Prior to this, I had never heard of the BIG Business Forum so here is a bit of context:

 BIG Festival (Brazil’s Independent Games Festival) is the biggest independent game festival in Latin America. Every year, BIG exhibits the best independent games in the world. Aside from the festival, there is also the BIG Business Forum, BIG Impact, BIG Playable City, featuring talks, meetings and business round tables. 

Taking place between June 25 and July 3, Sony (read PlayStation) will be one of the 50 international guests (including the likes of Rovio, Bandai Namco, and Square Enix) that will present.

 Last year, the BIG Business Forum attracted more than 1800 professionals from all over Latin America to attend a programme of 123 lectures from both regional and international speakers. This year, the four day schedule of keynotes, lectures and workshops has more of an international flavour than ever before, with companies of all sizes in attendance. 

Sony and gaming companies in general have typically had a hard time breaking into the South American market, due to a less than stellar environment for outside businesses which are taxed heavily. Because of this, costs of games and their consoles have always been astronomically more expensive than what you and I are accustomed to pay. It’s unlikely that such a forum like this would solve any of this, but as more of the world become connected and Sony looks to further expand the reach of PlayStation, being in markets like Brazil and having a good relationship with local businesses (developers) can go a long way towards ensuring grassroots support and a favorable environment to do business should the time come for easier entry into the market.

 In addition to the keynote and lecture content, there will also be a range of options for one-to-one meetings with companies like Google, Autodesk, Unity, Intel and Epic Games. Brazilian developers in attendance will also be able to participate in BIG Starter, where the best single pitch will receive a special award. 

Discuss:

Have you noticed a better presence of PlayStation with PS4 in South American countries or has the situation not improved much?

[Via GameIndustry]