Due to is insanely high electronics tariffs, Nintendo will no longer sell any products in Brazil.
Bad news for Brazilian Nintendo fans: the console manufacturer has announced that it is planning to halt all sales of all Nintendo products in the region. That means no consoles, games, or other official Nintendo accessories will be available for purchase in Brazil. The reason? The country’s insanely high import taxes and tariffs on electronics.
“In response to ongoing developments in the Brazilian market, Nintendo of America Inc. today announced changes to the physical distribution of its products in that country. Starting in January 2015, Gaming do Brasil, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Juegos de Video Latinoamérica, GmbH, will no longer distribute Nintendo products in Brazil. Gaming do Brasil has distributed Nintendo products in the country for the past four years. Despite the changes in Brazil, Juegos de Video Latinoamérica will continue to be Nintendo’s distributor for Latin America and they remain committed to the brand and the region,” said Nintendo in an official statement.
It explained that “Brazil is an important market for Nintendo and home to many passionate fans, but unfortunately, challenges in the local business environment have made our current distribution model in the country unsustainable. These challenges include high import duties that apply to our sector and our decision not to have a local manufacturing operation.”
For reference, the Wii U retailed in Brazil for 1,899 Brazilian Real, which works out to a whopping $700 USD. And if you think that’s bad, buying a PS4 in Brazil will set you back 4,000 Brazilian Real, which is an insane $1,500 USD. The Xbox One on the other hand, despite being similarly priced to the PS4 in North America, is considerably cheaper in Brazil, at just 2,200 Brazilian Real or $800 USD – mostly due to the fact that Microsoft actually has a manufacturing plant in the region.
And I thought Australia’s electronics import taxes were bad…
Source: Polygon
