Business

Brazil's Magazine Luiza launches Magalu Games and enters the gaming market

The retail behemoth will fund Brazilian games; the new gaming arm is part of a strategy to attract and retain users in the Magazine Luiza' super app

Magazine Luiza Brazil — Photo: Magazine Luiza/Courtesy

LABS

18.Nov.2021 18:09 BRT
UPDATED 20:05 BRT

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Following its strategy of diversifying its portfolio and building a complete ecosystem, Magazine Luiza, Brazil‘s most valued retail and e-commerce chain, announced its debut in the gaming market through Magalu Games. At first, Magalu’s focus is on hyper-casual games (a mobile game that is easy-to-play, and usually free-to-play, such as the popular Candy Crush or Angry Birds).

Magalu intends to invest in games either in production or already developed by national studios. The company has even launched a public call for proposals which will select three projects and provide financial support (BRL 100,000 for each one) and mentoring.

The arrival in the gaming industry is one more step Magalu has taken to bolster its position in the retail market for gaming equipment and content, a billion-dollar market that continues to grow, including in Brazil, where 95 million people play some kind of game, according to e-sports consultancy BBL.

Initially, Magalu Games will operate as a publisher, investing and creating games and promoting them mainly to users of its super app. The partner projects selected by the call for proposals will also have access to the Magalu’s companies and platforms, such as Magalu Ads and Jovem Nerd, a content channel focused on geek culture, including movies, series, games, history, and science.

The acquisition of Jovem Nerd, in April of this year, kicked off Magalu’s strategy of boosting projects related to the platform’s intellectual property, including plans for complex games, series, and even movies. Soon after, the retailer bought the portal Canaltech and the technology and games e-commerce KaBuM! for no less than BRL 1 billion.

All this investment has a clear purpose: to attract more users to the company’s super app and expand the app’s usage time and recurrence. The idea is that Magalu Games will integrate the games into the super app and offer benefits through integration with programs and products, such as cashback within the games.