African children usually grow linearly.
Zuga grew up in the interiors of East Africa, aka the “interior”, a young man with an adventurous mind and a love for gaming. Zuga’s only experience with mobile games is listening to the local folk talk about their medieval adventures or combat-based games. Mostly he would just listen attentively, but there weren’t any video game heroes that were nearly as captivating as his two faves: Kwanso and Aburi. These are just two characters that he invented on his hand-made African-themed gaming board like North Americans might play family card games on Thanksgiving Day!
As a result of studying the Nile, Kwanso was able to stretch riverbeds across different countries, and Aburi was able to reinvent itself in 550 different forms, each with a native African language, such as Swahili, Xhosa or Yoruba. It didn’t happen for years that he longed to see these indigenous characters and cultures on TV.
Zuga is right that the fastest way for African culture to be exported is through video games and animated series. From all indications, the market is ripe for disruption at the moment.
A 2021 GSMA mobile economy report indicates that 303 million people, almost 28% of the population in sub-Saharan Africa have a mobile internet connection and by 2025, there will be almost 100 million additional mobile subscribers in Sub-Saharan Africa, with Nigeria and Ethiopia accounting for almost a third of this total.
The report also reveals that Sub-Saharan Africa has doubled its number of gamers to 186 million people in the last five years. In part, this is due to African gamers playing on tablets or smartphones rather than consoles. The most number of gamers in South Africa is 24 million, or 40% of its population, followed by Ghana (27%), Nigeria (23%), Kenya (22%), and Ethiopia (13%).
Home-grown gaming companies like Qene Games are playing an important role in transforming the African gaming industry. The venture-backed startup was founded in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
To develop mobile games that represent Africa’s beautiful culture in the global gaming and entertainment industry, where it is presently underrepresented.
In addition to Kukulu and Gebeta, two award-winning mobile games created by Qene Games, their concepts are derived from African stories. As an example, Kukulu refers to a chicken in Ethiopia, and Akukulu Alnegam refers to a traditional Ethiopian sport.
“This is a mobile game based on an African storyline, and it presents opportunities for mobile game developers to be more creative,” Dawit says. “Ethiopia alone has more than one cultural heritage, so you can imagine what Nigeria, South Africa, Morocco, and the entire African continent would contribute to the mobile gaming industry”
Ten African gaming development studios converged under one umbrella in 2022, the Pan Africa Gaming Group (PAGG), as a viable reason for driving the gamification of African culture. The group united the continent’s gaming industry and helped to develop young African developers’ talent.
Through its enriching pan-African cultural heritage embedded in mobile game development, Qene Games, as a member of PAGG, aims to unlock the potential within the continent’s gaming industry. It also seeks to create opportunities for university graduates to pursue careers in the industry.
As a country with over three thousand years of history and culture, Ethiopia is rich in creative inspiration, Dawit told Forbes Africa. Our game developers have access to an endless supply of inspiration, from the unique and artistic music styles that have been around for millennia, to the fascinating legends and folklore.
Founder believes African markets can serve as a source of inspiration for finding ideas for authentic, local-themed mobile games, which will, in turn, attract global stakeholders. As a result of the gap in distribution and sales, I suspect there will be fierce competition among telcos (telecommunication operators) who have been trying to enter the gaming business.
African gaming is fast-growing, but challenges like distribution and monetisation persist, but Dawit says “these challenges won’t stop Africa’s gaming industry from reaching its potential because the time is ripe.”
African children usually grow linearly.
Take Zuga, a young man who grew up in the interior of Africa with an adventurous mind and a love for gaming. His only exposure to video games was hearing older people talk about medieval adventures and combat series while he listened intently, even if none of their foreign-animated heroes came close to his favorite local characters, Kwanso and Aburi. Zuga invented these characters on an African-themed board game that he made by himself.
Kanso stretched riverbeds across various countries (adapted from studying the Nile), and Aburi was able to reinvent itself in 550 forms, each bearing its own African language, from Swahili to Xhosa to Yoruba. For years, his longing to see these indigenous characters and culture on the “big screen” — what he called the television — did not come true.
Today, the story is changing. Zuga is right that the fastest way African culture can be exported is through games and animation series. From all indications, the market is ripe for disruption.
A 2021 GSMA mobile economy report indicates that 303 million people, almost 28% of the population in sub-Saharan Africa have a mobile internet connection, and there will be almost 100 million new mobile subscribers in Sub-Saharan Africa by 2025, with Nigeria and Ethiopia accounting for almost a third.
The report also reveals that Sub-Saharan Africa has doubled its number of gamers to 186 million people in the last five years. African gamers prefer tablets and smartphones over consoles due to this development. A 40% share of the population of South Africa is a gamer, followed by Ghana (27%), Nigeria (23%), Kenya (22%) and Ethiopia (13%)…”
African gaming companies, like Qene Games, are playing a key role in making this happen. The venture-backed startup was founded in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, in 2011.
Developed by Dawit Abraham to showcase Africa’s beautiful culture in the global gaming and entertainment industry, where it is currently underrepresented.
Among Qene Games’ brainchildren are Kukulu and Gebeta, two award-winning mobile games. Kukulu is the name of a chicken in Ethiopia, whose concept originates from a traditional Ethiopian sport called Akukulu Alnegam, according to its creators. They both have their concept derived from an African storyline.
It is one of many mobile games based on African themes, which gives developers more creative opportunities. Dawit says Ethiopia alone has more than one cultural heritage, so you can imagine what Nigeria, South Africa, Morocco, and the rest of Africa would contribute to Africa’s mobile gaming industry.
Earlier in 2022, 10 African gaming development studios converged under one umbrella, the Pan Africa Gaming Group (PAGG), to unite the African gaming industry and promote the development of young African developers as one of the viable reasons to drive the gamification of African culture.
Through its enriching pan-African cultural heritage embedded in mobile game development and creating opportunities for university graduates who wish to pursue careers in mobile game development, Qene Games as a member of PAGG intends to unlock the potential within the continent’s gaming industry.
In an interview with Forbes Africa, Dawit said, “Ethiopia, with over 3,000 years of history and culture, has a rich pool of creative inspiration. Our game developers are able to feed their creativity and imagination from the many fascinating legends and folklore of our region, as well as the artistic and unique music styles that have been around for millennia.
The founder believes that Africa is a hub of inspiration to seek ideas for authentic and local-themed mobile games, which will in turn attract stakeholders globally into the African market. To fill the distribution and sales gap, he said there might be fierce competition between telcos (telecommunication operators) who have been attempting to enter the gaming industry.
In spite of Africa’s fast-growing gaming industry, challenges such as distribution and monetisation persist, but Dawit says “these challenges won’t stop Africa’s gaming industry from reaching its potential because Africa is game.”
