Writing for The Escapist, Pedro Franco details brazen sales of pirated games by retailers in Brazil's largest city, São Paulo.

It wasn't alway so, writes Franco. He describes Brazil as a legit marketplace for games until the mid-1990s. Since then, however, low per capita income, high tariffs on games, the switch from cartridges to CDs and lax government enforcement combined to make Brazil a game pirate's haven:

The Brazilian Association for the Development of Electronic Games... estimated in 2004 that no less than 94 percent of the country's games market consisted of pirated merchandise...

 

If you're really interested in buying a game, your best bet is to enter one of the many "pseudo-malls" around São Paulo... The asking price is ridiculously small - usually around R$10 to R$15 (or $5 to $7.50) - but after a little negotiation, you can easily end up paying half that...