Pichau owner explains BGS exit: “it was getting really expensive for us”

Pichau owner João has given his side of why the brand walked away from Brasil Game Show. In a laid-back chat with streamer Bistecone, posted by Portal Insider on October 14, he summed it up in one line: “BGS was getting really expensive for us. Really expensive.” (In Portuguese: “BGS tava custando muito caro pra gente. Muito caro mesmo.”)

Dono da Pichau explica por que saiu da BGS: “BGS tava custando muito caro pra gente, muito caro mesmo.”

— Portal Insider (@Portal_Insider) October 14, 2026

Instead of the São Paulo show, Pichau held Pichau Arena, its own event in Joinville, Santa Catarina, on the same weekend as BGS, as SavePoint covered in “BGS is no longer the only game in town”.

What Pichau’s owner said

João points out that the brand was a BGS fixture for years: “We did BGS for years, you know?” The problem, he says, was cost. The bet now is on owning the event: “And I’m going to put on a much better event, with everyone in there, you know?”

He doesn’t hide the difference in size: “But it’s a smaller event than BGS, obviously.” In return, he says, the event belongs to Pichau and he can hand out passes to whoever he wants. As for content creators, João says the influencers who used to go to BGS now go with Pichau, and that he talks to each of them himself.

Toward the end of the video he mentions Children’s Day in Brazil, which fell on the event dates (October 10 to 12), and already talks about Black Friday: “Let’s do it on Black [Friday].” Pichau hasn’t officially announced anything for that period.

What it costs to exhibit at BGS and Gamescom

João’s complaint is about what the brand pays, not the public. So we compared what is known about stand prices at both shows.

BGS: no public price list

BGS doesn’t publish exhibitor prices. Its “How to take part in #BGS26” page lists sponsor stands from 54 m² to 1,000 m², Shopping stands from 18 m², plus Indie and B2B areas, but every price depends on a meeting with the sales team. What Pichau paid has not been disclosed either.

What exists are third-party accounts. In 2024, TechShake heard from companies complaining that costs “can reach R$ 1,000 per square meter of stand,” with some brands sharing space to make the budget work. For small studios, the blog IndieBrasilis, based on developers’ accounts, estimates R$ 7,000 to R$ 10,000 for an indie stand of at least 4 m², before travel and setup.

Gamescom: a published rate per m²

Koelnmesse publishes Gamescom 2026’s prices in its conditions of participation. In the public entertainment area, a stand with one open side and up to 150 m² costs €173 per m² with early booking and €188 at the regular rate, plus €16 per m² for energy, a €0.60 per m² AUMA fee, VAT and a mandatory marketing package. Larger stands pay less per m²; corner and island stands pay more.

On the available numbers, the reported price per m² at BGS sits at the same level as the world’s biggest games show, which draws a much larger crowd. The difference is that at Gamescom any company knows the price before calling the organizers. At BGS, it doesn’t.

And for visitors?

João’s “really expensive” shows up at the box office too: converted to reais, BGS’s priciest full-price ticket costs almost twice Gamescom’s priciest full-price ticket.

SavePoint has reached out to Pichau and the BGS organizers and will update this story if they respond.

Source: Portal Insider, conversation between João (Pichau) and Bistecone.