🍪 Gamacon 2025 — Mexico’s Game Industry Levels Up
Hello there, creators and changemakers.
This time, Kiki and Chip couldn’t make the trip, but I was there in person, representing Game Cookies at GAMACON 2025. It was a week full of talks, pitches, and meetings that showed a clearer picture of where Mexico’s game industry stands right now: talented, ambitious, but still trying to build the structure it deserves.
The Scene: From Fan Expo to Business Hub
Gamacon, now in its 12th edition, feels different. It’s no longer about cosplay, merch stands, or celebrity photos. The focus has shifted toward business and development. Studios came to look for funding and international guests brought guidance that felt relevant instead of distant.
To its credit, the organizers managed to keep the atmosphere professional without losing the community feel. The event still has a lot of room to grow, but this year it finally started looking like a place where real deals could happen.
🦊 Kiki: “Imagine a Mexican game event where the hottest item isn’t a Funko Pop but a nice talks that can become a deal. Evolution detected.” 🍪 Chip carefully hides his Funko.
Government Joins the Conversation
Representatives from Mexico’s Ministry of Economy and GDMEX (Game Developers Mexican Association) announced that video game exports will now qualify for a 0% VAT rate, allowing studios to reclaim taxes on international sales.
It’s not a magic wand, but it’s one of the few concrete policies Mexico has put forward for developers trying to work internationally.
📢 “This positions Mexico’s developers to compete internationally while keeping talent here,” said Hugo Abel Castro 🔜 Gamacon, President of GDMEX, explaining that the change comes after years of lobbying through events like Gamacon.
🦊 Kiki: “Government buffs aren’t common in this patch. Let’s see if it stacks.” 🍪 Chip claps softly, unsure if this counts as a win.
Inside the Event: Real Talks, No Hype
This year’s lineup was dense, but a few sessions stood out for the right reasons. These are the ones we think deserve a spotlight, and we’ll be following up with deeper interviews soon.
🎮 Jessica Ronnell 🔜 DIGITAL DAYS REDMOND (Xbox / ID@Xbox) Her talk, “A Developer’s Guide to Xbox,” broke down the process of publishing on the platform with actual steps, not slogans. It was a practical map for indies trying to join Xbox’s ecosystem without getting lost in the paperwork. 🦊 Kiki: “Finally, a corporate talk that sounds like a manual instead of a press release.”
🎨 Tomo Moriwaki (Hyperkinetic Studios LLC) Tomo focused on empathy in design. The kind of talk that reminds devs to imagine what the player feels before writing a single line of code. 🦊 Kiki: “Design with empathy. Also, maybe test your UI before launch. Just saying.”
💼 Joel Nelson (RocketRide Games ) His session, “Pitching Publishers: Building the Perfect Proposal,” was blunt about what publishers expect: clarity, numbers, and deadlines. Passion helps, but paperwork seals the deal. 🦊 Kiki: “Pitching isn’t flirting. Know your scope, show your math.” 🍪 Chip adds ‘learn Excel’ to his to-do list.
🌍 Kate Edwards (Geogrify LLC / SetJetters) Kate talked about culturalization and the responsibility creators have when their worlds reach global audiences. It wasn’t about censorship but awareness. 🦊 Kiki: “She basically said: build freely, but know who’s watching. Fair advice.”
Of course, these were just a few sessions from a much bigger schedule. We’ll have interviews with some of the speakers who are helping connect Mexico’s dev scene with the rest of the world.
The 8% Controversy
While everyone was talking about growth, another story hit the industry. Mexico’s federal administration announced plans for an 8% tax on “violent” video games, arguing it would help “protect minors and reduce aggressive behavior.”
Developers weren’t convinced. Mexican studios like BeWolf said it could make small projects unprofitable. Meanwhile, academics from the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) called the measure “scientifically baseless” — there’s still no conclusive evidence linking gaming to real-world violence.
Kiyoshi Tsuru, President of the CONCAMIN Commission of the Mexican Association for the Protection of Intellectual Property (AMPPI), warned about where this kind of logic could lead.
📢 “Saying that video games are violent simply because of their classification worries us,” Tsuru said. “We’re telling stories, proposing worlds. Trying to collect 183 million pesos, just 0.002% of the federal budget, while stigmatizing an entire industry that we’re still building, makes no sense. We want to propose, not discourage. This approach risks turning into censorship. Today, it’s video games, and we already have restrictions in music. Tomorrow, it’ll be films, maybe even books. When you start labeling content as ‘sinful’ and taxing it like tobacco or alcohol, you’re morally condemning creativity itself.”
🦊 Kiki: “So creativity’s officially a vice now. Great. Guess I’ll file my next article under ‘sin tax.’” 🍪 Chip hides under the desk, with a sign that says: “Protect the cookies.”
Reality Check: A Grain of Salt, Not a Revolution
Gamacon 2025 was a good event. Not perfect, not revolutionary, but a meaningful contribution to a scene that still needs more of them. It connected people who rarely get the chance to talk. It showed that government interest is possible, that international partners care, and that local studios can show up and be taken seriously.
This event adds its grain of salt to the slow process of building an industry with real weight. Mexico doesn’t need one miracle event. It needs ten more like this — and a government that listens between them.
🦊 Kiki: “Not every patch fixes the meta. Some just prove the devs are still updating.” 🍪 Chip nods, drops his grain of salt on the table, and calls it a win.
Stay curious, like all the speakers. Keep pitching, like Joel Nelson and the indies who showed up with a deck and a dream. And remember — real progress in Mexico’s game industry isn’t built overnight; it’s built one conversation, one event, and one grain of salt at a time.
🦁 Leo
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