MCV/DEVELOP News, events, research and jobs from the games industry
The emerging market of Portugal is more developed than others in its category.
The nation is home to a healthy retail and distribution landscape, with plenty of specialists and electronics chains. Some companies are even supplied via distributors in neighbouring Spain.
However, the country has been hit severely by the ongoing effects of the recession and the High Street has suffered for it. Global giant GameStop, for example, no longer has any operations in Portugal.
Portugal has been facing a very steep crisis in the last couple of years that has produced significant reduction of market value and changes on the consumers’ purchase behaviours,” says Rui Videira, communication manager at distributor Ecoplay.
These changes have significantly affect retail, with some stores and even retailers closing down. 2013 will continue this negative trend and the console transition will only make this worse.
Despite all these challenges, and due to the innovative nature of the Portuguese people, Portugal is a territory that has showed that innovative and well-marketed game concepts can quickly gather traction and produce good results.”
Titles that offer the best results include family-focused titles, with a strong install base for dedicated gaming portables such as DS and PSP in the region.
The difficult economical situation and decline in household consumption is affecting both the hardware and software markets, with declines of around 30 per cent in revenue,” says Sony Computer Entertainment’s senior business intelligence manager Alvaro Escorial.
But the efforts of video games companies to introduce a family entertainment ideal to the Portuguese market were greatly successful. Family entertainment is definitely consolidated in the Portuguese market, which represents a clear opportunity for both publishers and retailers.”
PORTUGAL: THE FACTS
Population: 10,581,949
Currency: Euro
GDP (Per Capita): $19,768
Capital City: Lisbon
Languages: Portuguese
KEY RETAILERS
Worten, GAME, MediaMarkt, Fnac, Auchan, Radio Popular, Toys R Us, Pingo Doce, El Corte Ingls
MAIN DISTRIBUTOR
Ecoplay, Infocapital, Koch Media, Namco Bandai
TOP DEVELOPERS
Biodroid Productions, BSure Interactive, Ignite Games, Seed Studios, Vortix Games Studio
PUBLISHERS WITH A LOCAL OFFICE
Sony, Nintendo, Microsoft, EA, Namco Bandai
