Today, Nintendo of America confirmed plans to exit the Brazilian market due to "challenges in the local business environment," Gamasutra can confirm.

The company had for the past four years partnered with Gaming do Brasil, a subsidiary of Juegos de Video Latinoamérica, to sell its products in the region. However, foreign-produced hardware is subject to extremely high tariffs in the country, and the company has no plans to open a Brazilian manufacturing plant.

The Sony PlayStation 4 sold for over $1800 U.S. dollars in Brazil when it launched in 2013, compared to a $400 price tag in the U.S.

The company plans to continue working with Juegos de Video Latinoamérica to serve the rest of the Latin American market.

The statement provided by Nintendo of America to Gamasutra regarding this news is reproduced in full below:

“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.



“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. We will continue to monitor the evolution of the business environment and evaluate how best to serve our Brazilian fans in the future.”