Phantasy Star: Fringes of Algo

Sony has just launched a gaming console in Brazil. You might think they would introduce their latest tech to a new market, but instead they chose to launch the PlayStation 2. After all these years, that country is only now getting games that came out nearly a decade ago.

What do you think of this? It just doesn't make sense to me. If the Phantasy Star fans from that region are any measure of the gaming community there, there are some very enthusiastic fans around. Why does it take so long for gaming companies to move into this market?

A few theories I have...it's a developing country (if a very stable, rapidly growing one) and the dominant language is neither English nor Japanese (I don't know how big English is in Brazil). But this does make me think...before I head to Botswana, I should do some research on the video game industry there.

If I remember reading correctly, I thought that the Sega Genesis was still big down there.

Don't quote me on that though.

Portuguese is the official language of Brazil. The reasoning behind why they're behind the rest of the planet on game systems and such is because the nation of Brazil doesn't recognize non-Brazilian patents. Which is to say that counterfeits are perfectly legal there.

Sega was the first, and up until now, only company to partner with a Brazillain electronics company, Tec Toy, for legal production and distribution of a game system in that country. And yes, as far as Brazil is concerned the Genesis is still a recent game system.

I’ve also heard rumours that NES games are still being developed in developing-countries too (not by Nintendo obviously) mostly in some parts of South America.

Just goes to show how lucky a lot of us are when it comes to gaming. Oh, well the PS2 is home to a lot of spectacular games (Okami and Final Fantasy XII for example). I’m sure the Brazilians will enjoy the PS2 regardless of what gaming age they live in.

Tweeg wrote:The reasoning behind why they're behind the rest of the planet on game systems and such is because the nation of Brazil doesn't recognize non-Brazilian patents. Which is to say that counterfeits are perfectly legal there.

Ah, so that explains a bit of it. There could already be a knock off system down there that plays PlayStation games and Sony wouldn't be able to do anything about it, then. Still, I'd think if game companies are aware of that patent problem, they could try to file a Brazilian patent on their technology too (unless only natives are allowed to file patents?).

Thoul wrote:

Tweeg wrote:The reasoning behind why they're behind the rest of the planet on game systems and such is because the nation of Brazil doesn't recognize non-Brazilian patents. Which is to say that counterfeits are perfectly legal there.

Ah, so that explains a bit of it. There could already be a knock off system down there that plays PlayStation games and Sony wouldn't be able to do anything about it, then. Still, I'd think if game companies are aware of that patent problem, they could try to file a Brazilian patent on their technology too (unless only natives are allowed to file patents?).

Perhaps that's why Sony decided to release the PS2 in Brazil after all of these years--in order to bring the distribution of counterfeit systems that could play PS2 games to a halt.

I was reading up on this a little and one factor is apparently the import tax on electronics is very high in Brazil. The PS2 will be selling for over $400 US because of this - 4x the US sticker price. It wouldn't be practical to import the PS3 or 360 if the math works out the same.

Hey orakio_rob - if you spot this thread please share the inside scoop with us.

Thoul wrote:Sony has just launched a gaming console in Brazil. You might think they would introduce their latest tech to a new market, but instead they chose to launch the PlayStation 2. After all these years, that country is only now getting games that came out nearly a decade ago.

What do you think of this? It just doesn't make sense to me. If the Phantasy Star fans from that region are any measure of the gaming community there, there are some very enthusiastic fans around. Why does it take so long for gaming companies to move into this market?

They're in for a world of disappointment when they get their hands on Phantasy Star Universe... -_-

I'm not a big console fan, so I'm not much into that, but Play Station 3 has been around there in Brazil before the starting date of the thread. People have Play Station 2 for years, but it is still being sold because it is cheap and mostly because people by illegal copies of the games for $1.

In fact, the game market here is very warm and many people buy the new consoles (Wii, XBox 360 and PS3). The problem is that the taxes are too high for imports, so many people buy both consoles and games directly from foreign stores, using some breaches in the customs (they scan only a small percentage of the stuff that comes to Brazil by mail, except for drugs that they scan everything), or even in other countries during travels and bringing them to Brazil.

Both PS and PS2 where huge here because of the "pirate" games. On the other hand, N64 was a huge disappointment, because the game cartdriges cost 10 times more than a "pirate" CD.