The growing Video game market in Brazil is a magnet for international companies wanting to expand in Latin America. But local businesses hope to profit, too. CCTV America’s Paulo Cabral reports.

Follow Paulo Cabral on Twitter: @paulonumundo

Thousands of aficionados brave the crowds and long lines just to try the latest games and gadgets from the video game industry. According to organizers of the Brazil Game Show, they expect up to 250,000 visitors at this year’s event in Sao Paulo. Some who come here are just curious, but others want to make a career out of it.

“When I was a teenager, I would get back home from school and spend my days playing video games. When I realized I could have a career from this, make my living off video games, I decided to throw myself in and bet everything on this,” says Eduardo Chiareli, games development student.

The turnout for this fair is just one example of the potential consumer market for video games. Local companies are eager to get a bigger share of the business. A recent Euromonitor report shows Brazil with double-digit growth in the video game industry every year since 2008. Almost 75 percent of video game companies are small businesses, with revenues up to $100,000 per year. Slightly more than 20 percent have revenues between $100,000 and one million. Just 4 percent are considered relatively big companies with more than $1 million in revenue.

Marcelo Taveres, the founder of the fair, is also one of Brazil’s biggest collectors of video games. He says there’s room for Brazilian companies to grow.

“We have more than 200 companies in Brazil, with more than 4,000 developers and many universities preparing professionals for the future. And especially now, we have increasing numbers of smartphones and tablets in Brazil, and the developers are well prepared for these kinds of platforms,” he said.

For Garage 227, a startup development company, the fair is an opportunity to reach out to old and new customers and big companies, said the company’s CEO Daniel Monastero.

CCTV America is joined by Michael Cai, Senior Vice President of Research, Games and Technology with consulting firm, Interpret, to talk about Brazil’s gaming sector.