Where to Buy Game Network Subscriptions in Brazil

Many Brazilian online and physical stores offer the sale of subscriptions for gaming networks, such as Xbox Live and Playstation Network. In this article we will detail where gaming network subscriptions can be purchased in Brazil.

Brazilian Gaming Market

As of recent years, the landscape for games in Brazil has evolved from the historically known piracy and counterfeiting-ridden country into one of the most promising markets for this medium in the world. Retailers specialized in the sale of gaming products have also expanded their reach to Brazilian cities, offering items that range from accessories, consoles and game discs.

Pre-paid vouchers that enable access to the most popular gaming networks, a necessity for consumers who want to engage in online multiplayer experiences, can be found in these stores as well as many of the largest department store chains in the country. It is also possible to buy these subscriptions online through the gaming consoles themselves, or from a number of e-commerce websites.

Both gaming networks are geofenced, which means consumers who create accounts in a region, such as Brazil, the United States or Europe, will not be able to access content from another region’s network. Additionally, the purchase of subscription credits is linked to the region it’s offered in, which means pre-paid coupons sold in Brazil are only compatible with the country’s networks.

Console Browsers

The built-in browsers from home consoles like Sony’s Playstation 3 and Playstation 4, and Microsoft’s Xbox 360 and Xbox One allow for the purchase of subscriptions from these companies’ proprietary Playstation Network and Xbox Live gaming platforms.

In Brazil, the official prices for the two major gaming networks, as of April 2015, are as follows:

XBOX Live Gold Account

• BRL 120 for 12 months
• BRL 50 for 3 months
• BRL 20 for 1 month

Playstation Network Plus Account

• BRL 100 for 12 months
• BRL 35 for 3 months
• BRL 20 for 1 month

It is important to note that all payments that take place from these consoles is handled by credit card, a method commonly unavailable to a large share of Brazilian consumers. As indicated by research from 2013 by credit scoring company SPC Brasil, over 20% of consumers in Brazil do not own credit cards.

To obtain network subscription credits using other payment methods requires customers to purchase pre-paid vouchers from other vendors, like physical and online stores in the country.

Supermarkets and Stores

Some of the most popular chains of supermarkets and stores in Brazil offer pre-paid vouchers that allows players to add credits to their gaming network subscriptions. These include supermarket chains Extra and Pão de Açúcar and stores Saraiva and Americanas, all of which are commonly found in Brazilian cities.

Specialized retailers are also found in Brazil, offering the sale of pre-paid subscription vouchers. Most of these stores do not belong to a major chain. The largest franchises of gaming products retailers in Brazil, UZ Games and V12 Games, are present mostly in the country’s biggest cities, like state capitals São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro and Belo Horizonte.

Online Retailers

A number of online retailers in Brazil have specialized in the sale of pre-paid vouchers for services like gaming networks, offering payment methods that include wire transfer, Boleto Bancario and integration with payment providers. In some cases, these websites allow for the voucher code to be delivered by email, a method much faster than delivery through shipping.

This option might be of interest to players registered in regions other than Brazil, considering some of these stores also sell vouchers for networks in regions such as the United States, United Kingdom, Europe and Hong Kong. It is also common for these stores to offer seasonal discounts, effectively reducing the subscription costs to a fraction of what is officially charged by network owners.

Some of the online retailers of gaming network subscription vouchers in Brazil include:

• Xplodegames
• Zero3games
• Gcmgames
• Fastgames
• Bigboygames

Subscription vouchers can also be acquired from online classified marketplaces, such as Mercadolivre. Similarly to online retailers, these sellers can offer prices well below the official standards and may also provide the option to deliver the redeemable codes by email.