Esports and Mobile Games Driving The African Gaming Market

While it has lagged behind that of other regions in the past, Africa’s gaming market has grown rapidly in recent years. The number of gamers in Sub-Saharan Africa has grown from over 75 million in 2015 to over 185 million in 2021 according to a report published by Newzoo and Carry1st, the former a game analysis company and the latter a gaming platform that mainly focuses on the South African market. The report cites different reasons for this growth, and we will be looking at what is happening in this market in this article.

Why The African Gaming Market Matters

Africa is one of the fastest-growing gaming markets in the world. The continent has more internet-connected devices than Mexico, Canada, and the USA combined, making it one of the most important for game developers and publishing studios that can leverage it.

This market is supported by a massive population of youth who have grown up with the internet and technology on their hands and a middle class that is expanding year over year. Putting all these together, we can project that Africa will play a significant part in the global gaming market in the coming years.

While the available data shows the underlying potential, the analysis still says there are challenges with it. A Chairperson of the Pan Africa Gaming Group (PAGG), Jay Shapiro, says there are significant challenges in collecting additional data that supports or strengthens what they already know and think about this crucial market.

The lack of that data means investors are less willing to provide the funds required to fund the market. This is especially true for locally relevant games that have to be developed from the ground up because there aren’t many games that are based on local African stories and lore.

Mobile Gaming and Esports Dominate The Gaming Landscape

Access to high-speed internet and gaming technology means more players who want to showcase their gaming skills than ever before. Many of them wish to do so in regional and international esports tournaments, where their feats are broadcast to fans and a massive audience on the internet and local TV stations.

Mobile gaming also makes up a significant portion of the number of games played on the continent and how much revenue gaming companies and studios collect. As mentioned, a sizable number of young people on the continent have access to the internet and many of them can download the games they wish to play. If they’re not participating in tournaments, many gamers are stuck on their phones playing their favorite mobile games.

Rising Challenges

The rising number of international and local tournaments is one of the primary reasons for the growth of the esports segment in Africa. This is especially true in Kenya and South Africa which have hosted several international tournaments in the last few years.

These tournaments are crucial for bringing together players from all over the continent and creating a strong gaming community.

However, there are challenges here, too.

A significant one is a lack of consistency. Looking at the esports gaming scene in America and Asia, one can see that they organize their esports tournaments regularly and seasonally. Things are different in Africa where organizers put them up a few times a year.

In many cases, gamers are forced to organize the tournaments themselves. When this happens, the prizes are quite low and often lead to gamers not wanting to participate because they see the reward as not being worth the effort.

A consistent gaming and tournament culture, gamers say, can help them improve their skills and be better able to compete with players from all over the world, including the US, Europe, and Japan.

What Investors Can Do

Investors can help this market segment grow while also realizing healthy returns on their investments. One of the most important things investors who want to get into his market do is collect additional data. There are significant gaps in the data that has already been collected by other bodies, so additional data collection is crucial for understanding the African gaming market fully.

The second is understanding local stories and lore. Africa is a massive continent, with each country being vastly different from any other. This means the interests of gamers in one country are very different from those in other countries. For example, gamers in South Africa, Kenya, and Nigeria play a lot of sports games but those in other parts of the continent might prefer something different.

The third is an investment in gaming infrastructure. Much of the required infrastructure for internet connectivity and access to games is already available in more developed nations like Kenya, South Africa, Nigeria, Ghana, and Ethiopia. What is lagging is the gaming infrastructure. Fortunately, companies are already working with internet service providers like Safaricom in Kenya to establish servers that ensure easier and lag-free connections to their games.

Gaming Infrastructure Needs and Development

However, this is not strictly necessary with the rise of CDNs for gaming from companies like Gcore and cloud computing solutions. Because these solutions are distributed worldwide, the gaming infrastructure already exists. It only needs investors who can leverage it to bring their games to the continent’s gamers and youth.

Lastly, investors must engage with the gamers to understand the market and its needs. It is one thing to want to create games that focus on local stories and lore, it is another to bring a game to market that players will love and play.

The best way to know if you are achieving the latter is by engaging actual players to see what they would play. This way, the investment is worth it for both the investor and players with the added advantage that a game people and gamers already want will require a much smaller marketing budget.

The African gaming market has been growing for several years now as many more young people get connected to the internet and become interested in it. While challenges remain, many investors and bodies are confident that this gaming market remains the most significant in the world and will see explosive growth in the coming years. After all, they are already seeing such growth in the esports and mobile gaming segments.