Checking in from Latin America’s Biggest Gaming Event
This week, we’re at the Brazil Game Show in sunny Sao Paulo. It’s a passionate group of fans and consumers alike, drawing crowds upwards of 300,000. And it continues to grow in size, energy and importance each year. It is, by far, the largest gathering of Latin American gamers and this year, Phil Spencer and developers from 343 Industries, Crystal Dynamics, Remedy Entertainment and several others made the trip to South America to experience the excitement first hand. Here’s what we’ve been up to so far.
Brazil Game Show Premier Event
On Wednesday night, we gathered with about 400 lively Xbox fans and media at MuBE, the Brazilian Sculpture Museum. Phil took the stage and spotlighted our games lineup this holiday – Halo 5: Guardians, Rise of the Tomb Raider, Gears of War: Ultimate Edition, to name a few.
And, of course, Forza Motorsport 6, featuring its hero track destination: Rio. Brazil boasts some of the industry’s most supercharged racing fans, and its legacy of Formula 1 champions is unmatched. That’s why Xbox fans at the Premier were stunned when Phil welcomed two-time F1 world champion and two-time Indianapolis 500 winner Emerson Fittipaldi to the stage.
Minutes later 343 Industries’ multiplayer designer, Quinn DelHoyo, revealed the world premiere of a new trailer for Halo: The Fall of Reach, a highly-anticipated animated adaptation of the novel delving into the backstory of the Master Chief and the legendary Blue Team, and showed an in-depth gameplay video of the “Enemy Lines” mission from Halo 5: Guardians.
Our friends at Crystal Dynamics later took the stage and confirmed Rise of the Tomb Raider would include full voiceover in Brazilian Portuguese when it arrives on Nov. 10.
One of the most endearing moments of the night came when Pérsis Duaik discussed working with Xbox on his ID@Xbox title, Aritana and The Harpys Feather. Phil surprised Pérsis on stage with an award for being the very first Brazilian developer to publish on ID@Xbox. See for yourself.
The event dropped a few other cool nuggets, like the first screen of the Brazilian New Xbox One Experience and the full range of bundles we’ll be selling here and around the world. When the stage presentation ended, we joined fans to play games, enjoy a few refreshments and talk shop. From beginning to end, the atmosphere was electric.
“We’ve always known our fans in Brazil and across Latin America were as passionate as any in the world,” Phil told us. “But we were completely blown away by the energy, joy and commitment we saw from fans Wednesday night. It was truly inspiring for me and everyone involved.”
BGS 2015 Day 1
As with other events, BGS 2015 invited journalists, VIPs and industry professionals to the day one opening. The local team put together an entertaining booth experience with special appearances from Lara Croft, Cuphead, Marcus Fenix from Gears of War, and Jago and Hisako from Killer Instinct who showed off in a live battle onstage.
And our friends at Remedy Entertainment shared some good news with Brazilian fans, announcing Quantum Break will have full Brazilian Portuguese localization.
BGS 2015 Day 2
Today the festivities truly kick off as fans and consumers arrive at the show. We’re just starting to experience the enormity of BGS, with long lines to enter the expo center, crowds amassing around popular games, and camera flashes lighting up an already-spectacular conference hall. We’ve also just had a visit from popular YouTubers Felipe Neto (@felipeneto), Pedro Rezende (@rezende_evil), Nilce Moretto (@nilmoretto), Japa (@JapaTV) and Leon Martins (@CdNLeon) among others who just threw down an epic Killer Instinct match on stage in front of thousands of cheering fans. 
BGS officials expect to usher through 100,000 fans per day this weekend and on Monday. It’s been a blast so far, and the party is just getting started.
Check out #XboxBGS for more about Xbox’s presence at this year’s Brazil Game Show and follow @XboxBR for the latest updates.
Obrigado!