It is predicted that in 2024, people in Africa will spend more than a billion dollars on gaming for the first time. What does this mean for the industry?
Africa's gaming sector is attracting increasing numbers of investors, including big names like Microsoft, Sony, and Disney. This is not surprising given its prospects, which are driven by several factors. Not only is the young population actively using smartphones, but also the improving situation with access to the Internet.
The growth of the video game market in Africa is indeed promising. Thus, if in 2022 it brought in 862 million dollars in revenue, in 2024, this figure is expected to cross a billion.
This figure does not include the iGaming industry, which has become extremely popular in Africa in the last few years. Top brands like Melbet, 1win, Pin Up, or Megapari have entered the market.
Our authors studied these and other online casinos and saw several pros that attract players. First of all, there are thousands of games, and it is possible to play them online right from home. Melbet, in the search engine's first position, attracts thousands of customers with various bonuses. To get them, it is enough to activate the Melbet promo code during registration and deposit the minimum amount provided by the promotion.
These and other advantages make gambling extremely attractive in many African countries. The governments of these countries see this attraction and try to capitalize on it. Laws are being simplified to allow operators to operate legally and add to the budgets of African countries.
According to Ebenezer Gasonu, who has been playing since the nineties, there was once a time when players from Africa were not recognized. For example, when he listed Ghana as his country when registering, it turned out that the game didn't support it - and he had to find another one to play. He also says that active video gaming in Africa in the first ten years was frankly bad. In today's environment, online video games are geared towards the whole world, and Africa is now part of that world.
This has also positively impacted the number of gamers—while in 2015, the number of registered players was 77 million, by 2021, that number had passed 186 million, and 95% of players prefer mobile gaming on their smartphones.
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The majority of players see games as a source of entertainment, and they also relax through them; while 73% of people play for fun, another 64% see gaming as a way to relieve stress.
One of the iconic African developers is Daniel Macharia from Kenya. His main project is Nairobbery, an adventure game set in an urban environment with college students as the protagonists. It has one notable feature: clashes between protesters and police, which, for African countries, including Kenya, are commonplace.
The developer himself says that the gameplay is indeed largely inspired by real life—and that's very important to him. Thus, we can say that an interesting future awaits not only the video game market in Africa but also its development. Given the region's cultural characteristics, it clearly has a great future that could give the world a new perspective on video games.
