Homegrown vernacular social gaming platform WinZO announced the launch of its app in Brazil on Thursday, as gaming companies in the country fear a 400 percent increase in GST.
WinZO will invest $25 million in distribution and branding for more than 100 partner game developers in Brazil.
“We have built a tech stack that caters to over 150 million young users from Bharat today and can be scaled across the world,” said Paavan Nanda, Co-founder of WinZO.
According to IANS, the decision to enter the Brazilian market is motivated by a strategic approach to diversify and address challenges posed to all companies in India by the 400 percent increase in GST.
This move will assist the platform’s partner game developers in exporting games like Carrom, Chess, and Car Race, as well as gaining free access to Brazil, the fourth-largest mobile gaming market with over 90 million users.
According to WinZO, the partner game developers will gain access to the new market and users at no cost in terms of technology, marketing, or distribution.
With approximately 4.6 billion mobile game downloads in 2022, Brazil has seen a significant increase in the popularity of mobile gaming.
The expansion comes as companies look for ways to navigate the challenges posed by a 400% increase in GST, which threatens the survival of most content/IP creators in their early stages and has the potential to catapult India into a global leadership position.
“It is noteworthy that taxation rates globally, including countries such as the US, the UK, Australia, and Germany, are applied to the commissions for casual games of Skill that are treated differently from Fantasy Sports,” said WinZO.
Brazil imposes indirect taxes, such as a municipal tax of 2-5 percent on the commission earned by the company.
WinZO will also launch and represent the first-ever India Pavilion at the Brazil Game Show, Latin America’s largest gaming event, this month.