It’s amazing how much evolution has happened in the last decade, and scary how much more will happen in the next decade. But this article is not about fear or an impending AI revolution. No. This…this is about games about Nigerians, about boys and girls with kinky hairs and hoodies, singlets, sometimes bare-chested, armed with consoles, and creating a different kind of reality. This is an article about Nigerians for Nigerians in Nigeria. For that is what an ecosystem is: a community of people and their physical environment interacting together.
A few years ago, we were all stuck up in the Gameboy color fever, Nintendo 64, and the Casio infrareceptors. Decades later, almost everyone has an Xbox Playstation or a mobile device for online gaming. More fascinating is the fact that the gaming community has evolved from just a group of game lovers into a community of gamers, creators, writers, storytellers, visual artists, and moderators. It is safe to say that in today’s world, gaming has evolved from the limited definition of a community to an almost infinite industry landscape with potential for continued development, with Nigerians making up 1.4% of the total.
The Nigerian Gaming Industry
The gaming industry in Nigeria has grown rapidly in the last few years, with a 70% increase in revenue between 2018 and 2020, moving from one hundred and eighty million dollars to three hundred and six million dollars within two years. Based on industry projections, 2024’s revenue will exceed five hundred million dollars.
Given the rapid growth of the games industry, there are speculations that the Nigerian gaming industry might soon exceed its music and movie counterparts. Hugo Obi, CEO and founder of Maliyo Games Studios based in Lagos, opined in 2022 that the Games industry in Nigeria is bigger than Nollywood, Hollywood, and the music industry all put together.
Despite the fact that his stateent was laced with a lot of exaggerated optimism, it remains true that the Nigerian games industry reeks of potential and prospects for expansion.
It is therefore safe to say that the gaming ecosystem in Nigeria needs a lot more exploration, a lot more involvement, and a lot more community effort geared towards expansion and broadening. These explorations come in the form of game conferences, ecosystem meet and greets, symposiums focused on the gaming industry, and game exposition.
In the last few years, there have been considerable efforts to broaden the ecosystem. Thanks to events like the Africa Gaming Expo organized in Lagos, Gamr X, Gamathon by Africa Comicade, 1stival by Carry1st, Kon10dr Esports Championships by Kon10dr, and the Lagos Games Festival.
While it seems like The Nigerian Gaming ecosystem is limited to Lagos State, other states are beginning to catch the fever. In the heart of PortHarcourt, and rising like a phoenix, there has emerged a formidable Gaming event, aimed at broadening games and the gaming ecosystem in Nigeria, focusing on PortHarcourt. It is the PortHarcourt Game Expo 1.0.
Game Expo 2024: A Southern and Eastern Nigeria Game Conference
- The Game Expo Experience From Planning to Execution
- Building A Career as a Gamer– Dominion Ero
- Building A Career in The Games Industry– Edu Shola
- Why Games? What’s Special About It?– Louis White Jonah
- Diversity In Games. Learning Through Games – Sophia Abubakar
- Game testing As A Career – Kamsi Eduzor
- Exploring Animation And Arts In Games– Greg Osimiri
- Building A Career in AR, VR, And XR Gospel Ononwi
- Bridging Creativity And Business Oscar Michael
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Chidi Light @ Gameverse Africa
