Outside of Africa, gaming is a large industry, and although it flourishes in several nations on the continent in local gaming communities, those involved in the company in Uganda mention a lack of money and cooperation, as well as exorbitant internet costs, as some of the hurdles holding back the same.
“You need programmers, animators, and concept designers to build games,” said Phillip Mukasa, operations director of the Kampala-based Klan of the Kings company. It is simpler to collaborate with persons who have varied abilities and resources.”
Nicholas ‘Nemesis’ Keya, the founder of Telalila studio in Kampala, agrees, stating that “studio owners in Uganda lack funds to hire game developers,” and that “creative outputs need a concept or point of origin.”
Gaming is modest but booming in Uganda, according to Laurean Ntaate, the founder of Tribe Uganda studio and organizer of the annual Digiart Fest in Kampala, who claims his event attracts gamers of all ages. “Games are not only amusing but also educational. We’ve been contacted by many companies to aid them in reaching out to game developers to make their story.”
According to Ntaate, consistency will raise awareness and pique the curiosity of more individuals. Keya, Mukasa, and Ntaate participated in a panel discussion during a recent fireside session conducted at the Design Hub Kampala.
The session focused on Uganda’s gaming community, emphasizing the local viewpoint on gaming as an economic activity, its social consequences, and the influence of cooperation. It was part of the Goethe Institute’s world-tour show Games and Politics: Interactive Exhibition, which was hosted at the Design Hub.
It dives into the political impact of games on society and provides an interactive experience in which people connect with one another through playing various computer games.
This political perspective is shared by all of the games in Gaming and Politics, and it is intended by the game’s creators to set them apart from both the traditional market and computer games as an entertainment medium. They cover a broad variety of themes, including democracy, gender, refugees, and the media.
The Games and Politics exhibition in Uganda highlighted the benefits and drawbacks of gaming in political discussions. What options are available to people?
What intentional choices must you make in games like the Perfect Woman, which explores gender roles? What is this War of Mine, in which you are imprisoned and trying to avoid being murdered, or in which you are assaulting people with drones?
The panelists emphasized the need of localizing games by integrating local stars and places.
“We need to include more female characters in our tales to lure people in and give them a different viewpoint,” said Raymond Malinga, CEO of Creatures Animation company in Kampala.
“Games have mostly been male-oriented,” Mukasa said, “but in our studio’s upcoming inaugural game (Sunjata: Trumpet of Last Day), we feature a female character.”
“We plan to release it first on Xbox and PlayStation platforms in mid-July, followed by mobile and PC soon after,” Mukasa says.
According to Mukasa, Uganda’s gaming business is mainly informal, with individual-owned gaming parlors charging per hour of playing time. However, the potential is enormous. Since of Uganda’s high mobile phone penetration, content makers have a unique opportunity because their work reaches a varied audience.
“Even with piracy, he feels the future of gaming is bright because “people have the power to build games from anywhere in the globe and distribute them internationally.” This works in our advantage since we are in the fastest-growing area.”
According to Keya, the introduction of co-production platforms such as Enter Africa Network will assist to reduce production costs by leveraging economies of scale and cooperating with international marketplaces such as Gamescom, Telalila, and Spielfabrique, Ubisoft, and telecommunications such as Orange.”
In January, Games Industry Africa released the State of the African Games Industry 2022 study, which focused on five main Sub-Saharan African countries: South Africa, Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, and Ethiopia.
According to the report, South Africa has 24 million individuals playing in a population of 59 million (40 percent), while Ghana has 27 percent, Nigeria has 23 percent, Kenya has 22 percent, and Ethiopia has 13 percent.
In terms of overall yearly gaming income in 2021, South Africa leads the way ($290 million), followed by Nigeria ($185 million), Ghana ($42 million), Kenya ($38 million), and Ethiopia ($35 million).
South African gamers pay for games via conventional means at a greater rate (43 percent) than Ghanaians and Ethiopians (33 percent) or Nigerians and Kenyans (33 percent) (32 percent).
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