“Nobody knew it was possible to make games in Brazil.”
Saulo Camarotti founded Behold Studios, one of Brazil's longest running developers, over 15 years ago. The studio is best known for the RPG Knights of Pen & Paper from 2012 and the sequel Galaxy of Pen and Paper from 2017. But when it started, starting a game business in Brazil was not common.
“We tried to get to international events like GDC or Gamescom, we tried to present our games – and for most publishers it was a big surprise,” recalls Camarotti. “They weren't so happy with the new studios.Game industry [in Brazil] was quite new at the time. So we were a bit prejudiced and it was difficult for them to invest in the country.
“Even 15 years later, I think it's still wild for some to invest in game production in Latin America. But publishers in the last five [or] we've been getting used to the scene for ten years, we're getting used to working with Brazilians, so it's a good thing.”
Brazil doesn't yet have a AAA industry, Camarotti notes, although it does have “big studios.” They just don't necessarily produce AAA content – if they do, it's often work-for-hire with Western studios – but rather focus on free-to-play mobile.
“We don't have a workforce that comes from AAA and goes to other companies and improves the quality of game production,” he says. “So, for example, I live in Toronto, Canada. And I see that students who come out of universities will work for Ubisoft or AAA, so they get experience and sometimes open their own studios. And here in Brazil we open studios out of necessity – there is no one to hire us.
“That was my case. 15 years ago I graduated in computer science, I wanted to work with games and in my hometown Brasilia – a huge city [of] three million people – I had no one to employ me, no company, no business. So I had to open my own.”
The studio's first iteration as a developer-for-hire was founded in 2009, but closed in 2011 before rising from the ashes to become what it is today.
“At the time, everyone was saying, 'You should do work for hire,'” Camarotti recalls. “So I started doing some 'advergames' and serious games, or even co-dev – at least I tried to. And for the first two years it was okay, but not necessarily good enough to continue. So we decided to close studio.”
Camarotti eventually formed a new team of four with former employees who wanted to continue making games, and adopted a “very independent approach to game development”.
“That's when we started Knights of Pen and Paper; six months later we were top of the line in the App Store and Google Play. And it was like, 'Oh, okay, so we can make our own games, we can make our own IP'.” So that's what we started to focus on.”
What has changed, Camarotti adds, is a focus on projects they truly believed in, rather than chasing a “money” business trend.
“That changed everything. Every time we start a new project and realize that we're only doing it because it's good for the market or some external motivation, it doesn't turn out well. But if we look inside, try to find things that really make us they get excited, that's when it shines, so I think we've learned that.”
The studio's latest project is Cosplay Club, another turn-based RPG, but this time it focuses on becoming a cosplayer. It was released in Early Access in December 2023 and was funded in just two hours via a Kickstarter campaign in 2022.
“We really want to get into the niche,” Camarotti says when asked about his title expectations. “We really want to find cosplayers and people who are very passionate about cosplay or even people who want to be a cosplayer.” [but] they don't have the skills and we're trying to create this RPG experience that's healthy and enjoyable in its own way.
“And we want to bring it to consoles, we want to go into mobile and see what happens. We don't have the numbers we expect from it, but it's just for fun and we're trying to find partners to bring it.” on the console.”
Behold Studios remained small, with a team of eight split between Canada (three people) and Brazil (five employees).
“We feel like we're a Brazilian studio,” says Camarotti. “Of course we can benefit from being in both countries. In Canada we have tax breaks, we have access to events and lots of things. But 100% of our team is Brazilian, we only hire Brazilians,” he laughs. “So we definitely feel like a Brazilian team.
However, the introduction of the new legal framework in Brazil will slowly change things such as access to tax credits, as we discussed at length on Tuesday. And overall, the industry in Brazil has come a long way since the beginnings of Behold Studios.
“Talent [in Brazil] he's amazing,” says Camarotti. “It's different than anyone I've worked with, the people are [such] they toil and find their way. We don't have a lot of resources, never have. But we can do almost everything. So it's really nice to have some Brazilians in the team because they just come up with very creative solutions for everything. I think that is the biggest advantage of working with Brazilians. I like the Brazilian aesthetic [artists as well]. We have artists all over the world working for every major studio.”
However, this does not mean that the industry in Brazil is now completely without problems.
“We don't have the best broadband Internet,” Camarotti says. “But we have good — enough to be connected. It's not that cheap, but we have a very large portion of the population connected.”
But when it comes to the more practical aspects of running a studio in Brazil, Camarotti notes that Brazilians have really embraced telecommuting, as we also reported in our Monday market overview.
“Even after 15 years, I think it's still wild for some to invest in game production in Latin America.”
“You don't have to commute anymore, you don't use public transport which is not so good. Remote work [is] really good One thing that often happens is that Brazilians get jobs in other countries. So they get paid in US dollars and live life here. So I think it's a good thing. And because of that, they're starting to get a lot of experience.”
He adds that historically Brazil has always exported talent globally.
“And I'm one of those cases, aren't I? I just went abroad, I wanted to live with my family and see what's out there. And it's good to be there.”
“At the same time, right now the opportunity to work remotely but still be in Brazil [are] very well. So it's interesting because Brazilians are cheaper if they work remotely because Brazil is a cheaper place to live compared to North America and Europe. It is very interesting to see how people get jobs in the US and get [paid in] dollars. $30,000 a year is huge here.”
Camarotti personally highlights his personal struggles with running Behold Studios since the success of Knights of Pen & Paper.
“During the first ten years, my work was 60% studio and probably 40% indie. I volunteered to host game jams, try to bring in publishers, I was the regional director for [the Brazilian trade association]I was trying to promote the indie game development scene. And that took a lot of effort. And no coming back from it. But at the same time, it was a big part of me [job].
“And I think that was a big challenge because I didn't just focus on my business, I needed to promote and teach everyone and it was important for me as a studio to have a good environment of other studios and so we can develop together or share experiences and we didn't have anyone , who would teach us, we pushed the cart forward.”
“Investors and publishers should look at other countries as a place to get inspiration and create games from different perspectives.”
Brazil is the fifth largest market worldwide in terms of the number of active game players, and according to Camarotti, Brazilians especially occupy the online space of titles such as PUBG, Free Fire or Fortnite.
“It's a huge audience and they're very well connected,” he says. “I think there's a lot of opportunity in free-to-play games, especially games that work well on low-end devices. I think that's definitely the main audience in Brazil.”
He adds with a laugh: “And I don't do that. I do the opposite. I do high end, I try to do console games and premium.”
At the end of our chat, Camarotti points out that the gaming industry is in crisis worldwide – and that's a good reason to look at booming markets like Brazil.
“It's just been a big struggle in the last two years, and I think investors and publishers should look at other countries as a place where they can be inspired and make games from different perspectives. That could be very important for the whole industry .to Brazil, Argentina or Uruguay and I'm trying to find different talent. And I know there's some opportunity to come for BIPOC or queer people, and I think it would be really nice to see more games that are different. “