A practical hub for game developers, producers and industry visitors who want to plan the event and enjoy São Paulo without turning the trip into another production emergency.
Gamescom LATAM brings a large part of the games industry to São Paulo, but the event is only half of the trip. The other half is choosing where to stay, understanding how the city moves, protecting enough time for meetings and finding something better to do at night than eating inside a convention venue.
We originally built the Flutu Gamescom LATAM Guide for the 2025 edition. The useful parts are bigger than one year, so this page is now the starting point for our São Paulo coverage rather than another event countdown.
The official gamescom LATAM site currently lists the next edition for 22–25 April 2027. Check the official site and current programs before booking, because event details, applications and business initiatives change between editions.
What This Guide Is For
São Paulo is huge.
That is not travel-copy exaggeration. Your hotel, dinner, meeting and event venue can all be in the same city and still require real planning between them.
So we split the useful information into three different jobs.
This page is the hub.
If you need travel logistics, use our Gamescom LATAM São Paulo travel guide.
If your priority is business, meetings, pitches and networking, use Gamescom LATAM: How to Prepare for the Business Side.
The point is to stop mixing “where should I sleep?” with “how do I get publisher meetings?” in the same article.
Different problems.
Why We Made a São Paulo Guide in the First Place
Flutu started in São Paulo.
We have worked, recorded, met clients, attended events and spent enough time crossing the city to know that a visitor can have two completely different experiences depending on a few decisions made before landing.
Where you stay changes the trip.
How you move changes the trip.
How many meetings you stack into one day definitely changes the trip.
And São Paulo is much better when you leave enough room to actually experience it.
The city has a large tourism infrastructure, extensive public transport, thousands of restaurants and several major cultural areas. Visit São Paulo maintains current visitor information on airports, transport and city services.
Use official information for logistics.
Use local experience for judgment calls.
First Decision: Is This Mainly a Business Trip?
If you are coming as a developer, publisher, service provider, investor or studio representative, decide what success looks like before you book anything.
Five good meetings?
Publisher discovery?
Hiring?
Finding ExDev partners?
Showing a game?
Speaking?
Understanding the LATAM market?
Meeting people you already know online?
The official gamescom LATAM ecosystem includes business matchmaking, pitch initiatives, the BIG Festival, publisher meetings, international buyers, industry talks and other professional programs. The current programs page lists the active initiatives and application routes.
Your trip should be built around the parts relevant to you.
Not around trying to attend everything.
That is how you end up exhausted by day two with 46 business cards and no memory of who anyone was.
Second Decision: Where Will Your Time Actually Be Spent?
Do not book a hotel based only on distance from the expo.
Look at the whole week.
Where are your dinners?
Where are side events?
Are clients staying around Paulista, Jardins, Itaim or another business area?
Are you staying extra days?
Do you want to see the city after the event?
A hotel that saves twenty minutes in the morning can cost much more time later if every dinner or meeting sends you to the other side of São Paulo.
Our travel-planning article goes deeper into airports, transport, accommodation logic and how to think about moving around the city.
Third Decision: Leave Space in the Calendar
This is the advice I wish more people followed at industry events.
Do not schedule every fifteen minutes.
Useful conversations run long.
Someone introduces you to someone.
A meeting moves.
A publisher arrives late.
You discover a talk you actually want to attend.
You need food.
Humans remain annoyingly dependent on food.
Leave gaps.
The value of an event often comes from what happens between formal meetings. That does not mean “network harder.” It means being available enough for a real conversation to happen.
Use the Event Programs Before You Build the Agenda
Gamescom LATAM is broader than a public expo floor.
The official programs have included business matchmaking, publisher initiatives, pitches, talks, press access, career programs and programs for independent developers.
For example, the official site states that its 2025 business rounds generated a prospect of more than US$150 million and describes B2B matchmaking between studios and national and international industry players. That context is useful when deciding whether you need a professional/B2B plan rather than only a visitor ticket.
Applications and formats can change.
Check what exists for the edition you are attending.
Then prioritize.
Do Not Treat São Paulo as the Waiting Room Around the Event
If you have a free evening or an extra day, use it.
The original version of this guide included places such as Avenida Paulista, Ibirapuera and different food and nightlife options because they are part of why the trip is worth extending beyond the conference schedule.
Visit São Paulo reports a large cultural and hospitality infrastructure across museums, cultural spaces, restaurants, bars and hotels. Their city guide is a useful official starting point.
But do not try to “complete São Paulo.”
Impossible.
Pick one area.
Eat something.
Walk where it makes sense.
Meet somebody without a pitch deck open.
That is enough.
If You Only Read Three Things
Before traveling:
- Check the official gamescom LATAM programs and current edition information.
- Read our São Paulo logistics guide for Gamescom LATAM.
- If you are attending professionally, read our business and networking preparation guide.
That covers the event, the city and the reason you are probably going.
A Local Guide Should Save Decisions
The goal of this guide is not to create another list of attractions.
It is to reduce the number of small decisions you need to make while traveling.
Where do I start?
Which article answers this?
Should I plan the city or the event first?
What belongs on my calendar?
Once those decisions are clearer, São Paulo becomes much easier to enjoy.
And much harder to leave.
Next Step
Start with your actual trip goal.
If the main question is how to get around São Paulo, continue with the Gamescom LATAM travel and logistics guide.
If the main question is how to use the event professionally, go to our Gamescom LATAM business preparation guide.
And if we are both at the same edition, there is a decent chance Flutu will be somewhere between an audio conversation and coffee. You can reach us here.
