WinZO announced the launch of its app in Brazil. This move will help the platform’s 100+ partner game developers export games such as Carrom, Chess, Car Race etc, and gain free access to Brazil, the fourth-largest mobile gaming market with over 90 million users. This expansion initiative is a testament to WinZO's commitment to creating and enabling world-class gaming technologies that are 'Made in Bharat’ and exported to the global markets.
The initiative makes WinZO the first major gaming platform from India to enable the export of technologies and IP by over 100 Indian game developers. The partner game developers will get access to the new market and users without any cost of technology, marketing, and distribution. WinZO intends to invest $25 million to expand and build the Brazil gaming market which will allow further growth opportunities for export of computing, technology, and consumer tech from India.
Commenting on this milestone, Paavan Nanda, Co-founder of WinZO, stated, "It’s imperative to acknowledge that the realm of the online gaming industry extends far beyond entertainment; it plays a pivotal role in shaping the trajectory of emerging technologies. WinZO is committed to developing a Made in Bharat consumer tech product that resonates with and caters to the interactive entertainment needs of young users worldwide. We have built a tech stack that caters to over 150 million young users from Bharat today and can be scaled across the world.”
Brazil, the largest economy in Latin America, has witnessed a significant surge in the popularity of mobile gaming with about 4.6 billion mobile game downloads in 2022. India and Brazil, both members of BRICS, have a shared objective of enhancing cooperation and trade among member countries and WinZO’s expansion into Brazil aims to build upon this collaboration by extending it to the realm of technology. This expansion will contribute to the development of peripheral sectors such as payments, the gig. economy, and the creator economy of Brazil while also creating significant employment opportunities.
The expansion comes at a pivotal moment in India’s Gaming ecosystem as companies explore ways to steer through challenges posed by a 400% hike in the GST, which threatens the survival of most content/ IP creators in their nascent stages which have the potential to catapult India into a leadership position within the global gaming arena and replace behemoths like Google and Facebook that originated in the West.
It is noteworthy that taxation rates globally, including countries such as the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, and Germany, are applied to the commissions for casual games of Skill that are treated differently from Fantasy Sports. They levy tax rates of 6.75%, 21%, and 19%, respectively, on commission fees. Brazil levies indirect taxes such as 2-5% as municipal tax, applicable to the commission earned by the company. The right taxation policies will help India’s gaming industry expand its footprint in the global gaming ecosystem by investing cash flow in technology and innovation. In 2020, MEITY announced the establishment of a dedicated gaming center to encourage game development in India. WinZO will continue to work closely with policymakers in India to make a strong case for an globally competitive and conducive environment for the Gaming Sector to help India become a global technology and innovation leader
This month, WinZO will also launch and represent the first-ever India Pavilion at the Brazil Game Show, the largest gaming show in Latin America. This will enable the representation of game developers from India to the global gaming ecosystem and showcase their games to a global audience. The company plans to further expand its collaborations with game developers, to export their games to the remotest corners of the world.