A Look at the Brazilian Mobile Market

The Brazilian mobile gaming market is booming. Brazil is Latin America’s largest market for mobile gaming in regard to both the amount of players and how much revenue is generated. With more than 88.4 million players and over $1.0 billion in revenue expected in 2021, Brazil is a force to be reckoned with in the gaming community. 

Why is this market in particular so hot right now? There’s a variety of factors contributing to this surge of growth in Brazil. Alongside the appeal of passing time on public transportation, taxation policy changes surrounding gaming consoles in recent years have helped the industry expand. The accessibility of mobile phones, in the sense that they are now affordable and most Brazilians have them, has also helped this industry thrive. According to Newzoo, the most commonly used gaming device in Brazil is the smartphone (83%), which leaves a lot of room for growth specifically in the mobile gaming industry. 

What They’re Playing

Brazilians play a wide variety of mobile games. In 2020, the most downloaded mobile games from the Apple App Store were:

Free games

Paid games

Why They’re Playing

Alongside passing time on long bus rides, Brazilians turn to video games to de-stress. Because of this, Brazilians tend to enjoy playing mobile games that are extremely immersive and that absorb them into the game, while distracting them from reality for a little while. Strategy, role-playing, and action games are super popular in Brazil because of their ability to be so engaging. Mobile game advertisers should look for opportunities to sell their games as a way to relax and escape everyday stressors like work. 

The Future of this Market

Despite the growing popularity of video games in Brazil, there is still room for this market to expand. Only a little more than one-third of the Brazilian population expresses an interest in video games. Because those uninterested in games are unlikely to own gaming devices, there is a better chance that their first foray into gaming would be on a mobile device that they already own and use for other purposes. Brazil has a population of more than 212 million people and 81% of those people already own smartphones, making smartphone users a goldmine waiting to be tapped. 

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Video Games

Because only 5% of the Brazilian population speaks English, localization into Portuguese is a must if you want your video game to be widely accessible to Brazilians. It’s extremely important that you localize your video game for the Brazilian market. Especially when you consider the fact that this country is home to over 66 million gamers, which is almost as many people that make up the entire UK population. An important factor to understand about the Brazilian market is how much they rely on their mobile devices because of how much they rely on their mobile devices, in part due to long commutes on public transport and affordability when compared to other platforms. Localizing mobile games in particular should be a priority for video game creators. 

E-Learning

Those that focus on the corporate training sector in particular have great potential to break into this market right now. Because only a minority of people in Brazil speak English, this language barrier prevents them from taking online courses that are not in their native language. Data suggests that Brazilian industries are developing fast, but their workforce is not adequately trained and can lack specific skills. If you adapt your online courses to their native language, you can help address this need and expand your reach in this market. 

You also have the opportunity to adapt your e-learning courses to a mobile format, which will appeal to this unique market. By 2023, the Latin America e-learning market is anticipated to generate more than $3 billion in revenue, so this is not an opportunity that e-learning content creators want to sleep on. 

Healthcare and Pharmaceuticals

Circling back to those 211 million Brazilians, that’s a lot of people who need access to translated and localized healthcare and pharmaceutical information. As of 2018, there were more than 250 health-focused startups in Brazil. This isn’t surprising when you consider that Brazil is the world’s seventh-largest health market. 

From prescription packaging to medical records to insurance claims, there is a great need for proper translation and localization in the Brazilian healthcare industry. Brazil’s pharmaceutical market in particular is one of the largest in the industry and rapidly growing. With many pharmaceuticals developed in English-speaking countries, this leaves a large need for translation in this space. 

Mobile comes into play here once again. To help make healthcare as a whole more accessible (including advice, diagnosis, and monitoring), telehealth services are growing in Brazil. Part of the attempt to make healthcare more accessible is to embrace telehealth, which often takes advantage of mobile applications. 

Translation and localization in the healthcare and pharmaceutical space does not just lead to business opportunities, but also opportunities to create safer and more effective care for Brazilians.

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The 1970’s: The Beginnings

The 1970s is where video game localization really comes into play. Japanese developers were looking to break into the American market and this drove them to start thinking about localization.

One of the most famous examples comes from the internationally popular video game PacMan. The Japanese name was initially thought of as “Puck Man” (pronounced ‘pakkuman’), but when localizing the product for the US market, they decided to change the name to avoid the name being misspelled or misused with another word that could be offensive or inappropriate.

1980s: Initial stages of localization

The 1980s is where we see the initial stages of video game localization beginning. During the 1980s, games started to be localized, but there was a lack of awareness of the importance of using native and specialized linguists. As a result, this stage was the funniest, or one could say tragicomic, in terms of localization. This is essentially because you see completely incorrect translations, some of which still exist today and continue to be referred to.

The translation of packaging and documentation became standard practice in the gaming industry for publishers who understood that this small investment could help them increase their revenue in international markets. Super Mario Bros was distributed with packaging and documentation translated into German, French, Spanish, Italian, and Dutch—although the in-game text remained in English.

1990s: Demand grows

In the 1990s many games began to see their text translated on screen, and departments and companies that specialized in video game localization began to open. We were not only getting the box and docs translated, but we were also seeing the localization of the user interface and subtitles for the cinematics.  

This was huge for international audiences, because they could now immerse themselves in the game in their own language. Localization made video games more accessible to so many more players.

Some games from the 1990s are particularly memorable because they went as far as recording the voiceovers in other languages. Baldur’s Gate was one of the first RPGs that was localized and dubbed into other languages. 

By the end of the nineties, revenues doubled in the gaming industry, and more than half of that growth came from the results driven by localization. 

2000s: Localization established

We are calling this stage “localization established”, because in the early 2000s there were technological improvements to facilitate the localization process. This is when video games started to be dubbed in different languages with actors. It was also around this time when video games started to be published in a variety of languages.

This was the birth of what is known as ‘sim-ship’, publishers were simultaneously shipping the games in a variety of languages to be released on the same date in all of its language variants.

Nowadays, localization is an essential process in the development of a video game and many companies now have an exclusive team of professionals dedicated to localization and testing. There are also increasingly sophisticated tools available to coordinate and ensure quality during the localization process.

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Let’s break down exactly what gamification is and how to use gamification in e-learning.

What is Gamification?

The term gamification refers to the usage of the mechanics, dynamics, game thinking, and aesthetics found in games. The objective of this technique is to improve user experiences, as well as boost the motivation and engagement of the user. Because these techniques can blend fun with effectiveness, they’ve found a natural fit in e-learning systems. Gamification can help engage users, motivate actions, promote learning, and encourage them to solve problems. All of which can help the user understand and retain the educational material better. 

What are the Key Elements?

There are several design elements that suit the needs of gamification in e-learning, such as:

1. Point systems
2. Badges
3. Trophies
4. Customization
5. Leader boards

6. Progress levels
7. Progress tracking
8. Challenges
9. Feedback
10. Social engagement loops

All of these elements are intended to encourage the user to engage, boost both motivation and retention, and lead to an overall more positive learning experience. This technique takes advantage of the competition instinct most people possess and encourages productive behavior.

Why Does it Work for E-Learning?

A 2015 study in the Journal of Computer Sciences found that when gamification was offered in an online informatics course, students who enrolled in the gamification version of the course performed better and retained more than those who took the course without gamification techniques included. 

The learning process requires high motivation, which is something gamification design elements can assist with in e-learning systems. Gamification stems from the basic concepts of gaming. A game is a goal-focused activity with reward mechanisms in place, which is what makes playing them so satisfying. By utilizing gamification in e-learning, you can allow the user to undertake specific tasks to achieve a desired goal (which in this case is learning the material). Tracking and rewarding their progress is possible as well, which can help improve motivation and engagement. 

Widening Horizons

One way to create extremely engaging e-learning content is to make training materials available in multiple languages to accommodate your staff’s diverse needs. Allowing employees to learn in their native language can help improve retention and engagement, while simply making learning materials easier to understand and digest. 

When implementing gamification techniques in translated e-learning materials, it’s important to choose a partner with experience in the target language and the subject matter of the educational materials. Being familiar with how games and their mechanics work is important too. In this respect, experience with video game localization and transcreation are crucial to the success of implementing gamification techniques in e-learning materials.

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International Success Depends on Cross-Cultural Appeal

By 2015, the gaming industry posted revenues of $91.5 billion worldwide, dwarfing the box office take of global revenues from movies of $38.3 billion. In recent years, the most successful major titles such as the FIFA franchise, Fortnite, and Grand Theft Auto V, among others, have produced hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue within months of their release (and sustainably throughout their continued lifecycle).

Today’s international blockbuster video games have completely broken down the wall between mainstream culture and the traditional niche of gaming as a sub-culture. This is not to say that gaming sub-culture has faded away or is going to despite gaming becoming a more mainstream phenomenon across demographics of age and gender. Committed communities of superfans have continued to thrive and expand. Internationally, gaming and esports have attained mass appeal, especially among younger fans. A WaPo-U Mass Lowell joint poll found that among Americans age 14-21, almost as many respondents were fans of esports and competitive gaming, 38 percent, as were fans of American professional football (40 percent).

Commitment to cross-cultural appeal is essential to any publisher hoping to compete in the global market; therefore, successful localization is not an “extra” feature that’s nice-to-have, but an absolute requirement for a successful product launch. In short, game localization has become a universal vertical in the industry that is here to stay.

Would games like Fortnite and Grand Theft Auto V have achieved the same preeminent cultural status and sales records if publishers had been short-sighted about localization requirements? Translation of in-game text and voice-overs may be the most important localization task to enable creators to stay true to the characterization and storylines they have worked hard to achieve. It’s also the foundation for all the collateral involved in making the game playable by international players (directions, walkthroughs, guides, etc.) It’s hard to imagine games getting off the ground and gaining a global fan base without careful translation and quality control.

It’s amazing that players in the Bundesliga (the world’s football – a/k/a “soccer”), have been miming celebrations from the game Fortnight after scoring a goal at the same time that elite athletes in United States’ National Football League (an entirely different sport and cultural niche) are celebrating big plays with their own imitations of Fortnite in-game celebrations! Although each is a sports celebration, it is a tribute to the unbelievable cultural and commercial success of the game. It’s hard to imagine how a game could transcend linguistic, cultural, and geographic boundaries across continents without effective localization practices integrated into its development.

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The art of video game localization is more than just converting text word for word into another language. There needs to be a deep understanding of regions, cultural norms, cultural sensitivities, language nuances, and slangs of the target market. Metaphors, idioms, jokes, and sarcasm can be difficult to localize translate from region to region and a good video game translator should be able to catch these issues and fill in the gap. In addition to linguistic skills, excellent translators also understand gaming worlds and cultures knowing terminology and how to localize within that specific genre.

Localization Should be the First Step, Not Last

Video game developers are now designing games with localization in mind. To better reach international markets, developers have started making graphics and texts as editable as possible to avoid additional coding down the line. Large video game publishers will expect localization for all non-audio assets with no written word left untranslated. That’s why developers should avoid hard-coding into the games’ core files. When a game is properly localized, there stands a higher chance of the game to receive higher ratings by players. Gaining higher ratings will increase the popularity of the game and ultimately increased sales.

Immersion Disrupted

Video games are designed to be an immersive experience. They create spatial presence when the user starts to feel like he or she is within the world of the game. Vibrant graphics, environmental accuracy, and a strong narrative all contribute to this immersion. For a moment in time, the player forgets about their true surroundings entirely. Localization builds this experience and is intended to be so fluid, consistent, and natural, as if it’s “invisible” to the player. However, one small error in localization can result in an inharmonious experience, disrupting the player’s connection to the game and quickly pulling them back into the world they had previously escaped.

Translations Gone Wrong and Viral

Unfortunately, translators don’t always get it right and now their mistakes are going viral. There are countless videos, memes, books, and entire websites dedicated to making fun of bad video game localizations. “All your base are belong to us” is a highly popular internet meme that is a screenshot of a poorly translated English phrase found in the opening cutscene of the arcade Zero Wing. One YouTube video featuring the game’s poor localization has accrued over 2.5 million views alone. The bad publicity from a translation mistake gone viral can negatively impact sales and cost companies millions in PR recovery.

Focus on the Latin America Market

A driving force in the emerging industry of video games is the Latin American market. In 2016, a total of 110 million Latin American paying gamers generated $4.1 billion, a year-on-year growth of 20 percent (Newzoo). One of the leading Latin American markets in the world is Mexico with 55.8 million players that will spend $1.6 billion in 2018 (Newzoo). According to Competitive Intelligence Unit (CIU), Mexico’s gaming market will continue to grow at a rate of more than 13 percent. Argentina alone has over 18.5 million gamers that spent $423.4 million in 2017, making it the 25th largest games market in the world (Newzoo). To maximize profits, localization in these markets and their different Spanish variants are particularly important. The revenue from properly localizing to a Latin American market will recoup the investment of utilizing a translation service.

Localization mistakes are often avoidable when developers and publishers invest in the right translation team. Localizing video games, especially when text-heavy, can appear to be a daunting task. However, an expert localization team can make the process streamlined and seamless, expanding the game’s international reach and saving its reputation.

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