According to GamesIndustry, yesterday GamesIndustry Africa released a report "The State of the African Game Industry 2021", which said that South Africa generated $290 million (about 1.8 billion yuan) of consumer spending for the whole of 2021, with a per capita $12 (about 76 yuan), while South Africa has a total of 24 million gamers.
This compares to $185 million (about 1.17 billion yuan) in Nilia, followed by Ghana at $42 million (about 260 million yuan), Kenya at $38 million (about 240 million yuan) and Ethiopia with $35 million (about 220 million yuan).
The report took a closer look at the five major countries in the region (Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria and South Africa) and found:
South Africa has the highest level of gamer saturation, with 24 million people playing games in a population of 59 million (40%).
Ghana has 27% of people playing games, Nigeria 23%, Kenya 22% and Ethiopia 13%.
South Africa leads the way in total annual game revenue ($290 million) in 2021, followed by Nigeria ($185 million), followed by Ghana ($42 million), Kenya ($38 million) and Ethiopia ($35 million).
Through traditional channels, south African gamers pay a higher proportion of game fees (43 per cent) than Ghanaians and Ethiopians (33 per cent) or Nigerians and Kenyans (32 per cent).
Although Nigeria is the second largest consumer spender in Africa in 2021, the report said that only 32% of gamers pay for games, compared with only 23% of Nigeria's entire population.
For further comparison, the State of the Game Industry in Africa 2021 report notes that 24 million (43%) of South Africa's population pays to play games.
The report forecasts trends for the African gaming industry in 2022. Noting that cross-collaboration between game development studios on the continent is likely to increase.
In addition, it said more public or private funding is expected to enter the gaming industry this year, such as the Diversified Game Developers Fund, the African Game Developers Prototype Fund and the Black Game Developers Fund.