In 2024, the gaming sector in Sub-Saharan Africa is anticipated to produce more over $1 billion for the first time.
The data, which was gathered by Dutch research company Newzoo for African gaming startup Carry1st, indicates a booming market for gaming in Africa, where economic development has lagged as the continent struggles with persistent inflation, difficult financial circumstances, and high net debt.
According to the World Bank, Sub-Saharan Africa’s economic growth rate fell from 4.1% in 2021 to 3.6% in 2022. And it is anticipated to decrease even further in 2023, to 3.1%.
In spite of this, the video game market in Africa has been doing nicely. According to data from Newzoo, $862.8 million was made in income from games sold in the area in 2022, an increase of 8.7% over the previous year.
That stands in opposition to a global decline in video gaming activity as the effect of Covid lockdowns wears off and consumers are being forced to make cuts due to a greater cost of living.
The worldwide games market produced $182.9 billion in sales in 2022, a 5.1% decrease from 2021, Newzoo.
The most noteworthy aspect of the statistics, according to Carry1st CEO Cordel Robbin-Coker, is the “underlying secular growth in the games market in sub-Saharan Africa.”
“We have the fastest-growing population in the world,” he said. “People are signing up for the first time online at an extremely fast rate. Over 90% of that is done so using a mobile phone. The need for content is quite great.
Particularly, the uptake of cellphones has improved Africa’s gaming chances. Since there are more young people than usual in the area, digital technology has been widely adopted.
According to the mobile industry trade group GSMA, 87% of people in sub-Saharan Africa will own a smartphone by 2030, up from 51% in 2022.