Romina Whitlock commented on Nintendo in Brazil, location, Brazilians’ favorite games and more
As is tradition in recent years, Nintendo had a large presence at the Brasil Game Show. The 2024 edition was no different, and once again Nintendo featured the event with a large stand, with a large number and variety of games available to the public. It is in this context that Game On had the opportunity to speak with Romina Whitlock, Marketing Director of Nintendo LATAM, who told us how Nintendo is behaving in Brazil, provided details on the localization of important games and Nintendo’s highlights for the end of the year. in the country. Watch the interview below:
Active game: First of all, I would like to thank you very much for welcoming us and granting us this interview! I would like to start by asking you about Nintendo, it has been officially in Brazil for 4 years, since 2020. How do you evaluate the company’s performance here since then? So how did the community respond?
Romina Whitlock: I think it’s been a slow but steady progression. As you said, Nintendo has been here for 4 years, and we started slowly and methodically, we said to ourselves “ok, let’s present the hardware, Nintendo Switch, let’s see how it goes”, and in fact first we started with online, like cards to download games, then we launched the hardware and methodically added the rest of the console family, such as the Lite model and the OLED, then we realized that we needed something more than just digital games and we started bring physical titles and now we have 32 physical games in the country and we made sure that every localized game this year also had a physical edition. We also wanted to formally launch the physical games in the country to try to stabilize the price in the country, since they were very expensive before we brought them, and we helped establish a price range, like before the games came somewhere and not from them. it had a price base.
And so, with professional localization, we started with one game… then with 2 and now we have between 11 and 12 localized titles, and I’m happy to announce that the other titles planned for this year, such as Super Mario Party Jamboree – which will be released next week: we have Mario & Luigi Brothership on November 7th and Fitness Boxing, which will be released on December 5th; everything will be localized in Brazilian Portuguese. So I can’t guarantee that every game will be translated, but at least I can tell you that we will do everything we can to be better every year! So I think there is still a lot of work to do, we have to work on the perception of our brand, since we are not as recognized as before, there is still a lot of branding and marketing work to do to increase the presence of our product in the rest of the country, not only in Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, the console will be accessible in more regions.
Active game: I imagine that adapting Nintendo’s operations to a country like Brazil is not an easy task. What has this process been like since launch? Do you think there are still gaps to fill?
Romina: The operation hasn’t really changed, it’s no different from how we operate in other Latin American countries, like Mexico or Chile. We don’t distribute directly in any of these countries, we always use a distributor. In Brazil we have 3 distributors, Ingram, RCell and Solutions 2 GO, so physical sales always take place through distributors.
As far as improvements are concerned, there is always room for improvement, for example we have grown, but we still can’t score more points in the national team. We are in major cities, but we need to reach smaller cities and smaller retailers, we want to ensure that moms and dads have access to Nintendo games in small stores, so we need to keep working. But so far the business model has been no different and, as far as I know, we are not going to change it.
Active game: Regarding localization, do you already have an idea of ​​how the response has been from the Brazilian public?
Romina: Yes, it was amazing! An advantage that our brand has is the fact that it has very loyal fans, they are “Nintendo fans”, they are really fantastic, they always express themselves and are very involved. One of the reasons we have such support for localized games is because we have a lot of Nintendo fans here, and the localization of The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom is an example of that. Localization is very important for Brazilian gamers and we as a company grow when we are able to offer a product in a language that everyone can understand and play, children, adults, grandparents… this is how we reach an audience beyond our Fan by Nintendo, reach families and friends. We have these loyal fans who are fantastic, but to grow we need to be accessible to everyone. So I think localization is a work in progress.
Active game: Still on the subject of localization, can you tell us something more about the process? How does the team prepare to adapt a game?
Romina: All our localization is done by internal teams, I know other companies may use other studios, but we do everything in-house. I don’t have access to the team that does the localizations. In fact, the team known as Tree House is located in the same building where I work, but I don’t have access to it. So I don’t know much about the process, what I do know is that they do everything they can to be as true as possible to the language, customs and traditions of the country. So we have Brazilians doing localization, it’s not someone who can learn, be fluent, because they won’t have cultural experience, because some aspects of translation, if we do it literally, it doesn’t make sense. I know they employ Brazilians from Brazil, but I don’t know what the process is like… to me it seems like some kind of cave where they play a lot! (laugh)
Active game: 2024 was a big year for Nintendo’s female characters, like Princess Peach and, of course, Princess Zelda. But there’s another character we’ve been missing for a while… Samus! Can we know some details about the next Metroid?
Romina: Unfortunately I will disappoint you, but I don’t know much more than what has already been announced, all we know is that Metroid Prime 4 will be released in 2025. An interesting thing about Nintendo is that they really want to surprise us they only inform us of the basic things, if I don’t need to know about a release, they don’t inform me any more than the public itself. A very interesting story: the first time I heard about the release of The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening, which I will never forget, was at the end of an E3 in 2019. I was with my colleagues and they were shouting “Ah, this It’s too much!” I was surprised too. I think it’s really cool, because as a fan I also like the surprise of these announcements, better than discovering a new game coldly, like in a report. A nice part of this job is also commenting on these announcements, surprising the fans together!
Active game: Also regarding Metroid Prime 4, can we say that it will have a Brazilian release date similar to the international one?
Romina: I don’t know either, but we managed to launch it simultaneously. I say this in relation to the physical ones, since the digital ones will certainly be launched at the same time. Of course, there are logistics involved in bringing Washington games here, but they always find a way. So I hope we can get Metroid here in time.
Active game: We are in a generational transition, as Nintendo has already announced the successor to the Nintendo Switch. Will we have a Brazilian release date similar to the international one this time?
Romina: I don’t know that either, I have no information on the dates, I just know that we will know more before the end of the fiscal year, in March next year. Mr. Furukawa tweeted that we will have more information before the end of the fiscal year. Regarding distribution and logistics I don’t have any information yet, we will know more as more information and dates come out. I assume that, just as we have with the latest games and consoles, we will have something similar here, as Brazil is a major focus for Nintendo, and certainly for our Latin America team. Brazil is the fastest growing market on the continent. In any case, from our team, we will do everything possible to have the new console on the best date.
Active game: Here at the show, Nintendo brought a wide variety of games. In terms of preferences, does Nintendo have an idea of ​​what Brazilians’ favorite games are?
Romina: Yes, we do studies on IP preferences and in this sense the Brazilians’ favorites are, in proportional terms, taking into account the installed base, Zelda and Pokémon, these two are doing better than expected. In relation to the Mushroom Kingdom and the Mario and Friends games, Mario Party is still the #1 game, if you add up all the sales, the #1 game in cumulative sales. But Super Mario Wonder is number two in sales in Latin America, and I think this also has to do with the game’s release in Brazilian Portuguese. This is a very interesting question, because if you had asked me 4 years ago, the answer would have been very different. After all, we weren’t here at the time, there were no distributed or localized games, and the biggest sellers back then were Smash Bros and Zelda Breath of the Wild, because those were the games Nintendo fans wanted, right? These were the best-selling games in Brazil at the time. So localization opened up a whole new market possibility, as more games could be enjoyed by a wider audience.
Active game: By the end of the year, which games do you think people will enjoy the most?
Romina: There’s something for all tastes! The Legend of Zelda had a fantastic launch last month and is a wonderful game for anyone who loves big adventures and puzzle solving. Now, towards the end of the year, I really think that Super Mario Party Jamboree will be a huge success, because it is a game that can be enjoyed whether you are a gamer or not, it can be played in 5 minutes or long games, anywhere, with family or at a birthday party, it’s a game that can make or break friendships! (laughs) There’s also a part of the game where up to 20 people can participate, and everyone doesn’t need to be in the same room, online.
Source: Terra
Rose James is a Gossipify movie and series reviewer known for her in-depth analysis and unique perspective on the latest releases. With a background in film studies, she provides engaging and informative reviews, and keeps readers up to date with industry trends and emerging talents.
