Is fortune favoring the South African game developers?

Not everyone would concern themselves with online games and video games. Only a handful of people prefer to play games like Fortnite, Candy Crush or PUBG but is this true? Online games and video games have expanded beyond the general definition of games and have become an important part of the global economy. This holds true even for the gaming economy of South Africa. The gaming industry across the globe has expanded rapidly including both the mobile games and lockdown during the lockdown and it is estimated that it will touch revenue of $160 billion this very year. Gaming is one of the biggest entertainment genres in the world and surprisingly, is even bigger than the combined value of the film and music industry. One out of three people in the world, which is close to 2.5 billion people, play games on one device or another.

Gaming Industry In South Africa
In South Africa alone, more than 11 million people have engaged themselves in online games like Solitaire and online video games and eSports. These games can be played both in solo mode and in multiplayer mode. There is a huge variation in the race, gender and even income group which makes the gaming industry extremely diverse.

There are many reasons for the growth of the gaming industry in Africa but the most important factor contributing to the growth includes the shifting of the games into the cloud. The moving of the games in the cloud has made all the games more accessible and the devices in which the games are played less important. Even though this is good news for the gamers, it is bad news for popular console suppliers like Nintendo and Sony. However, Apple, Microsoft, Google and Amazon will benefit from these moves. For instance, Amazon has already announced that it would be launching its new streaming game service. However, the industry is only for the brave-hearts as sometimes a huge investment can also give zero results and this has been particularly true for the South African game developers.

However, even though the situation was grave for the South African game developers, the condition is improving for the game developers of South Africa. In the last few decades, South African game developers have been working both with technology and creativity for establishing their reputation. Currently, ten of the South African companies have grown in sustainable size and are competing with the global industry. Even though the revenues are tiny, there has been a growth of 50% in a year.

The South Africa game developers are not much interested in developing AAA-rate games but are focused on working on small and niche games like Spider Solitaire that have a fixed audience. In the past 15 years, a total of around 250 games have been developed in South Africa.

Global Gaming Industry Is Realizing Importance Of Diversity
The gaming industry saw huge growth during the lockdown of the COVID-19 pandemic. Funding has been made available by different gaming industry giants like Humble Bundle and Epic who are helping the developers of the gaming industry. This important step has come after the importance of inclusion and diversity was realized.

In South Africa, the gaming industry has become as important as the film industry. Even though the gaming industry is small in South Africa, it can prove to be an extremely important source of foreign revenue. With the thirst for authentic stories gaining across the world, local developers from around the globe are gaining importance and this is particularly helpful for the South African game developers. It, therefore, becomes important to understand that gaming has become a lot more than gaming and is actually an extremely important industry.

It, therefore, becomes important to realize that if the youngsters are interested in gaming, they should be encouraged to both play and engage in developing the games. Therefore, if a kid approaches the parents to say they want to become a game developer, instead of a horrified expression, an encouraging smile should be provided. It is also particularly very important for the government to understand the importance of the gaming industry and encourage the youngsters of the continent to work in the upcoming and trending sector to stand tall with the new and emerging opportunities to keep the economy strengthened.