Zimbabwe's coming online gaming revolution

Recently seeing massive investments in its fiber infrastructure, Zimbabwe is poised to make major strides into the world of online gaming. Previously limited by slow speeds, costs, and connectivity, new systems have lowered barriers to entry, leading to what could be major advantages in a largely unexplored sector.

While several major projects to develop the internet have taken place over the last few years, the latest has come from the China Exim Bank. Taking a US$98 million loan, TelOne has completed fiber network linkages to Zimbabwe's neighbors, cementing its place within the world wide web. As the first step for major online professional gaming, the industry now has nowhere to go but up.

Tiers of Online Gaming Speed

The reasons that fiber connectivity will prove so important for Zimbabwe's gaming scene is threefold. This ties into bandwidth, latency, and lower costs. With greater bandwidth, games can keep up with all data being sent back and forth. With lower bandwidth, signals take less time to make a round trip. With cheaper internet, more potential players will have access. Note that these advantages don't only apply to fiber users either, as even slower systems like ADSL will hook into greater fiber infrastructure.


"fibers" (CC BY 2.0) by Lionel Henry

This might be confusing for people who for years have already been involved in other types of perfectly performing online interactive entertainment. Online casino games, for example, have long been possible on any mobile system running 3G or above. This is because their games like Narcos, Mojo Spin, and Conan have much lower requirements than many of their video game contemporaries. Even then, the slots and other games have impressive graphics and effects, making them attractive to play. Essentially, new internet developments can take other games up to this level of reliability and performance.

Building a Competitive Base

From this point of developed infrastructure comes possibilities for economic expansion. At the top level, it could allow the development of professional teams, though this is only the tip of the iceberg. Supporting those players at the top could be a wide range of industries, each offering employment, and entertainment benefits.

Internet gaming cafes are a common illustration of this. Formerly limited by concerns of bandwidth and cost, greater fiber availability makes this form of business increasingly viable. These cafés don't necessarily have to be tied to gaming either, as they can also serve as base internet cafes for business or personal use.

On the player level, fiber also provides the opportunity to increase the quality of Zimbabwe's competition. Faster internet means users can connect to those further away, meaning more chances to test and improve player abilities. While it won't itself prove the ability to connect worldwide due to the laws of physics, this will at least serve to raise pools of talent to the next level.


"Iplay Internet cafe in Auckland" (CC BY 2.0) by maticulous

When Zimbabwe sees the application of this promise in action is still an open question. Though the potential is there, leveraging new tech opportunities can take some time. As in other countries, these avenues will be inevitably explored, it's just a matter of when. Until then, expect to see the more casual and business-orientated aspects of internet fiber upgrades first.