Nintendo out of Brazil

[briareos_kerensky]

Nintendo has announced it will be retreating from the Brazilian market, citing high import taxes.
During the PS4 launch Sony had a similar problem, with the price of the console priced around 1800 US dollars in the same market.

Nintendo's relationship with Brazil hasn't been particularly smooth, however, as they refused to comply with a local regulation that prevent the use of certain credit cards that charge users in US dollars but show local currency.
An other factor might be that Brazilian players already rely on import, as consoles are the same region as American and Canadian models, so revenue being too low to continue official operation there.

[Nu-Eclipse]

Saw this story yesterday.

Can't really place any blame at Nintendo's door for this one - the taxes placed on video games in Brazil are ridiculously exorbitant. I'd be surprised if Sony and MS didn't follow suit and pull their consoles out of the country (if they haven't already done so).

[Sketcz]

They should have licensed to domestic companies like Sega did with TecToy. That was profitable for both companies, and the deal lasted even beyond Sega pulling out of the hardware market. I recall TecToy operated out of a special zone in Brazil which was tax free.

Another factor of their success relates to an exceptional regional anomaly. The Brazilian government in 1967 created a Free Economic Zone in the state of Amazonas, called "Zona Franca de Manaus." The region was intended to be exempt from several taxes, including importing and industrial tax, thereby enabling new industries to form and grow, hopefully boosting the economy. It was in this area that TecToy built manufacturing plants, and later also the Daniel Dazcal Foundation in Manuas city. Arnhold elaborated, "Basically all consumer electronics are assembled in the Industrial Pole of the Free Zone of Manaus, due to tax incentives, and TecToy chose to have its plant there for the same reason."

Nintendo, Sony and Microsoft can't be very smart if they're trying to brute force the market by exporting their goods into Brazil, rather than taking advantage of local businesses which can do the above. Too bad Sega wasn't as smart as that with its other ventures.

[briareos_kerensky]

Nintendo relied on a Brazilian company for distribution, Gaming do Brazil, a subsidiary of Juegos de Video Latinoam?rica; JdVL handle distribution in all of Centra and South America.