12 Facts demonstrating the RISE of a Video Game Industry in Africa
Despite the stereotypes conveyed by the media narrative on Africa, several stories are shaping the change of this general negative perception inside or outside the continent. #TheAfricaTheMediaNeverShowsYou initiative on twitter is one of those stories. An another that has the capacity to do so is the gaming industry. Here are some facts that justifies the increasing formalization of the video game industry in Africa.
Lebanon
1. In 2015, Menagames.com, the 1st conference on the video game industry in North Africa and the Middle East took place in Lebanon under the patronage of Minister of Lebanon telecoms.
Nigeria
2. Nigeria is the first African economy on the video game industry with more than 119,664,000 million us dollar in annual revenue, followed by Egypt and South Africa.
Tunisia
3. Tunisia is the home of one of the biggest League of Legend players ’ s community in africa , more than 30,000 players. Esport is not an unknown word in this land .
Morocco
4. Morocco has one of the few telecommunication operators that develops mobile video games fully produced locally like Trombiya on android. Moreover, Inwi the third mobile operator, was elected several times by Technomag Morocco ICT as the most innovative company in services.
Senegal
5. Senegal is the only french speaking country of Africa where the International Game Developers Association (IGDA) is present. Its aim is to help Senegal based game developers behind titles like ‘Ha buggy’, Da’karapid and ‘Cross dakar city’ penetrate the international market. There is 6 IGDA chapters operating in Africa : Egypt , Tunisia , Ghana , Nigeria, Senegal and South Africa. Another fact about Senegal not so known is that the singer and vocalist Baaba Maal is the only African artist who contributed to the soundtrack of a AAA rated video game like FARCRY 2, an Ubisoft bestseller in 2009.
Cameroon
6. Aurion — Legacy of Kori-Odan is the only African video game, developed from Cameroon to be greenlighted by a community vote on the online game sales platform STEAM. Its Director of Production, the Cameroonian Olivier Madiba is part of the Forbes ranking 30under30 in Africa.
Some Datas about Aurion on Steam Spy
Developer: Kiro’o Games Publisher: Plug In Digital
Genre: Action, Adventure, Indie, RPG
Release date: Apr 14, 2016 Price: $19.99
Score rank: 84% Userscore: 92% Owners: 2,681 ± 1,270
Players in the last 2 weeks: 479 ± 937 (17.87%)
Players total: 1,261 ± 871 (47.06%)
Ethiopia
7. Ethiopia became the first country in the world to host an hackathon on gamification for social impact through the leadership of the German cooperation (GIZ) during the tenth edition of the eLearning Africa Conference in May 2015. Thirty participants from all over the world took part in this hackathon to develop mobile apps within 4 days. (Fred Froggy, Top Bird, Build, Zega Citizen builder, Afrione). GIZ is a German federal enterprise active in the field of international cooperation for sustainable development. Last year the European Tourism Board nominated Ethiopia as the World best tourist destination for its economic policy and safeguarding it cultural heritage.
Algeria
8. Algeria is the only African country to have participated in the World Championship video game ESWC ( Electronic Sports World Cup ) in 2006. ESWC Preferred e-sport disciplines of Algerians are Counter Strike, Pro Evolution Soccer and Gran turismo. The Algiers ’s Gamecamp is the most dynamic Gaming event of the Maghreb region with performances in Tunisia .
Senegal / Togo
9. Chawi’s Life is the first set of emoticons 100 percent African available on LINE messaging app , Designed by EFIXX Studios. This mobile application messaging is one the top 50 most innovative companies in the world according to MIT and develops its own mobile games as Ranger LINE or Disney Tsum Tsum with 40 millions active users by month .
Africa
10. Each year more than 18 African cities are taking part into the world’s largest hackathon organized by NASA : The International Space Apps Challenge . One of the challenges of the latest editions was to prototype an educational mobile videogame on the dangers of asteroids and Mars’s exploration. The most dynamic cities in terms of participation are Cairo, Lagos and Abuja who compete at an international level with cities like New York in the United-States.
West Africa / North Africa
11. The #Gamecamp network is one of the largest community of gamers in Africa and the most growing in Francophone Africa with over 10,000 gamers & developers over 10 countries. The most active cities being Oran ( Algeria ), Conakry ( Guinea conakry ) , Tangier (Morocco)
12. The mobile game Sambisa Assault is one of the most downloaded titles in Nigeria with over 700,000 downloads now. This mobile game can teach you how to defeat boko haram’s terrorists .
