 2, The Witcher 3 (and its expansions), Cyberpunk 2077 , and Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty . Sasko is currently working on the next Cyberpunk game .
David Alpert
Skybound Entertainment CEO
The main thing, for us, as an American company, is finding great creators and creatives everywhere. Obviously there's a lot in the US, but we've been working on our international expansion. We opened an office in Tokyo, we bought a company in France, and we bought a company in Iceland. We're working on productions in Sweden, Spain, South Africa, Canada, and we were looking at Brazil. Brazil has an amazing talent pool of video game developers and video game creatives, but also in film, television, and comic books. We just feel like the amount of engagement and cultural confidence being created here in Brazil is just so high that we're looking to find great creative partners down here.
Skybound Entertainment is responsible for beloved IP like The Walking Dead and Invincible .
Matthew White
Whitethorn Games CEO
There are a million games out there I have to play. I will tell you that the hustle down here always blows my mind. Latin America developers will literally be in your DMs every minute until you take the meeting. They're there to sell, and I love that. We had to cancel one meeting for some reason and immediately 20 meeting requests popped in there...we've had tons of success in Latin America. They clearly show they put in the work, and I like that. I really enjoy seeing that because it shows they clearly care a lot about the game they're pitching you, it's like their one big hope of kind of thing. We feel privileged to listen because, to some degree, it's very personal to show someone a game you made. A piece of you is in your game, right? Being here, having these pitches, you feel really privileged because people are showing you their babies, right? It's so good here. I like this one a lot. This is one I try to get to every year.
Whitethorn Games has published games like Botany Manor , Calico , and Apico .
Sebastien Croteau
Monster Factory CEO
I was here last year when it was BIG Festival, but for me, it's the same people. The thing I love about Brazil and the Brazilian people is that they're passionate and generous. Before a business, you build relationships because a business is a relationship between two parties, right? Here, I'm playing the long game. It's just about building relationships with people, and if that gives you business, it's a bonus. In a very short amount of time here, I've made friends with tons of people...I love the partnership with BIG Festival and Gamescom. I believe Gamescom, which is usually in Europe, understands the importance of what's happening here. I think the reason they partnered up with BIG Festival is because the people were there, and they saw what happened last year.
Croteau and talent at Monster Factory performed "creature voices" and other demanding audio "stunt" elements in games like Baldur's Gate 3 , Hellblade 2 , and much, much more, going back two decades in the industry.
Lisa Pak
Project Lead, Playing for the Planet, United Nations Environment Programme
Oh, I love the positivity here and the people. Everyone is very open, and when I try to talk to people here about what I do, it's always like, "Wow, how can I get involved?" There's such good energy here. I've never been to Brazil before, but the energy here is very good, everyone is friendly, and there's a good vibe. To me, that's really special. I'm here to get to know the LATAM games industry, but that's what I've seen so far.
Pak Playing for the Planet team, an initiative facilitated by UNEP (United Nations Environment Programme). Their goal is to inspire the gaming industry to take action for the planet.
Christian Bernauer
President of AbleGamers Brazil
What I loved about Big Festival has carried over into Gamescom LATAM and that's the amount of indie developers that are here. First of all, the indie scenario has really creative stuff, and people say, "Oh, games aren't original anymore." You've heard all that talk where it's just "Oh this is just the same thing. Indie games are a way to show real creativity, and they have the space to do this. Here, not only can you play these games, but you can talk to the developers and it's so cool to talk to somebody. I think this is an opportunity not only for players but for people who want to go into the industry. Students can come here, talk to game developers, see their struggles, and decide if they want to invest years of their lives studying computer science, game design, or whatever. See if they'd be happy, so I think it's a good opportunity to learn the industry, to see the insides of the industry. You don't see this in shows where it's more public-oriented and focused on showcasing, so this is what I love at least.
AbleGamers Brazil's goal is "to create opportunities that enable fun in games to combat social isolation, foster inclusive communities, and improve the quality of life for people with disabilities."
David Fenner
Creative Director for The Simulation
It definitely looks like an upgrade from BIG Festival when I went in 2022 and more like Gamescom...I think publishers looking for safer bets for investment will find some interesting things here.
The Simulation is an upcoming horror game where players take on the role of a retired video game developer brought into an investigation when the only evidence is a video game. It is published by Blumhouse Games .
Chance Glasco
CEO and Game Director of Martial Arts Tycoon
I've been living in Brazil for a while now and the problem with gaming events in Brazil - I mean, they're huge, they attract so many people - but journalists came to BIG Festival from Latin America and none of that media gets outside of South America. Having the Gamescom LATAM label gives it the international attention that the Brazilian market deserves. 80% of Brazilians play games across all genders in the population, right? Brazil is Number 5 in games consumption on the planet, something like that, right? It's important for this market to have international exposure. And there's so much talent in game development here, but they don't necessarily have the availability of investment that the United States or Europe has, right? Just look at the numbers, and it's like, why aren't game studios taking their time to get out in Brazil? You're going to receive so much more love here, at a gaming event, than anywhere else on the planet.
Glasco is a co-founding developer of Call of Duty and Infinity Ward. He is currently working on Martial Arts Tycoon: Brazil , where players inherit and manage a Jiu-jitsu gym in Rio De Janeiro. Players will develop their gym, design classes, teach students, and otherwise expand and grow the business into a martial arts empire, as any good Tycoon game would do.
Eduardo Saffer Medvedovski
Founder of Canvas Ink. Games
I've been here a lot of times when it was BIG Festival, so seeing it grow has been amazing. We have much more access to local and international media. People are paying attention. It's a great way to get everyone here together in the business area and they incentivize trying to connect good projects. Here in Brazil, you know, it's a lot like "Oh, we are Brazilian. Let's help each other." I don't like this concept so much. We must help each other because we see marketing potential, we see the fun of it, and we must know how to present ourselves before that, so of course, we help each other and we must in some ways. But now we can escalate things that already have a good momentum, easier.
Canvas Ink. Games is a studio from southern Brazil that has made games like Anagram Arena, Inferno Manager, Lingo, Music Rush, and LAIzy Picture Phone.
At the end of the day, 9 voices is a very, very small sample of everyone who attended Gamescom LATAM, but having been on the show floor, having seen everything they saw, and having shared the experience of the first Gamescom LATAM seems like enough to know that it's here to stay. The event returns in 2025, and it'll be interesting to see how the event and how Brazil and Latin America's involvement in the games industry grows from here.