It is no surprise that the 2013 Game Developers Conference featured Ghana´s LETI ARTS creators among its main gaming industry speakers. The presentation was entitled, “The Emerging Landscape of African Game Development.”
The last couple of years have seen abundant buzz about the African gaming industry. From BBC to Indiewire and CNN, international media have been paying attention to Africa’s pioneering game developers.
As the African middle class grows and smartphone use soars, the market for mobile games and apps is growing across the continent. Local gaming industry startups are expanding and diversifying.
Ghana´s Leti Arts and Cameroon´s Kiro´o Games have something in common; they are both local companies that focus on developing games and comics, often based on African history and legends. While they are at different stages in their development, in a way, they represent some of the most dynamic players in a promising gaming industry.
AFKInsider interviewed Leti Arts CEO Eyram Tawia and Kiro´o Games CEO Olivier Madiba about the present and future of their companies and the environment in which they are developing. While Tawia represents one of the continent´s most successful gaming companies, Madiba is at the helm of one of its most talked about up-and- coming game developing endeavors.
Their sometimes parallel and sometimes opposing visions can offer a comprehensive perspective of Africa´s gaming industry today and what we can expect for its future.
AFKI: How do you differentiate your market from those based in the U.S. or Europe?
KIRO´O: Very simply, let say that our market is equal to the U.S./Europe market plus Africa market. We plan to target all the world (even Asia) because we think that, due to our position and history (colonization, etc) we understand the needs of everyone, So, we can make games that integrate every philosophy in the world.
The main challenge for us, the first Africans studios (Kiro’o, Kuluya, Effix, and all the others) is that we must create our professional distribution circuit across the continent. There is a lot of gamers all around Africa, but we must work out the logistics needed to bring the games to them at the right price.
LETI ARTS: There are several differences between the African gaming market and other markets. The major difference is the lack of a widespread video game culture in Africa as compared to other markets. The video game culture is lacking both from a consumer and business perspective. There is currently a relatively small pool of avid gamers in Africa and most businesses do not yet consider gaming a good promotional tool for sales, brand growth and customer engagement. The African market also differs from US and Europe with respect to internet access and payment infrastructure, both important parts of the modern gaming ecosystem worldwide.
AFKI: What are Africa´s competitive advantages in terms of the world gaming industry?
KIRO´O: Our competitive advantages are:
– Very low budget of production: The video game industry´s costs are mainly related to human resources. If you pay big salaries in African money, they are still low in Euros or dollars, so, we can make games profitable for investors.
– Innovative materials : There is only one Greek mythology, one Japanese mythology, one American history, but there are a lot of African mythologies. For the last 20 years, game developers have focused a lot on Western and Asian cultures, but you know, in Cameroon, we have more than 300 ethnicities so a game developer can draw from a very large set of unknown stories or traditions to create new games and new level design patterns.
On the flip side, poor internet connections and teams with little experience are difficulties we have to face every day, but this is balanced out by all the advantages I mentioned.
LETI ARTS: Africa has several strong competitive advantages in the gaming industry, if leveraged
properly. As a nascent territory for gaming, the potential for growth, is enormous compared to matured gaming markets. There is huge untapped market potential in the areas of training and recruiting talent; licensing and distributing content; licensing for branding and merchandising. Investments usually flow where there is the potential for biggest returns and economic gain.
Therefore this huge potential for growth is a big competitive advantage for the African gaming market. Mobile is the new frontier in gaming and all trends point to mobile being the largest platform for gaming medium to long term.
Africa is the fastest growing region in the mobile industry globally. This therefore gives Africa a strong comparative advantage in the industry as most gaming in Africa will occur on mobile devices. Another strong competitive advantage for Africa is its growing middle class. Large numbers of Africans are suddenly reaching middle income status, which brings with it growing disposable incomes.
Entertainment, of which gaming is a component, is likely to be one of the areas benefiting from this growth. There is already evidence of this as more teens and young adults acquire smartphones and start to discover gaming and entertainment on these devices.
Africa is also at the forefront of another growing trend in technology and gaming, mobile payments. More and more Africans are being exposed to mobile payments as the de facto means of paying for goods and services.
This trend provides another strong competitive advantage for Africa over developed markets where adoption of mobile payments is being resisted by consumers. Mobile and Telecom industries have proven this. Africans will use it so long as it is introduced.
AFKI: Are African video games different from Western games in theme and scope?
KIRO´O: Different yes, but the recipe is the same, we take our past, present, maybe future life and we put it into game with more or less fantasy. That’s the main recipe for the mobiles games designed on the continent for the local market. Now, we want to create an African Fantasy called KIRO’O TALES. We want to take African themes and give them a universal appeal. For example, in our game AURION, the construction of the initiatic path of our hero has to do with the quest for “inner force” rather than “brute force,” that is, the hero will not try to become stronger but to become a better version of himself; stronger as a consequence, not as a cause.
AFKI: How would you define your local target audience?
LETI ARTS: Our target audiences are kids between 6-12 who love superheroes and have active imaginations (better for them to be African heroes than Western heroes) and Teens, Young Adults and Adults between 13-35 who are already devoted fans of this type of entertainment content and are therefore likely to be interested in African superheroes.
KIRO´O: Curious and very enthusiastic. They are very excited about the idea of playing games with characters they can identify themselves with. But hardcore gamers are also very critical and demanding. If the games we design are not top notch, they will not like them just because they have African themes. One of the biggest problems is pricing. African gamers don’t have enough buying power, so, they can’t afford a 60 Euro game, even if they want to. Some can, but not everyone. However, our lower production costs allow us to create games that Africans can afford.
AFKI: Do you find enough human resources for the gaming industry locally?
KIRO´O: Yes. In Cameroon, there are a lot of great IT schools, and a lot of talented artists. So, we have programmers and illustrators. We have amazing sound pros. The hardest part was to professionalize the artists, because they were not used to a studio´s rhythm and pressing deadlines, but we pulled it off, because they were highly motivated.
LETI ARTS: No. This is one of the main challenges we have, which we solve by training passionate people through internships. We have always been committed to growing an entire industry and not just building a game company. We therefore accept and train interns across multiple technical disciplines including graphic & creative artists, programmers, story writers, sound engineers and marketing.
AFKI: What are the funding and capital-raising challenges your company faces every day?
KIRO´O: I will definitively write a book about it one day. Before our full page press release in LE MONDE, local investors were sure we were just “another young dreamers` project” and international investors thought it was all a “Nigerian prince” scam. Our plan was good, our assets and evaluation of risks too, but there was a problem of trust. The hardest part was looking for the initial investors, but when they made the jump, others immediately followed. We have also organized our fundraising “step by step”, to build up trust and maximize the security of our investors` funds. We have a system of milestones in place, and they only move ahead with their investments once they see the results of the initial funding in the studio. We are very transparent with them about it, and it really works to keep both us and them in check and always try to stay on budget.
LETI ARTS: Investment is a big challenge. Investment in Africa focuses on infrastructure, natural resources and manufacturing with IT being less funded. It is possible to find angel investment funding but growth stage investment especially in a new industry as ours is very hard. It is hard to find investors who see the innovation and are willing to fund innovation versus focusing on immediate revenue.
AFKI: Are Africans interested in video games with African themes and a cultural roots component?
KIRO´O: Yes, but above all they want good games. If a game is African-based but has a poor staging
and un-ambitious game play, it will not be a success here.
LETI ARTS: Yes. I believe so. As long as the quality of the games are on par or exceed those of Western games, Africans are very interested in African themed games. Africans love and connect to their own culture but find it difficult to market it to the world through technology. Games are a new medium for expressing and communicating African culture, therefore they MUST be interested.
AFKI: What do you consider are the biggest players in your industry on the continent today?
LETI ARTS: Leti Arts, Kuluuya, Maliyo, Kola Studios, Afroes and counting.
KIRO´O: I think there is a big gaming base in South Africa and Nigeria, also in North Africa. As for the rest, there are a lot of gamers, but we must completely organize the distribution circuit.
AFKI: Where do you see your company in 10 years?
LETI ARTS: We see the mobile gaming and comic industry as an enormous opportunity. Globally, the mobile gaming industry is projected for $32 billion by 2016 and the digital comic space is growing 240 percent yearly. With over 1 billion mobile subscribers, increasing internet-enabled devices, and telcos and phone manufactures looking for localized content – the opportunity within Africa also has incredible potential.
LETI ARTS: We seek to be the premier entertainment company in Africa – providing engaging comics and games for Africa and beyond, with globally adored characters and revenue streams across the media industry. Our plan for doing this (within the next two years) is:
1. Create compelling characters and storylines with comics and games
2. Create LETI Entertainment Centre to host and push LETI content. Included: payment, sharing, multimedia capabilities, and advanced comic reading engine
3. Distribute Centre to phone manufactures and telcos for distribution, monetization and to build brand. Also push content through app stores and content providers
4. Build character branding through partnerships with merchandise, newspapers, television, restaurants, top brands
5. Open the LETI Entertainment Centre to other African content creators – developing the “Comixology for Africa”
Within the next ten years, LETI ARTS will have a portfolio of characters with brand awareness rivaling characters from Marvel and DC Comics. Character will have reach beyond digital comics and mobile games to merchandise, animated series, movies and music originating from Africa and extending globally. We will also focus passion for supporting and helping developing talent for game development and related disciplines in our high schools and universities.
KIRO´O: I see KIRO’O GAMES as the main video game and computer new media editor in Africa. I think the technology will evolve rapidly, for example, with augmented reality, and we will be in an ideal position to jump on this train from the start, and just keep moving, adapting new technologies as they come. But what I want the most, is to see games, animes, and comics based on Kiro´o games spreading all over the world.
AFKI: What are the most promising emerging markets in Africa in terms of video game development and the gaming industry?
LETI ARTS: South Africa, Ghana, Kenya, Uganda, Nigeria and Senegal
AFKI: How can the gaming industry contribute to Africa´s overall development?
LETI ARTS: We see gaming contributing significantly to the overall GDP of Ghana, about 20-30 percent. The gaming industry is bigger than the Music and the Movie industry combined in the US and Europe. This makes it a very important part of the economy. GTA V made revenue of about $1 billion in 24 hours.
AFKI: What is your view on video gaming industry and education? Can video games to contribute to education in Africa? If so, how?
LETI ARTS: Yes. Games will definitely contribute a lot to education. Both the development process and the actual playing of games will contribute to education. Game development provides a tangible means to understand programming concepts better as well as understand and spawn interest in STEM related courses. Research has shown that playing games improves problem solving and creativity skills in players. Also serious games are used as an interactive tool to teach and train students as it is more engaging than traditional methods.
AFKI: What is the state of your game AURION´s funding and what are your next steps?
KIRO´O: We have managed to raise already 30 percent of our global investment needs (more than 40,000 euros) and the studio is ready to launch, We are still looking for investors, who can become shareholders for as little as six hundred Euro. Now we must catch up with our set timeline and create that game we promised. I am very happy about this, because as this has been my dream since I was very young, and I am proud to say we are making it real step by step.