The African market is the fastest growing in the gaming world. A sharp rise in gamers is best viewed in Sub-Saharan Africa, with 186 million players, compared to 77 million in 2015.
Africa follows a global trend for most gamers on mobile platforms, but it takes it to the extreme. More than 95% of players in Africa are mobile gamers.
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Smartphone manufacturers are making a big push, seeing the growth of the above-average mobile users. The low starting point is why the mobile phone market has 4.6% growth compared to the global rate of 3%.
Working together on eSports in Africa
Two modern platforms, Triller and Gamr, work together on eSports tournaments for African gamers. Although there are many players and colossal potential, the eSport movement is still developing in the continent.
Triller is a multimedia platform for creators. It uses artificial intelligence to help artists. The idea behind Triller is to create unique content, remix it with the venue and share it through more than 100 filters and editing options.
Gamr Africa is a Nigerian eSports platform that works in 12 countries and gathers more than 65,000 gamers. They recognized the potential and provided infrastructure for gamers who won’t become professionals and organisers who want to manage tournaments. So far, Gamr has organised more than 150 tournaments.
Most popular games
Since mobile gamers are the majority in Africa, eSport partially tweaked the game choice for the tournaments. As a result, call of Duty Mobile and PUBG Mobile are essential parts of the Gamr tournaments.
The boundaries between console or PC games and mobile are increasingly slimmer. Mobile versions of popular shooters are almost identical to originals, and games like Raid: Shadow Legends, Genshin Impact, League of Legends: Wild Rift, and Grid Autosport all have incredible graphics.
Mobile users still love casual games, and the iGaming sector also benefits from more gamers and mobile phones in Africa. Users can play thousands of modern games on the 32Red phone casino. Most platforms make it possible for their users to play on their smartphones, accessing the mobile versions of roulette, blackjack and other classic casino games. If you don’t play AAA titles, iGaming might be perfect instead.
Gamr X tournaments
Triller and Gamr organised the first GamrX final tournament for players from 10 African countries. The prize fund was $15,000, and after local qualification, Lagos hosted the best players from Kenya, Côte D’Ivore, Cameroon, Senegal, Uganda, Tanzania, Ghana, and host country Nigeria.
Triller provided a live stream, and Gamr organised the tournament, equipment, and other Eko Hotel Convention Centre infrastructure.
Tournament finals played out in five games: Fifa21, Call of Duty Mobile, Mortal Kombat, Street Fighter V, and PUBG Mobile. Around 20 gamers were in contention for each game. The entry Fee was a symbolic $9 for the Fifa21 tournament, and the prize pool was $2750 with $1000 for first place.
The partnership between two multimedia platforms enabled engagement throughout Africa. It is a win for both companies, where Gamr gets a social media boost from the large Triller community. In addition, the platform for creators brings premium gaming content to millions of users.
Continent of opportunity
With 1.2 billion people, Africa is a continent of incredible opportunities for eSports development. Almost 40% of the southernmost country are gamers. Some countries have more gamers than others, and in the leading role is South Africa, with 24 million gamers.
Ghana is second with 27% of the gaming population, and Nigeria is a close third with 23%. As the most populous African country, Nigeria is slowly becoming a hub for gaming, primarily thanks to Gamr.
The organisation is highly dedicated to the gaming community and has managed to organise numerous tournaments so far. Connecting gaming communities from African countries demands work, but the active scene is developing.
Two other countries with a significant number of players are Kenya and Ethiopia.
As a co-organizer, Triller will look for its opportunity to acquire more users. The platform is mobile-first and falls into the strengths of the African market. As a result, local artists can create engaging videos and gain more audiences.
Games adjustments
Game developers also recognized the massive potential for the African gaming community. So they are adding new elements in the popular games that allow gamers to own digital assets like characters. Again, blockchain technology is behind digital ownership.
Usiku Games Africa is a Kenyan company developing a new mechanism that will allow for more transparency in games. As a result, the gamers in Africa will get an additional element in their games, and developers will see an increase in the number of players paying for the games. More than 63 million out of 186 million gamers pay for the games, the most significant increase globally.
Digital currencies could streamline the income for both gamers and developers and further increase the gaming population.
Trends like eSports, digital currencies, and mobile gaming dominate the gaming scene in Africa. Triller and Gamr recognized those trends and developed intercontinental tournaments in five popular games.
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