- Jurgen Klopp to target player welfare in Red Bull role
- Volkswagen sees 'painful' cost cuts ahead as profit plunges
- Spain races to save victims as floods kill 62
- Tuberculosis cases hit record high: WHO
- Volcanoes 'hidden source' of CO2 in past climate change: study
- Eurozone economy grows faster than expected
- Mediators to propose Gaza truce amid deadly Israeli strikes
- China's Hisense first sponsor of new Club World Cup
- Georgia prosecutors probe alleged election 'falsification'
- New Zealand's Ajaz 'emotional' on Mumbai return after perfect 10
- Trump, Harris in frantic campaign push as US election nears
- Worries for Japan economy after election shock
- Israel short on soldiers after year of war
- Volkswagen profit plunges on high costs, Chinese slump
- De Zorzi out for 177 as S.Africa power to 413-5 against Bangladesh
- 'CEO of supercute': Hello Kitty turns 50
- Australia head coach McDonald handed new deal until 2027
- Visual artist grabs 'decisive moment' to nurture Chad art scene
- Industrial slump leaves Germany on brink of recession
- 'I'm terrified': French auteur Audiard hits Oscars trail for 'Emilia Perez'
- New Indonesia defence chief harks back to dictator's rule
- In Tennessee, the despair of gun control advocates
- US economy's solid growth unlikely to register at ballot box
- 'A treasure': Japan's Ohtani a hometown hero win or lose in World Series
- Botswana votes with ruling party seeking to extend six decades of power
- Bitcoin close to record as cautious markets eye US election
- Hometown hero Volpe lives dream with grand slam for Yankees
- Rested relief pitchers please Roberts even after Dodgers defeat
- UK's Labour govt prepares to deliver decisive first budget
- Volpe's grand slam helps Yankees avoid World Series sweep
- Taiwan battens down for Super Typhoon Kong-rey
- MotoGP world title in sight as Martin, Bagnaia set for Sepang duel
- 'New wave' as start-up sweeps up Thai ocean plastic
- Botswana votes with ruling party aiming to extend six decades of power
- How harmful are microplastics to human health?
- Are bioplastics really the wonder alternative to petro plastics?
- Rumble in the Jungle remembered after 50 years
- Trump risks backlash with anti-trans ads targeting Harris
- Alzheimer's patient 'relieved' at Quebec's assisted suicide policy shift
- Who should get paid for nature's sequenced genes?
- Bodies found as torrential rains slam Spain
- Climate change driving 'record threats to health': report
- Harris warns of 'obsessed' Trump power grab at mass Washington rally
- Southampton, Brentford scrape into League Cup quarter-finals
- PGA players council seeks smaller fields, fewer full tour spots
- Napoli extend lead at top of Serie A with win at AC Milan
- Jennifer Lopez to boost Harris at glitzy Las Vegas event
- Global stocks mixed as markets await Big Tech results
- Three-person crew blasts off for China's Tiangong space station
- Google reports strong growth driven by AI, Cloud
RBGPF | 100% | 62.35 | $ | |
CMSC | -0.65% | 24.57 | $ | |
SCS | -3.11% | 12.21 | $ | |
NGG | -1.35% | 65.12 | $ | |
BCC | -5.3% | 131.64 | $ | |
GSK | 0.76% | 38.17 | $ | |
AZN | -1.05% | 75.22 | $ | |
BTI | -1.31% | 34.46 | $ | |
RELX | -0.52% | 47.91 | $ | |
RIO | 0.6% | 66.58 | $ | |
RYCEF | 0.55% | 7.25 | $ | |
BCE | -0.71% | 32.46 | $ | |
JRI | -0.69% | 12.98 | $ | |
CMSD | -0.16% | 24.84 | $ | |
VOD | -2.8% | 9.28 | $ | |
BP | -5.76% | 29.36 | $ |
Video game developers cash in on Africa's booming mobile market
Two manga-like avatars lock swords against a comic strip backdrop, as Alexander Poone explains the different worlds of "The Traveller" -- a video game based on a graphic novel.
The 27-year-old from Johannesburg is showcasing his creation at the annual Africa Games Week taking place in Cape Town.
Organisers of the continent's largest gathering of game developers aim to help the gaming industry meet demand for African-made content and boost the potential of local talent.
Most of the games on the market are from America, Europe and Japan, but African content is negligible, said Poone.
There's "a lot of content that is new and not been fully explored yet," said Poone, founder of Dream Shards.
The hybrid event opened on Wednesday and will run through Friday, attracting some 2,500 developers, coders, designers, investors, and publishers, with 600 of them attending in-person.
Event co-founder Nick Hall said a lot of publishers say they want African-made content.
- 'One billion gamers' -
"There's a huge opportunity. Now is ...the best time really to be making games or trying to get into the games industry because we're hoping in the next few years we're going to see a massive spike in growth," he said.
Burdened with poverty and infrastructure problems such as reliable telecoms and electricity supply, Africa traditionally lagged far behind other continents in gaming.
But recent years have seen an extraordinary boom -- gamers in sub-Saharan Africa increased to 186 million in 2021 from 77 million in 2015, according to a study by game analytics company Newzoo.
Of those 186 million, 63 million pay for games as the continent embraces digital currencies.
Nine-five percent of the market is on mobiles, reflecting the continent's improved Internet access and affordable smartphones.
Previously, many Africans got their virtual fix on computers in internet cafés.
Africa, along with China and India, is expected to surpass a billion gamers, and the continent is home to industry's "last untapped consumer audience", Hall said.
He predicts that Africa could reach one billion users in the next five years.
To cash in on Africa's gaming boom, large developers need to work with local content creators, such as streamers or You Tubers, Hall said.
South Africa is by far the continent's largest gaming market with 40 percent of its population playing, followed by Ghana and Nigeria. And a lot more are upcoming.
- 'New El Dorado' -
In the Central African Republic, Teddy Kossoko founded Masseka Game Studio, which creates games telling stories of African cultures and history.
He is highly optimistic despite lacking resources to train youngsters to become professional gamers.
"For me, the future of this industry, and not only this industry, is in Africa -- it's the new El Dorado," he said.
"Centuries ago there was a gold rush in America. Today, I believe this gold rush is happening here on the African continent, and we (Africans) have to be first".
Others developers are making games not just for fun, but for social causes.
Jay Shapiro of Usiku Games, a Kenya-based social impact gaming company, created Seedballs, which helps replenish Kenya's lost forests in the semi-arid north of the country.
Kenya this year hopes by end of this year to have increased its forest cover from seven percent to 10 percent.
Shapiro says the game is helping achieve that goal.
"We created a mobile game for them when you fly a plane, and instead of the usual dropping bombs and trying to destroy things, you're dropping seeds and trying to plant trees," he said.
At the end of the game, players are congratulated on the numbers of virtual trees they have planted, and are asked if they would like to turn those into real trees.
They are urged a donation of one Kenyan shilling (just 0.008 of a dollar) per virtually planted tree.
"It's the only example we've seen of actually using gaming to plant real trees," Shapiro said.
L.Torres--PC