The

video game industry The video game industry encompasses the development, marketing, and monetization of video games. The industry encompasses dozens of job disciplines and thousands of jobs worldwide. The video game industry has grown from niches to mainstrea ...

is a relatively young sector in

Nigeria Nigeria ( ), , ig, Naìjíríyà, yo, Nàìjíríà, pcm, Naijá , ff, Naajeeriya, kcg, Naijeriya officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf o ...

. As of 2015, the video game development sector is still very small in the country, with only half a dozen young companies creating games. However, in part due to the country's fast growing mobile market and its young population, video games are rapidly growing in popularity.

Current situation

Due to the growing penetration of

smartphone A smartphone is a portable computer device that combines mobile telephone and computing functions into one unit. They are distinguished from feature phones by their stronger hardware capabilities and extensive mobile operating systems, whi ...

s across Nigeria and mobile broadband access that is cheaper and faster than it has been a few years earlier, developers have the opportunity to spread mobile games easily. The population of Nigeria is young, with more than 60% of the population being under 25 years old, and its locally produced movies and music both form a strong industry. Nigeria has the world's fastest growing mobile internet usage behind

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, most populous country, with a Population of China, population exceeding 1.4 billion, slig ...

and

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area, the List of countries and dependencies by population, second-most populous ...

. According to Kunle Ogungbamila, CEO of Kuluya, Africa is "mobile first," with 650 million mobile-phone subscribers in Africa and close to 20% of those subscribers owning smartphones. This figure is expected to double by 2017. Android-based operating systems are currently the most used, but as the

Google Play Store Google Play, also known as the Google Play Store and formerly the Android Market, is a digital distribution service operated and developed by Google. It serves as the official app store for certified devices running on the Android operating syst ...

has millions of North-American and European applications available in the country, it is difficult for local developers to break through. Furthermore,

in-app purchases Microtransactions, often abbreviated as mtx, are a business model where users can purchase virtual goods with micropayments. Microtransactions are often used in free-to-play games to provide a revenue source for the developers. While microtransact ...

have proven to be an unsuccessful market strategy in Nigeria, with only 15% of the customers of local "breakout hit" '' ChopUp'' being willing to pay. However,

mobile banking Mobile banking is a service provided by a bank or other financial institution that allows its customers to conduct financial transactions remotely using a mobile device such as a smartphone or tablet. Unlike the related internet banking it uses ...

has only been introduced in Nigeria in 2012 and is expected to grow greatly in the coming years.

Microsoft Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational technology corporation producing computer software, consumer electronics, personal computers, and related services headquartered at the Microsoft Redmond campus located in Redmond, Washi ...

's purchase of

Nokia Nokia Corporation (natively Nokia Oyj, referred to as Nokia) is a Finnish multinational telecommunications, information technology, and consumer electronics corporation, established in 1865. Nokia's main headquarters are in Espoo, Finland, i ...

in 2014 helped boosting the

Windows Windows is a group of several proprietary graphical operating system families developed and marketed by Microsoft. Each family caters to a certain sector of the computing industry. For example, Windows NT for consumers, Windows Server for se ...

platform in Nigeria, while

iOS iOS (formerly iPhone OS) is a mobile operating system created and developed by Apple Inc. exclusively for its hardware. It is the operating system that powers many of the company's mobile devices, including the iPhone; the term also include ...

is still lagging behind. According to Nigerian developers, the biggest market for local games is overseas. The business model of video game developer Gamsole targets foreign customers, with their games drawing inspiration from western releases such as '' Candy Crush'' and ''

Angry Birds ''Angry Birds'' is a Finnish action-based media franchise created by Rovio Entertainment. The game series focuses on the eponymous flock of angry birds who try to save their eggs from green-colored pigs. Inspired by the game ''Crush the Castl ...

''. According to founder Abiola Olaniran, "We don’t see it making sense for us to design for Nigerians alone ... We couldn’t have gotten ... 9 million downloads in Nigeria." More than 60% of video games released by Kuluya are being downloaded outside of Nigeria, with most downloads coming from

Ghana Ghana (; tw, Gaana, ee, Gana), officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It abuts the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, sharing borders with Ivory Coast in the west, Burkina Faso in the north, and Tog ...

Kenya ) , national_anthem = " Ee Mungu Nguvu Yetu"() , image_map = , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Nairobi , coordinates = , largest_city = Nairobi , ...

and

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring coun ...

, as well as various Asian countries. In 2013, Kuluya was valued at $2million after raising another seed stage investment to expand its commercial activities. Large western companies such as

Electronic Arts Electronic Arts Inc. (EA) is an American video game company headquartered in Redwood City, California. Founded in May 1982 by Apple employee Trip Hawkins, the company was a pioneer of the early home computer game industry and promoted the ...

and

Gameloft Gameloft SE is a French video game publisher based in Paris, founded in December 1999 by Ubisoft co-founder Michel Guillemot. The company operates 18 development studios worldwide, and publishes games with a special focus on the mobile games ma ...

have been profiting the Nigerian game market since 2012. Meanwhile, large console manufacturers such as

and

Sony , commonly stylized as SONY, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. As a major technology company, it operates as one of the world's largest manufacturers of consumer and professional ...

have little interest in the country and though the

Xbox 360 The Xbox 360 is a home video game console developed by Microsoft. As the successor to the original Xbox, it is the second console in the Xbox series. It competed with Sony's PlayStation 3 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generati ...

and

PlayStation 3 The PlayStation 3 (PS3) is a home video game console developed by Sony Interactive Entertainment, Sony Computer Entertainment. The successor to the PlayStation 2, it is part of the PlayStation brand of consoles. It was first released on Novemb ...

are reasonably popular, services as

Xbox Live The Xbox network, formerly and still sometimes branded as Xbox Live, is an online multiplayer gaming and digital media delivery service created and operated by Microsoft. It was first made available to the Xbox system on November 15, 2002. A ...

are not available in Nigeria and

video game piracy Video game piracy is the unauthorized copying and distributing of video game software, and is a form of copyright infringement. It is often cited as a major problem that video game publishers face when distributing their products, due to the ease ...

is common. Kuluya, Gamsole and Maliyo Games, each based in

Lagos Lagos (Nigerian English: ; ) is the largest city in Nigeria and the second most populous city in Africa, with a population of 15.4 million as of 2015 within the city proper. Lagos was the national capital of Nigeria until December 1991 fo ...

and focused on

mobile gaming A mobile game, or smartphone game, is a video game that is typically played on a mobile phone. The term also refers to all games that are played on any portable device, including from mobile phone (feature phone or smartphone), tablet, PDA to h ...

, were considered some of the most important game developers in

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

in 2013. The gaming culture in Nigeria is considered one of the fastest growing in Africa.

Local theming

Nigerian video game developers have been attempting to create games with a "distinctly local flavor." For instance, local developer Maliyo Games builds games such as ''Okada Ride'', "a game based on the ubiquitous delivery motorcycles that zip about the streets of Lagos." ''Mosquito Smasher'' is a game focused on killing

Malaria Malaria is a mosquito-borne infectious disease that affects humans and other animals. Malaria causes symptoms that typically include fever, tiredness, vomiting, and headaches. In severe cases, it can cause jaundice, seizures, coma, or death. ...

-spreading mosquitoes and is increasing awareness of the disease. According to Hugo Obi, co-creator of Maliyo Games, the company aims to "use game as an engine to share African experiences between ourselves and with the rest of the world through African narratives, sounds and characters." Kuluya takes a similar approach, weaving its games around local myths and stories in order to portray the country's rich and varied culture. CEO Ogungbamila said that "as a Yoruba person, I can pick out five very beautiful mythical or historical stories that we could draw from and build a game around. That's just in my local culture." Ogungbamila has spoken out against the negative portrayal of Africa in western video games focusing on prejudiced colonial-era viewpoints of "people who are forever in need of help." Kuluya has also been developing games containing nods to other African countries, such as

Kenya ) , national_anthem = " Ee Mungu Nguvu Yetu"() , image_map = , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Nairobi , coordinates = , largest_city = Nairobi , ...

and

References

{{Video games by country Nigerian culture

Current situation

Local theming

See also

References