Africa Gaming Market - Growth, Trends, COVID-19 Impact, and Forecasts (2022 - 2027)

Africa Gaming Market - Growth, Trends, COVID-19 Impact, and Forecasts (2022 - 2027)

The gaming industry is expected to register a CAGR of 12% during the forecast period (2021 - 2026). The Covid-19 pandemic had a positive effect on the African Gaming Market. The pandemic lead to mandated stay-at-home orders, which resulted in the customers spending more time and money on various games and gaming consoles, which led to the growth of the commercial segment of the gaming market.

Key Highlights

• The most recent trend is the growing availability and popularity of multi-functional gaming consoles, which are emerging in the market and helping in growing the market of video games in the region.
• The African region is one of the regions in the world where the youth population is increasing. By 2050, Africa's young people, i.e., those aged between 0 and 24 years, will witness an increase of around 50%. Africa is expected to have the most significant number of young people. Africa's youth is critical to the continent's future when it comes to gaming.
• Moreover, African studios are making new inroads with the launch of original, locally produced content on Netflix. Several local content productions have also been nominated for several global awards, including the Oscars.
• The video games market in South Africa has witnessed strong growth in the past few years. It is expected that there will be more than 11 million gamers in South Africa. Gamers in the country are moving to social gaming, the free-to-play revenue model with downstream in-game purchases. It has become increasingly popular in the country.
• Owing to such factors, the market is expected to witness growth over the forecast period. Countries like Kenya, Nigeria, and Uganda are the other top game developers in the African region. The gaming industry is also bringing millions of dollars for countries per year. This is for all categories of video games: mobile, PC, Xbox, and PS.

Key Market TrendsSmartphone Segment is Expected to Have Major Market Share

• The proliferation in mobile technology and its associated use cases have unleashed technological evolution in the region. Further, the development of communication technology with leapfrogged traditional advances such as telephones has led to smartphones' direct adoption.
• These instances have allowed the region to skip the cumbersome and time-consuming process involved in the traditional practices and gave access to newer technologies such as satellite that allowed for quicker installations and reduced costs.
• For instance, according to a report from GSMA published in 2019, an association of mobile network operators worldwide, there are over 747 million active mobile users in sub-Saharan Africa, thereby representing 75% of the population.
• The growing smartphone leading to internet adoption has further leveraged the increase in the adoption of common use-cases such as gaming, social media, and online shopping. These instances led to the formation of the mobile money market in the region, further with over half of the world's mobile payments occurring in Africa alone, showcases the untapped potential of the market with growing monetization standards in gaming apps such as paid apps, and in-app purchases, among others.
• Thereby, with the company marking its entrance into the smartphone market as the first smartphone manufacturer in Africa, it has boosted the region's ambitions to become a regional technology hub and is expected to the smartphone gaming market.
• A comparative study conducted by the National Center biotechnology information on mobile gaming worldwide stated that smartphone gaming accounts for 24% in Africa.
• Further, this percentile is expected to grow steadily for years to come due to the growing number of mobile gaming titles and the emergence of freemium games.
• Moreover, the increasing youth population is further attracting investment into the region. For instance, In May 2020, Carry1st, a gaming development startup, announced that it had raised an investment of USD 2.5 million led by CRE Venture capital to support and invest in-game publishing across Africa.

Piracy, Laws and Regulations, and Concerns Relating to Fraud During Gaming Transactions will Impact the Growth of the Market

• Most African countries have gaming commissions and laws that regulate gambling. South Africa has clear gaming laws and regulations. It was the first country to create gambling regulations on the continent. Also, online casinos are popular in the country.
• In South Africa, several legislative attempts to further restrict online gambling and payment transactions of unlicensed operators have been postponed in recent years. However, some legislators and regulators at the provincial level have called for a less restrictive regime.
• There is currently an ongoing political and religious debate on the perceived high number of minors accessing gambling. As a result, in May 2019, the minister of finance urged the National Gaming Board (NGB) to stop issuing gaming and betting licenses immediately.
• The government restricted gambling advertising as of January 2019. Additional measures to ensure responsible gambling and revenue collection to the state budget are on the list.
• A new advocacy organization designed to collaborate, coordinate, partner, build and sustain the growth of esports on the continent has been formed. ESFA, or The Esports Federation of Africa, is established by a community of both private esports entities and national federations.
• WESCO affiliates it. With the launch of the ESFA, African gamers now have a voice, an advocate, an organization with grassroots developments of players at its core. These will provide better opportunities and therefore strengthen the local market in the region.
• In June 2020, UNICEF published a set of recommendations for the online gaming industry, primarily designed to guide and support the online gaming companies through a process of incorporating child rights considerations throughout their business activities.

Competitive Landscape

The gaming market is highly fragmented as the demand for online games and increasing penetration of mobile applications across the region will help attract new players in this market over the next few years. Some of the key developments in the market are Kucheza, Kagiso Interactive, Nyamakop, Celestial Games, Kuluya.

• February 2021- Designed to be accessible to all, Kucheza Gaming is on a mission to help the younger generation prepare for the future of work. They announced the School Esports (video game) League Season 2. Kids and teens come together to play Fortnite, Minecraft, and F1 online every Friday for seven weeks. This is done in partnership with Mettlestate.
• March 2021 - Kuku-Ya-Ku is most famous for Monster Hunter World. They are also trying to target the six quests. They have launched the game ''Iceborne'', which is proved as a successful launch.

Additional Benefits:

• The market estimate (ME) sheet in Excel format
• 3 months of analyst support

Companies Mentioned
 
Gamesole
Kuluya
Chopup
Kucheza
Kagiso Interactive
Nyamakop
Celestial Games
Clockwork Acorn
Sony Corporation
Microsoft Corporation

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