A cultural perspective of video games in Latin America
By Noel Sanchez
In Latin America: Mexico is one of the largest consumers of video games in the region. As the market continues to grow at an incredibly faster rate than ever , companies are producing video games that are designed with representation of their own cultural surroundings and presence in their own community and by doing so leaves a unique presence on an oversaturated market. I want to explore this as I feel the Latin American/Mexican community in establishing representation in this discipline needs to see in whatever discipline it may be , video games are just as important in the market landscape they dominate.
Video games began to generate a lot of popularity in the 1980s, at the time Mexico did not have existing access to video games markets. However, video games would introduce their way to the Mexican people around the early 1980s. It was those who would travel to their neighboring countries in the north the united states and Canada, to smuggle back any sign of video entertainment, be it arcade cabinets, video game consoles, whatever possibly they could put in a truck or van. Most of these stolen goods would make their way to Mexico’s “Fayuca” or grey market (Cervera 2013). With video games being exposed to the community only through means of the black market there wasn’t any sight of actual imports to the country, there wasn’t much say or significance for them to take off successfully, but they were still enjoyed and loved. Around the late 1980s, a Mexican publicist Gustavo “ Gus” Rodriguez had gone out of his way to purchase a television to play Burger Time and Nightstalker; two video games with his children, this is significant to how things in Mexicos video games field were beginning and in the 90s when everything changed.” (Olivares 2019). Olivares states that it would be Gus’s later to be partner Pepe Sierra who convinced him to check out this thing called “ Nintendo” at a convention in Mexico called Superama, but it was Gus who narrated that it was love at first sight when playing Nintendo’s featured titles at the time (Olivares 2019). Coincidentally 1989 saw Mexico’s very first opening of a Nintendo store in Mexico City’s Financial district which meant these products that were brought by illegal means were now available commercially. For Gus having an already established publishing experience, he was later contacted by Nintendo to advertise the new location. It was right afterwards that Gus and his partner Pepe were to become the first to publish an officially licensed Nintendo magazine that was then distributed through Mexico and then a majority of Latin America. I feel is that Gus and Pepe being both of Mexican ethnicity; advertising and introducing these products to the rest of Latin America would not have been possible for just anyone, giving Mexico its identity and first steps into this field.
Issue No. 3 Year 1 of the Nintendo World Magazine in Mexico/ Distributed to Latin America.
1988: Jorge Nogami's Nintendo Store located in Insurgentes sur 686 (Photo: Gus Rodríguez)
Mexico in modern times has grown to be among one of the strongest markets in this entertainment section with market projections showing growth. To see where this market has taken us in understanding the cultural adoption and perspective of video games in Mexico, let's start by looking at some of Mexico’s Game developers. Mexican development studio Lienzo is a studio located in Chihuahua, Mexico. In an interview with the team, they stated that they feel tasked with the responsibility of representing Mexico’s video games. When looking at their latest titles mulaka they also go on to talk about how Mexico as a region was influenced in the game, “The Tarahumara are native of the region in Mexico where the studio is located. It is fairly common for someone in the northern part of the country to be in contact with this tribe in one way or another, the Tarahumara people and their traditions are an important part of the cultural identity of our state and as so, it was only natural for us to embark on this journey with them in mind”(Eden 2018).
Comparison of in game Mulaka town and Chihuahua, Mexico
Linezo has been accredited for award-winning titles as Mulaka and Hunter's legacy. Compared to years ago we would not see anything near as close to what Linezo has created. Around 13 years ago almost 50 percent of games had little to no Mexican or Latin representation, 40 percent were either black or only 5 percent represented Latin American/Asian/pacific islander (Leonard, David). There was little that could be done when it came to representation, in most scenarios of ethnic character selection you would either choose between Victor Gonzalez, one of the main thugs of “Los Carnales” who has survived a dozen attacks by the Vice King gang or a gang member themselves … Of that 3 percent, by the way, less than 5 percent are playable,(Gamboa, Ana). According to SeekingAlpha.com “video games are not just rising to prominence among different forms of cultural production; they have already begun to outpace all other forms of media in terms of their profits and scope of influence.”( Penix-Tadsen, Phillip. LATIN AMERICAN LUDOLOGY). Media consumption has seen a change in how we as content consumers go about watching and interacting with media: from films to video games, it is important that as the industry is now thriving and growing at an exponential rate that we now strive for more diversity especially within our Latino and Mexican communities. to come from a stereotype of being a crook or a thug, I'm glad to say that has drastically changed since. It is the people behind the titles that are the focus of the community. Mexican representation as of today is now richly detailed in the eyes of the consumer, as many highly funded blockbuster videogames such as Overwatch’s “Sombra” a female Mexican character introduced last year to the series as well as the previously described Mulaka from Linezo. “Video games teach, inform, and control, mandating our development of tools of virtual literacy… We need to teach about games because games are teaching so much about us.”( Leonard, David J. Washington State University).
The video game industry in Latin America has generally upheld traditional market dynamics, meaning that games have frequently been made available to most of the region through social media , magazines , and other countries adverts, such as Mexico Nintendo magazine. There is a very important opportunity that is being created here as we see the pioneers of the Latin industry take shape in producing titles that are culturally relevant such as Linezos Mulaka which bring cultural relevancy when you look at video games past the numbers and sales, video games as an art form are the most glorious representation of one’s creative mind. Representation exists in the form of ethnic diversity in major titles and Latin heritage deserves to see their respective cultures represented on the main stage. there is a rich basis for these titles and the market will continue to grow in Mexico and spread throughout Latin America as the market and artist continues to grow along with it.
Bibliography
Eden. “[PS4Blog.Net Interview] Lienzo On Mulaka.” PS4Blog.Net, 1 Mar. 2018, https://www.ps4blog.net/2018/03/ps4blog-net-interview-lienzo-on-mulaka/.
Leonard, David J. Not a Hater, Just Keepin' It Real: The Importance of Race- and Gender-Based Game Studies. Washington State University, 2006.
Gamboa, Ana. “Latino Gamers Are Winning and Why the Industry Should Care.” AL DÍA News, 10 Mar. 2017, https://aldianews.com/articles/media-technology/latino-gamers-are-winning-and-why-industry-should-care/35280.
Olivares, Edgar. “Gus Rodríguez: El Hombre Que Inventó Los 90 En México.” Código Espagueti, Código Espagueti, 4 nov. 2019, https://codigoespagueti.com/noticias/videojuegos/gus-rodriguez-avatar/.
Penix-Tadsen, Phillip. LATIN AMERICAN LUDOLOGY Why We Should Take Video Games Seriously (and When We Shouldn’t). The Latin American Studies Association, 2013.
Cervera, Humberto. “Video Games Around the World: Mexico.” Xgamebrainx, 18 Sept. 2013, https://xgamebrainx.wordpress.com/2013/09/18/video-games-around-the-world-mexico/.