Latin America's Games Market Grows Faster Than the World's
372 million players, $8.3 billion in spending and a Brazilian games law of its own. Latin America is one of the fastest-growing games regions, even as Brazil's player count dips for the first time in years.
Most of the world's big games markets are now growing slowly or not at all in players. Latin America is still adding them. According to Newzoo, the region had 372.3 million players in 2025, up 4.5%, and they spent $8.3 billion, up 6.4%, in a region of more than 662 million people.
Newzoo's final count for 2025, published in June 2026, was even stronger, putting Latin America's growth at 9.6%, one of the fastest of any region, behind only the Middle East and Africa. And at the centre of it all is Brazil.
Brazil: the region's engine
Brazil's games market is worth about $2.7 billion, roughly a third of the region's total, according to Newzoo figures. Brazil is also where most of the region's developers are: more than 1,000 of Latin America's 1,200-plus studios.
The annual Pesquisa Game Brasil (PGB), Brazil's biggest player survey, published its 13th edition in April 2026. It surveyed 7,115 people aged 16 to 55 between March 5 and 13, 2026, and found:
- 75.3% of Brazilians play digital games, down from 82.8% in 2025.
- 86.7% count games among their main forms of entertainment, and 80.7% call it their main one.
- The favourite platform is the smartphone (44.1%), then console (24%) and PC (21.1%).
- Women make up 52.8% of players.
- Gen Z (ages 16 to 29) is now the biggest group at 36.5%, overtaking millennials at 33.7%.
The drop comes straight after a record high in 2025, so it looks more like a peak passing than a collapse. And for the people who still play, games matter as much as ever: more than four in five call them their main entertainment.
A law for games
Brazil is one of the few countries with a dedicated law for the games industry. Law 14,852, signed by President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva on May 3, 2024, created a legal framework for electronic games, the so-called Marco Legal dos Games.
The law recognises game development as a creative and technological activity, opens access to public funding and incentives for studios, and separates video games from gambling. For an industry that had long been taxed and treated like a luxury, it was a big symbolic step.
Mobile first, consoles close behind
Across the region, mobile is the fastest-growing segment, up 7.8% in Newzoo's 2025 figures. That matches what you see on the ground: shooters such as Free Fire have enormous followings in Brazil, and local esports leagues fill arenas and streaming charts.
But Brazil also has a strong tradition of local premium games. Horizon Chase Turbo, a love letter to 1990s arcade racers from Porto Alegre studio Aquiris, is one of the best-known Brazilian games of the last decade.
The region now has a major trade show too. gamescom latam, the Latin American edition of Germany's giant show, ran from April 29 to May 3, 2026, at Distrito Anhembi in São Paulo, after drawing more than 131,000 visitors in 2025.
Why it matters
Latin America is one of the few regions where games are still winning new players, and its spending is growing faster than the global average. Its challenges are well known: currency swings, high import taxes on hardware and lower incomes. But the audience is huge, young and passionate.
WGC's take: Brazil's games law and the arrival of gamescom latam are signs that the region is moving from "market" to "industry", a place where games are made, not just played. For the global picture, see our market guide.
What to watch
- PGB 2027 and whether Brazil's player count recovers.
- How the Marco Legal dos Games is used: funding, tax breaks and support for studios.
- Mexican, Argentine and Colombian studios as the region's industry spreads beyond Brazil.