Africa is shunning the gaming industry and missing out on opportunities in a sector touted as one of the most lucrative in the world, raking in close to US$82 billion globally last year alone.
Speaking at the Social Good Summit panel sitting held in Nairobi, Kenya yesterday, Kirore said: “Do not wait to know everything before you start. We (ma3racer) did not know anything about game development. We started by reading wide, and within no time we had a lot of valuable knowledge that helped us to develop the game.”
Africa presents a huge market for online and mobile-based games. Mobile penetration is currently estimated at 700 million subscribers. As of December last year, the continent had close to 139 million Internet users, according to Internet World Stats. In 2000, it was only 4.5 million, indicating a 2,988 percent growth.
Kirore urged developers to build connections through networking.
“Get out there, mingle with the other people in the industry with different skill sets, work together with them and bring your ideas to life,” he said.
He added that he had had the ma3racer gaming idea in his mind for a long time, until he made the decision to work and bring his idea to life.
Ma3racer is a game set on the busy highways of Nairobi, Kenya’s capital. One needs to overtake and make sure they do not ram into any of the obstacles on the way to the finish line. It has been downloaded over 800,000 times.
Another African gaming company that may have realized the potential of gaming in Africa is Maliyo Games from Nigeria. Maliyo has 10 Web-based games, and was launched earlier this year offering localised Nigerian content to its audience in the country.
Just recently, the company said it is planning to expand to Kenya and South Africa, a clear indication of the potential that gaming industry has in Africa.
Those in the sector claim that the most important thing is to create games based on the local experiences of the audiences. If this model is implemented, then they believe that Africa will be among the continents with the highest game revenue earners in the world.
