Wii to tango with Latin America in December, price is high
by James Ransom-Wiley 
{ Aug 7th 2006 at 4:55PM }
During a recent games convention in São Paulo, Brazil (pictured), a representative of Lamatel (Nintendo's Latin American distributor) announced that Wii will be released in Brazil during the first week of December to the tune of 1,400–1,500 Brazilian reais (roughly $640–$690). Ouch! That smarts more than a hot Brazilian wax! Not that we ... I mean ... it was just a team bonding experience ... it's not like ... oh, never mind.But seriously, at that rate, who's buying? Just import. Of course, you may want to add some games to that overseas order. So far, only Twilight Princess is confirmed for launch in Brazil.
[Link in Portuguese; Google translation; via NeoGAF]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Abbas @ Aug 7th 2006 5:00PM
America! Fuck yeah!
tactics @ Aug 7th 2006 5:01PM
even as a die-hard nintendo fanboy, i can't even imagine why they want that much for wii down there... that seems beyond ridiculous, doesn't it? wow.
-"superfan" tactics.
PayTheMan @ Aug 7th 2006 5:11PM
Different market. In Brazil you're either extremely rich or living in extreme poverty.
Paul P. @ Aug 7th 2006 5:12PM
It will be just as "more expensive" for the other consoles as well. People in non-american/western Europe/Australia/Japan get screwed over.
I think the PS3 will cost something like $1500 in Israel.
007craft @ Aug 7th 2006 5:12PM
You guys are obviously ignorant to the Brazilian Piracy scene. Use any P2p program, download any torrent, download any piece of software piracy, and Brazil has 10x as many pirates leeching the stuff then any other country. Brazil is the #1 country in the world when it comes to Piracy.
It only makes sense to sell the system for that much there. How long do you think it will take to hack/mod a wii? You can already play copied 360 games, the Wii will be just as quick if not quicker to break. Nintendo is smart because they know if they release the system at a low price there and take a loss on the hardware, they are never gonna make it back through the software over there.
vidGuy @ Aug 7th 2006 5:12PM
Is the PS3 available? I have 4,000 Brazilian reais burning a hole in my Pelé jersey.
tactics @ Aug 7th 2006 5:24PM
interesting stuff! as accused, i know absolutely nothing about the scene in brazil. thanks guys!
-"superfan" tactics.
Paul @ Aug 7th 2006 5:24PM
Only comments from people who don't know shit about Brazil could be even more stupid than the price announced for the brazillian market.
Try to learn about the subject you want to comment, instead of assuming led by what you see on TV.
Paul - directly from Brazil.
Chris Remo @ Aug 7th 2006 5:26PM
Might it not have been informative and relevant to perhaps do a few moments' worth of research on what other consoles cost in Brazil, to provide some kind of context?
Geist @ Aug 7th 2006 5:27PM
Everything's relative, remember. I'd personally like to hear from a Brazillian, about what they think of this price. Is it expensive compared to wages and other purchasables?
Baboon @ Aug 7th 2006 5:35PM
Seconded. If the Wii costs that much down there, I would be very interested to see how much the PS3 is gonna go for (and the 360). Paul, you said you are from Brazil- get on it! ;)
Roberto @ Aug 7th 2006 5:37PM
I am brazilian and I must say that we suffer... What would you expect from a country where Master System is still being sold at US$ 90? The problem is that import taxes are very high.
Lobato @ Aug 7th 2006 5:45PM
If you import it (assuming it will ship at US$250), you'd end up paying US$400. Even if you add some US$100 shipping from USA, it's still cheaper to import.
Most of the consoles sold in brazil are simply smuggled from Paraguay anyways...
BTW, you do realize that Tango has absolutely nothing to do with Brazil, right?
Roberto @ Aug 7th 2006 5:54PM
@ 007craft
It would be cheaper if the console was manufactured onshore. The price is boosted by import taxes, not piracy.
In the past Nintendo's partnered with a local company called Gradiente in order to manufacture the old NES in Brazil and the console (locally called Phantom System) was sold at a reasonable price.
Paul @ Aug 7th 2006 5:54PM
In a country where a PS2 still costs about R$1.000 (about US$430)in a FNAC or other big store, that price isn't really that high. A game for the Gamecube costing R$250, more than US$100, is common place as well.
That's why the real videogame market in Brazil is led on black market of consoles(imported withought paying taxes and sold pre-modded on eBay like websites) and pirate games, that can be bought on any corner of every major city.
The only prices that are plausible, are for PC games. You can find games selling for the very same price practiced in USA or Europe, but the bottom line, is you need to spend at least US$800 for a low-end PC that can barely run games released last year.
A mainstream gaming PC can't be build for less than US$1500, which is what most of the brazillian population gets on a whole year.
That's the current state of the videogame industry in this country, mostly led by abusive taxing of the governament, and no incentives for the industry to stabilish here. That leaves us gamers, with few options. And that's also the reason piracy and black market are so big here.
Myself, every console, handheld and game I own is imported from Europe, because I lived there once, and have friends that can send me stuff.
Geraldo Figueras @ Aug 7th 2006 5:57PM
Ok, I'll try to expalin a little bit about how's gaming going in Brazil.
First, the market here has a lot of potentioal. Problem is, politics, as usual, are all fucked up around here. The videogame taxes are the highest in the country. If you want to import any kind of game from anywhere, you have to pay 60% of taxes of the game cost + shipping costs. If you wish to distribute games officially here, it's even higher: 104%!
Of course, you can imagine how the prices end up being.
Another interesting fact, is that pratically no one buy consoles and games on autorized stores, thus absolutelly few will buy a Wii for $650. The best deals comes in brazillian eBay (called Mercado Livre), and systems imported through Paraguay (Paraguay has no taxes for import, so a lot of people cross the border to bring eletronics to sell in Brazil).
As I said before, the gaming market here tends to be huge, but piracy doesn't help eitgher. Actually, we are behind China, being #2 in the ranking nowadays. Mexico used to be second, but things got better latelly with Microsoft producing Xboxes inside the country.
Back to piracy, check out the amount of unlicensed copies being played in 2004, according to study of IDG Consulting:
PC - 89%
XBX - 97%
NGC - N/D
PS1 - 100%
PS2 - 97%
GBA - 88%
Things will hopefully get better now that Microsoft is bringing Xbox 360 officially to Brazil. Unlike Nintendo, the consoles will be build here, so the prices won't be as high as those that Nintendo announced. Nintendo act here as the major importer, and sales tend to be very low.
These are the average prices of consoles and games being sold on Mercado Livre and through Paraguay distributors:
Gamecube - U$220
PS2 slim - U$280
Xbox - U$350
Xbox 360 - U$740
launch title to any platform, sealed: U$100
DS Phat - U$210
DS Lite - U$300
PSP - U$330
Someone here asked what do we think about those prices? Well, personally, I think they are unpayable. What most people do is save money to buy the console, and never buy an original release, just keep downloading them thru Mininova and the likes. I have another way, wich is buying directly thru eBay and trying to skip taxes, since there are some "underground" ways to do that. But Im pratically alone in that.
Hope that helps, everyone!
Lobato @ Aug 7th 2006 5:57PM
#10: A smuggled 360 is sold at about R$1400 (and some guys even include modding in that). Regular stores (like FNAC) sell it for R$2500 with a game included (that's like US1150).
Import taxes in Brazil are REALLY heavy. They simply encourage smuggling.
Jigster @ Aug 7th 2006 6:00PM
It's all very simple: video game consoles are on the wrong tax bracket down here in Brazil. It's on the same category as gambling machines, so the taxes for these are outrageous. Apart from that, there's the shipping & handling, the vendors' profits... and Latamel (the company which will bring Wii and DS Lite to Brazil) is Nintendo's commercial representative here. Just as they are for other products too.
Anyway, this is just way too expensive, and this will only be solved when the tax law is corrected. :(
Roberto @ Aug 7th 2006 6:01PM
Eh galera, a vida eh dura aqui...
vakerorokero @ Aug 7th 2006 6:02PM
The problem with latin america (and Mexico) is that Nintendo doesn't handle the business but third parties, and they charge whatever they want which normally is more than Twice the price. Here in Mexico, the Xbox360 is $100 more than the U.S. Gamecube games from the Official Distributors (GAMELA) cost $70 during the first year and cost $40 after the get the Player's Choice branding. That's Why everyone plays Playstation since you can pirate every game. I Like Nintendo so I gotta put up with these prices unless I import them from the U.S. at normal american price (half of Mexican pesos price).
Luiz (just that) @ Aug 7th 2006 6:07PM
Roberto,to contigo cara
Gabriel Koscky @ Aug 7th 2006 6:21PM
From Brazil I report:
In major retailers, these are the current prices for consoles:
Xbox 360 - R$2.499,00
PS2 Slim - R$699,00
Gamecube - R$839,00
PSP - R$899,00
DS Phat - R$699,00
DS Lite - R$ 799,00
[prices may vary (a whole fsking lot) between retailers]
So, if I recall correctly, the XBox and PS2 were released over (ou nearly) R$2000,00... and the Gamecube around R$1500,00.
That way, I am not suprised at all with this pricetag, it's actually lower than I was expecting, since previous interviews with the Nintendo rep for Latin america stated a R$1600,00+ price.
This is, actually, extremely expensive considering that the current minimal wage is of R$350,00 per month. These products suffer extremely high import taxes (around 80% of their value), what raises the cost to bring consoles to Brazil, add to that the transport companies and retailers profits, plus pure raw lack of decency and voilà a R$1500 hi-tech wallet rapping is ready to go.
And then people ask themselves why south america, specially Brazil, don't get ahead... everything is freaking expensive, we just can't buy things.
I recently bought FIFA world cup 2006 for my NGC.. R$200. Thats over half my part-time job salary. No good.
No wonder piracy in Brazil is extremely powerful. If games costed here what they cost there in America, people wouldn't pirate them. Really, they wouldn't... but when you are underpaid and things are overcharged, piracy is the solution.
Said scenary, but true.
So this price tag is absolutely normal from what I've already seen here in Brazil... I won't be surprised with the PS3 beeing launched at over R$3300,00... I'm willing to place a bet, really.. I am...
Gabriel
(BTW: WE DON'T FREAKING TANGO IN BRAZIL. THAT'S ARGENTINA'S TRADITIONAL DANCE... IF YOU DO WANT TO STEREOTYPE US PUT SOME SAMBA UP THERE)
TavoElTico @ Aug 7th 2006 6:41PM
wow... quite expensive, i piracy or not. here in costa rica u can buy ps2 games with 1000 colones (US$2), of course they are copied games, legal games cost about 20000 and thats like 40 bucks, but almost no one buys those. consoles are the ones that are more expensive. a gamecube costs 60000, thats around 120, not to bad either :D
Cristian @ Aug 7th 2006 7:44PM
It should be noted that in some parts of Latin America (which I THINK it includes Brazil), they use the PAL television system, while in other parts (Chile, for example), they use the NTSC system.
ReyBrujo @ Aug 7th 2006 7:46PM
Down here in Argentina, a PS2 is currently at USD 275. New Xbox 360 were sold in auction sites at USD 900. Currently, a new one is at USD 750. Note that these are auction values, retail ones are usually higher. Luckily I import everything myself, and can buy a DS Lite for USD 150 after taxes, and games for USD 40.
JoseMiguel @ Aug 7th 2006 8:24PM
F*** No thanks.
Thankfully I live just around the corner to Puerto Rico, which is where I'm going to Import Mine.
Gee, not even here (Dominican Republic) With a paradise for piracy and ho's have consoles that expensive.
Ndric @ Aug 7th 2006 8:26PM
And here I thought Brazil was a decent country...
boots @ Aug 7th 2006 8:41PM
vakerorokero, either you got ripped off, or you got your numbers wrong:
I also live in Mexico (Mexico City, to be precise), and I bought my Xbox 360 in Liverpool (Department Store, everyone), with an HDD, a wireless controller and a one year warranty (something you don't get in the states). All for just $4999.99 mexican pesos, TAX INCLUDED; let me remind you that the dollar has been really close to the $11.49 pesos level lately, so that's 434.78 dollars, approximately. Even if it was 11 for each dollar (it is not), it would cost 454 dollars, even when it has a 1-year warranty. Remember that americans also have to pay taxes, and I don't think they pay less than 20 bucks for each 360, just on Taxes. And for the games, Game Planet sells the most expensive 360 games at 699 pesos, which is about 65 dollars, TAX INCLUDED. That's the same price you get in the states.
In conclusion, The prices are a lot better than Nintendo or Sony prices (for consoles and games, that is) in Mexico, and very similar to the ones in the states. The downside is that Xbox 360 still needs some decent games for every genre, let alone being a reliable machine (I just had to send mine to repair, hopefully the warranty applied, but that never happened to any console I owned before, and I've had Nintendo, Sega and Sony's consoles).
And I'm writing in english so that everyone knows what we're talking about.
galactic999 @ Aug 7th 2006 9:06PM
I live in El Salvador, and well video game console prices are usually twice as much than in the US in some retailers, i remember the xbox and ps2 were sold for about $900 the GC for about $400, the games where always $70-80, but latelly prices have dropped a lot, the 360 is about $600 the premium one , i know still alot but from $900 to $600 is something, at least now games are sold from $35 to $60.. so yeah sucks being a videogame fan in latinamerica...
ipodfanboy @ Aug 7th 2006 9:27PM
In the South American country of Guyana its 200 guyanese dollars to one American Dollar. My cousin had recently purchased an xbox360 over there but it cost more then what he makes half a year, In guyana an xbox360 cost somewhere between 80,000 to 100,000 guyanese dollars, only colombian drug runners can afford that. No wonder people in Latin America play old generation consoles if anything they are either playing ps2 or GBA games on those two platforms are easy to pirate.
Gabriel Koscky @ Aug 7th 2006 9:50PM
@27
Sad part is that, yes (at least in Brazil) the majority of players are playing ONLY PS2 pirated games... many of them have never even heard of gamecube...
They think PlayStation = videogame.... Sad but true.
We can find pirate copies of games in shopping malls, for crying out loud... that's just simply absurd...
I for one have many pirate Pc games.. I don't like it, but I just buy the games that are worth it, like Age Of Empires (i have the whole series) and Half-Life (agin, 1 and 2)... I just CAN'T afford buyin all the games I want to play, and bear in mind that I'm not poor... and my part time job pays more that the minimal wage.
ipodfanboy @ Aug 7th 2006 11:35PM
many of them have never even heard of gamecube...
They think PlayStation = videogame.... Sad but true.
I agree number 28 and its true, most gamers in Latin America know only about the playstation as a video gaming console. My friends mom sent a gamecube to Guyana and when the gamecube got to guyana they could not find no pirated games for, it was a waste and they sent the gamecube back to America but when they sent down a ps2 they were pirated ps2 games via brazil all over the place. From what my other latin American friends told me when it comes to nintendo most south American people would know about the NES SNES gameboy and GBA Mention n64 or gamecube they would ask what is that. from sony its the playstation 1 and 2. Back to Guyana the average person makes about 8-12 u.s dollars a day hardly nobody cant afford to play games unless you have family abroad or associated in the colombian drug trade. Luckly for my family they are well educated and got descent jobs back home so they earn a little extra, for some they play past generation gaming. This is why when the WII comes out im sending down my gamecube to south America with a couple of games i have never finished or touched in a while. By doing this i cant put a smile on gamers faces while making Che Guevara happy!
Ubersnuber @ Aug 8th 2006 3:31AM
OMG!
And i thought the taxes in Norway sucked! :O
average monthly income here are 4.6k (2004)
And to be honest, if the PS3 surpassed 700 dollars, i would wait for a price drop.
My point in this BS: Why do the shops even bother to try to sell consoles? just curious
Gabriel Koscky @ Aug 8th 2006 6:21AM
'cause we buy it. And also, auction sites sell the consoles at a lower price... sometimes half the price of these shops. I know people who have 2 or 3 consoles, with many original games for them.... I for one have a Gamecube and 3 original games, that's nearly R$1600,00 spent in vg. Of couse, that's in 3 years since I bought the console... I just can't afford more than 1 game a year
Manoel Neto @ Aug 8th 2006 12:43PM
The sad part is that in Brazil the prices are actually lower for richier people. Take a DS lite for example:
1) In a shopping mall (where anyone can walk into):
~320.0 USD
2) In auction sites (only for those who can use the internet):
~240.0 USD
3) Directly importing from the USA (only for those with international credit cards AND an internet connection):
~170.0 USD
Now the catch is: you need to meet a minimun income requirement before you can apply for an international CC.Not to mention the added knowledge one needs to get their imported goods without the 60% govt' extorsion.
icantdrawanime @ Aug 8th 2006 1:54PM
So, if we extrapolate from this... wii is roughly 2x gamecube price in Brazil. And gamecube costs 80 bucks in America... We'll get the wii for 160....... WIIIII!!!
Yuri Huitron Alvarado @ Aug 9th 2006 1:40AM
tango ...with LatinoAmérica?
Brazil in Central America?
come on!
"LatinoAmérica" is not as depicted in many hollywood movies and news programs is not composed by homogeneous countries, but by many diverse cultures ,sometimes only sharing the language.
the Tango is not the only style in spanish-spoken countries.
Come on , open some books guys, don't use stereotypes with spanish-spoken countries.
An Brazil is in South America
SStorm @ Aug 9th 2006 1:50AM
Brasil sux
df @ Aug 9th 2006 3:17AM
Wow. and i tought we had high prices for games in Mexico
Yrian @ Aug 9th 2006 8:52AM
This is about a release in Brazil, right? What's the tango in the title then, bozos?
Yuri Huitron Alvarado @ Aug 9th 2006 12:42PM
Yran is right, the tango is from French-Argentina, it has nothing to do with Brazil as the balalaika with Boston
Vinícius Silva @ Aug 15th 2006 7:44PM
Tango is from Argentina and we don't like it here in Brazil! Hehehe...
Brazilian taxes are REALLY HIGH (about 60%). I will import anyway because still better than Lamatel prices.
It's really hard to buy games here.
leo prieto @ Oct 16th 2006 11:52PM
Just to add the Chilean side to your post (as you state in your title, this is about Latin America, but you only talk about Brazil).
Wii is already available for pre-order in Chile for Ch$259,900 which is around US$481 (at Falabella). Not as high as Brazil, but almost double what you're gonna be paying in the States!
Delivery date is currently November 19th, which is good.