gamescom latam is the clearest recent example of a foreign trade show entering Latin America the right way. The German video game brand did not open its own edition in São Paulo: it merged with BIG Festival, a Brazilian event that already had an audience, and handed operations to a local company. Over three editions it went from more than 100,000 visitors in 2024 to more than 154,000 in 2026, according to the organisers. The lesson for any agency or brand planning a show, launch or corporate event in another country is practical: build on something that already works, put in writing what each side brings, keep the local identity and grow in stages.
What happened in São Paulo
The deal was announced on 28 November 2023. According to PocketGamer.biz, gamescom was merging with BIG Festival, founded in 2012 to promote Brazil’s games industry, which had drawn 50,000 people in 2023. There were four partners: Koelnmesse, the Cologne trade fair company behind gamescom; game, the German games industry association; BIG Festival; and Omelete Company, the creator of CCXP. Gustavo Steinberg, head of BIG Festival, became head of the new show.
Brazilian trade title Meio & Mensagem added two details that explain the rest: Omelete & Co. runs 100% of the operation, and the State of São Paulo committed 6 million reais to the 2024, 2025 and 2026 editions. The agreement took more than a year and a half to negotiate.
The first edition ran from 26 to 30 June 2024 at São Paulo Expo, on 25,000 square metres. The wrap-up published by Game Developer reported more than 100,000 visitors from over 70 countries, sold-out Saturday and Sunday tickets, about 2,000 trade visitors from 66 countries and 11,982 business meetings requested.
The third edition, from 29 April to 3 May 2026 at Distrito Anhembi, closed with more than 154,000 visitors, up 17.5%, 175 exhibitors from 23 countries, 1,100 B2B companies from 59 countries and more than 13,000 meetings, up 46%, according to the official release. The organisers estimate US$180 million in new business, a projection they expect to materialise over the following months. PocketGamer.biz and GamesBeat reported the same figures; no source audited them independently.
Lesson 1: build on something that already works
Koelnmesse could have rented a venue in São Paulo and launched its brand from scratch. It chose another route: joining a festival that had spent eleven years building a community, with exhibitors, press and an audience that already knew the dates. The first year opened with roughly twice the crowd BIG Festival had drawn the year before.
When a brand enters a new country, the temptation is to ship the full format and start marketing. The problem is that year one is expensive: no database, no tested suppliers, and nobody knows the event. Merging with, partnering with or riding on something that already exists (a sector fair, a congress, a themed week in the city) lowers that entry cost. There is not always a BIG Festival available, but there is almost always someone who already owns part of the audience.
Lesson 2: put in writing what each side brings
The gamescom latam structure is clean. Germany brings the brand, the format and the international network of publishers and buyers. Brazil brings the full operation, the leadership and the relationship with government, which turned into a three-year funding commitment. Nobody has to guess who decides what.
That split is what breaks most often when an agency abroad works with a local partner. If both feel they own the same decisions, production stalls; if nobody owns something, it shows up on show day. We cover it in detail in finding an operating partner for events in Argentina: the agency or brand abroad keeps the concept, the quality bar and the budget, and the local team handles everything that happens on the ground.
Lesson 3: keep the local identity
BIG Festival did not disappear. According to PocketGamer.biz, the brand stayed on as the area for independent games, and Meio & Mensagem reports it became the show’s awards. In 2026 those awards received more than 960 submissions from 75 countries, and 28 finalists came from Colombia, Costa Rica, Mexico and Uruguay, according to the official release.
That matters because local visitors felt the show was theirs, not a branch office. The sponsor list shows it too: alongside games companies, the 2026 edition had Banco do Brasil as master sponsor, plus Claro, Bauducco, Fanta and Seara. For a brand launching or hosting a corporate event in Argentina or elsewhere in the region, the rule holds: the format can come from abroad, but the content, the guests and the tone have to speak to the local audience.
Lesson 4: grow in stages, with a venue sized for each year
The first edition used 25,000 square metres at São Paulo Expo. Right after it closed, Steinberg told Meio & Mensagem that the second edition would move to Anhembi at twice the size. There was no opening bet on the biggest venue in the city: demand was tested first, then the show grew.
At a trade show, the floor plan, the number of entrances and the visitor flow all depend on how many people you expect. Oversize year one and you pay for empty space and the show looks thin; undersize it and the problem is the queue. That is why each edition should be measured with hard data (entries per day and per hour, meetings requested and held) and used to plan the next one. Our guide to accreditation for conferences and trade shows covers how that data is captured at the door.
What not to copy blindly
Two conditions of this case do not travel to every market. The first is scale: according to Eliana Russi, partner and head of B2B at the show, quoted by PocketGamer.biz, Brazil has more than 1,000 game development studios and is already the leading games hub of the Global South. The second is public support: the show runs with São Paulo state funding and under Brazil’s federal cultural incentive law. A brand taking a show to Buenos Aires, Santiago or Bogotá has to run its own numbers without assuming either. What does travel is the method.
How to bring this to Argentina and Latin America with a local partner
The route also works in the other direction, from Brazil to Argentina. ArPa, the contemporary art fair founded in São Paulo in 2022, held its first international edition in Buenos Aires in September 2026, with a local director, galleries from both countries and Casa Victoria Ocampo as the venue. We handled all of the access: registration, invitations, credentials and the door across five days, as told in the ArPa Buenos Aires 2026 case. And at the Guatemala International Book Fair we ran FILGUA’s access control remotely from Buenos Aires, with entries tracked live.
If you are an agency or brand abroad looking to bring a trade show, a launch or a corporate event to Argentina or another Latin American country, the starting point is the same as in São Paulo: a local partner who already knows the ground and a clear split of responsibilities. See how we work with agencies and brands from other countries in strategic partnerships.