São Paulo, Brazil (April 9, 2020) — Brazil’s Independent Game Festival (BIG Festival), the largest independent games festival in Latin America, announces today that due to Convid-19 pandemic concerns, the conference will, for the first time, take place completely online. BIG Digital Edition 2020 will take place for five days starting on June 22 and continue through June 26, and invites developers, publishers, buyers, and international investors to attend free lectures and book conference meetings online.
BIG Festival has rescheduled its full, physical event, which will now take place on January 27, 2021, through January 31, 2021, at the Frei Caneca Convention Center in São Paulo. BIG Festival brings with it, once again, its three valuable structural pillars — lectures from highly respected games industry professionals, face-to-face business meetings, and the expansive and fan-favorite consumer festival.
Following the trend of major international game festivals, such as Pocket Gamer Connects Digital and GamesBeat Summit, BIG Digital 2020 will remain an important place for developers, publishers and other valuable members of the games industry to connect through a new, online format. “Our matchmaking tool, has been adapted and developed to book and hold online face-to-face meetings,” explains Gustavo Steinberg, Director of BIG Festival and Big Digital. The online edition aims to meet the needs of Brazilian and Latin American developers, whose business networking opportunities were limited amid the cancellation of many essential global trade events.
“BIG Digital will be fundamental to help with the export of games and services from Brazilian game companies. Organizing meetings with publishers, buyers and international investors will be essential to guarantee the growth of the Brazilian game industry, even during this difficult moment that we are all going through. “, says Eliana Russi, executive manager of Brazil Games — the export program created by the Brazilian Independent Game Companies Association, ABRAGAMES, in partnership with Apex-Brasil, the Brazilian Trade, and Investment Promotion Agency.
BIG Festival will announce the complete BIG Digital 2020 program and open registration for both lectures and business meetings at a later date. For more information and updated announcements about BIG Digital 2020 and BIG Festival 2021, please visit the official website at: https://www.bigfestival.com.br
About BIG Festival
BIG Festival, which received more than 20,000 visitors last year, is the largest and most important game festival in Latin America. Since 2012, the event has become a central meeting point for studios to attend lectures and workshops, network, and meet with industry peers to learn more about the business of gaming. BIG has helped hundreds of innovative games from all over the world connect with an international audience. Networking opportunities held at the event generated more than 4,000 meetings between 630 game industry professionals from 34 countries. BIG estimates that more than USD 63 million in games-related business will result over the next 12 months based on these connections.
About Brazil Games
Brazil Games is the export program created by the Brazilian Independent Game Companies Association, ABRAGAMES, in partnership with Apex-Brasil, the Brazilian Trade and Investment Promotion Agency. Our goal is to promote the Brazilian Indie Game industry internationally, developing new business opportunities for our companies. The Brazil Games Program also promotes Brazil as the hub for business in Latin America and invites buyers, investors and publishers for BIG Festival, Brazil’s Independent Games Festival, the most important international indie games festival and the hub for international business in Latin America.
About Apex-Brasil
The Brazilian Trade and Investment Promotion Agency (Apex-Brasil) works to promote Brazilian products and services abroad, and to attract foreign investment to strategic sectors of the Brazilian economy. Apex-Brasil organizes several initiatives aiming to promote Brazilian exports abroad. The Agency´s efforts comprise trade and prospective missions, business rounds, support for the participation of Brazilian companies in major international trade fairs, arrangement of technical visits of foreign buyers and opinion makers to learn about the Brazilian productive structure, and other select activities designed to strengthen the country’s branding abroad. Apex-Brasil also plays a leading role in attracting foreign direct investment (FDI) to Brazil, by working to identify business opportunities, promoting strategic events and providing support to foreign investors interested in allocating resources in Brazil.
