Games and IT

Rio Grande do Sul has currently more than 80 digital game companies, and is the second largest center of game companies in Brazil, after São Paulo. Most of them are micro and small companies located in the regions of Porto Alegre, Gravataí, Viamão, Canoas, Novo Hamburgo, São Leopoldo, Caxias do Sul, Pelotas and Santa Maria.

The Association of Digital Game Developers (ADJogosRS), which represents most of the sector in Rio Grande do Sul, has approximately 30 member companies, and is the largest regional association of its kind in Brazil. In 2016, the total turnover of ADJogosRS member companies reached R$ 8.5 million, an increase of 30% compared to 2015, and an increase of 183% compared to data collected in 2013, when the association was founded. Regarding business opportunities, 70% of the companies are involved in some sort of negotiation.

In 2016 the member companies had a strong production performance with 81 games developed: 35% focused on the delivery of services and 65% of games developed by the companies. In 2016, 265 people worked in ADJogosRS member companies: 25% partners, 45% employees and 30% freelancers.

The sector is actively seeking to join global value chains. Companies from Rio Grande do Sul are already working in partnership with international giants like Sony, Rovio, Cartoon Network, Nickelodeon and Warner. In 2014, the installation of the first game produced in Rio Grande do Sul on Playstation 4 console was approved by Sony, and 40 thousand copies of the game have been sold so far.

In an effort to keep up with global trends and markets, 80% of ADJogosRS member companies had the opportunity to attend national events in 2016. They attended at least six major events of the segment: Bring (five companies), BIG (11 companies), BGS (seven companies), SBGames (10 companies), Unite (seven companies) and DASH Games (23 companies).

Another important fact disclosed in the report of ADJogosRS member companies concerns the formation of these companies: 13 of them originated in college environments, and 27% were established by professionals graduated in Digital Games: 40% of these professionals graduated from Feevale, 17% from Unisinos, 17% from Uniritter, 17% from PUCRS and 9% from other educational institutions. In Rio Grande do Sul, Feevale, Unisinos, UniRitter and PUCRS offer undergraduate and postgraduate courses in the area. Moreover, in partnership with the State Government, ADJogosRS coordinates a cluster focused on Digital Games.

TICs, Smart Cities and IoT

Supported by a large research, development and innovation structure - anchored in universities, parks and technological centers – Rio Grande do Sul has many qualified Information and Communications Technology (ICT) professionals.

In addition to the initiatives directly linked to universities and their parks and incubators, it is worth highlighting some cases of successful partnerships between state initiatives and large multinationals in the sector:

• GetNet, a company of the segment of payment technologies and solutions, is a successful business case in Rio Grande do Sul. Founded in 2003, GetNet started with only nine employees and was sold to Santander in 2014, for R$ 1.1 billion when 4 thousand people worked in the company. In 2016, more than 1.7 billion transactions were made by the company and it has more than 700 thousand accredited points of sales throughout Brazil.
• Huawei, a Chinese multinational in the ICT sector, maintains the Smart City Innovation Center at Tecnopuc, in Porto Alegre. The center is involved in research and development of solutions related to smart cities and the Internet of Things (IoT).
• German SAP, a world leader in the software segment, has been maintaining SAP Labs Latin America, since 2006, at Tecnosinos, in São Leopoldo. With approximately 650 employees, SAP was considered the best IT company to work for in 2014 by Você S/A magazine and the 7th best company to work for in Brazil, among all industry segments, in 2015, by Institute Great Place to Work. In 2017, SAP announced its decision to invest more than R$ 40 million in the center over the next five years, generating 600 new jobs.

Sector opportunities in Rio Grande do Sul

• The game industry of Rio Grande do Sul offers opportunities for international partnerships for game production - demo or full version. Rio Grande do Sul has an interesting network of small talented game producers who can benefit from international partnerships with investors in new games and/or international publishers that can take the games produced here to large markets.

Business opportunities for partnerships

Look for local opportunities.