Gaming market in Africa expected to reach $1 billion: CNBC

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: CNBC
14 Jul 2023 19:19

The African gaming market is registering substantial growth in contrast to a contracting global market.

A mobile user plays Pokemon Go as he walks around the University of Lagos in Nigeria, July 14, 2016. (AFP)

The Sub-Saharan African gaming industry is speculated to generate over $1 billion in 2024, hitting all-time-high figures, according to a report published by CNBC.

The figures were determined by Newzoo, a Dutch research firm for African tech startup Carry1st.

Although the African markets suffer from sluggish growth and long-lasting inflation, the gaming market has been performing well in the continent. CNBC says that in 2022 alone, revenue generated from gaming reached $862.8 million, marking an 8.7% increase from the previous year.

The substantial growth of the African gaming sector contrasts the global trend, as the world gaming market has contracted by 5.1% between 2021 and 2022, bringing revenues down to $182.9 billion.

Carry1st CEO Cordel Robbin-Coker says that Covid was a major contributor to the expansion of the global gaming market, "those benefits have receded, we’re starting to see growth slow and even decline in other markets."

Robbin-Coker highlighted Africa's rapidly growing population and noted that "people are coming online for the first time at a really rapid pace. Most of that – over 90% – is via mobile phone. There’s really strong appetite for content."

The key phenomenon which has spurred this growth is the adoption of smartphones by African users as underlined by Jackson Vaughan, a managing partner at Konvoy, a venture capital firm.

"These initial numbers for gaming on the continent are promising, but the longer-term trends of population growth, internet penetration, and smartphone adoption paint a picture of incredible growth for gaming on the continent."

By 2030, around 87% of the population is expected to own a smartphone which will spur up the gaming industry even further, CNBC underlined.

Mobile gaming took up around 90% of total gaming revenue as it generated $778.6 million in 2022, according to Newzoo.