- Modor Intelligence, a market research company, expects the industry to register a compound annual growth rate of 12 per cent in the period 2021 to 2026.
- The continued funding of start-ups should see the number of registered gaming companies increase in the continent.
- Laws governing gambling taking place through online gaming in the continent have not been as stringent.
The Covid-19 pandemic came as a blessing to the gaming industry in Africa.
Modor Intelligence, a market research company, expects the industry to register a compound annual growth rate of 12 per cent in the period 2021 to 2026. The coronavirus pandemic led to curfews that kept people at home, which resulted in people seeking solace in games and gaming consoles.
The African gaming industry has been influenced by factors including:
- Increased disposable incomes for people in Africa.
- The United Nations estimates the median age of 1.3 billion people in Africa to be 7 years. That means that more than half of the people in the continent are youths are the biggest market to the gaming industry.
- Laws governing gambling taking place through online gaming in the continent have not been as stringent.
- Increased internet connectivity in the continent has created a favourable environment for the gaming industry to grow.
So far, two countries, Kenya and South Africa have 5G capabilities with more to access the service in the coming few years.
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A report released by Newzoo on January 17 show countries topping revenue collection in Africa are South Africa, Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya and Ethiopia.
- South Africa has been the largest gaming market, generating a revenue of US$289.5 million in consumer spending throughout 2021. The number of players in the Sub-Saharan country were 23.9 million representing 40.67 per cent of the population.
- Nigeria came in second, generating a revenue of US$184.6 million, despite the country having the highest number of gamers (46.5 million people). However, the population percentage was lower than that of South Africa, standing at 21.83 per cent.
- The West African country, Ghana collected revenue of US$41.7 million with a population percentage of 26.94 per cent embracing gaming.
- Through traditional channels, a higher proportion of South African gamers pay for games (43%) than Ghanaians and Ethiopians (33%) or Nigerians and Kenyans (32%).
- Kenya and Ethiopia collected revenues of US$38.1 million and US$35.2 million respectively.
The data above shows that the industry is gathering momentum and the future of the industry looks promising. The number of gamers in the continent has more than doubled in the last five years. The Sub-Saharan region is the fastest growing globally for both mobile gamers and people who pay for games.
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The gaming industry has seen funding on the rise in the whole of 2021. Public and private funding options have been created such as the African Game Developer Prototype Fund, Diverse Game Developer Fund and the Black Game Developer Fund.
The Diverse Game Developer Fund in the beginning of 2021 offered to grant US$300,000 to marginalized developers.
- Zerocape Studios in Nigeria received US$10000 in grants to facilitate the launching of their game invention, Project Flushy. The creators Emmanuel Apakhumbe and Abiola Jile have been working together to create games for over five years. Project Flushy is about a son on a quest to save his father captured in a strange quantum world.
- Weza Interactive Entertainment in Kenya received a grant of US$8000 from the Fund. The startup is a seven-person tech, art and culture hub. The Startup is developing a creative gaming arm called Riziki, which takes its players through an experience of beautiful African music.
- Geeky Mouse from Egypt received US$7000 to fund his game, Everlasting Guilt. Geeky Mouse is the brainchild of Abdelrahman Salam, a multidisciplinary solo developer from Egypt. Everlasting Guilt is his first project, with the demo already surpassing over 50k downloads on Steam.
Everlasting Guilt is a dungeon punk themed game, The game revolves around boss fights, each with a unique approach, each has its own mechanics and favoured weapons to use against.
- The grant also funded the games Beyond (US$10000) and Whotfire (US$7000) in Nigeria, and Dungeon Crawler (US$7000) in South Africa.
Continued funding of start-ups should see the number of registered gaming companies increase in the continent.
The gaming industry could create a considerable amount of revenues for African governments as it has become a way of life among children and the youth in the 21st generation.
