There’s a running joke in tech circles: “Africa skipped the PC era entirely and went straight to mobile.” It’s usually said with a mix of condescension and pity, like we missed out on something important. Like we showed up late to the party and had to settle for the cheap seats.
But what if we told you the cheap seats have the best view?
Let’s start with a stat that should wake everyone up: 92% of African gamers play exclusively on mobile. Not “also on mobile.” Not “sometimes on mobile.” Exclusively.
The median age in Africa is 19,7 years compared to the global median of 30,4 years; and 66% of African gamers say gaming is part of their daily routine… We’re not casual scrollers; we’re committed.
The African gaming market hit US$2,14 billion in 2024 and is projected to reach US$3,72 billion by 2029. Mobile gaming revenue alone exceeded US$1,5 billion in 2023. Nigeria, South Africa, Kenya, Ghana, Ethiopia: these aren’t just participants; they’re driving growth.
But here’s where it gets interesting: while the rest of the world treats mobile gaming as a side hustle to their console and PC setups, Africa treats mobile gaming as the main event. That changes everything…
Remember when everyone said Africa’s lack of landline infrastructure was a problem? Then we leapfrogged straight to mobile phones and became one of the fastest growing mobile markets in the world. Mobile money is slowly becoming the default and, not the alternative.
Now, we’re watching the same playbook unfold in gaming.
While the West spent decades building infrastructure around physical stores, console gaming and PC rigs (i.e., a custom-built computer with expensive hardware); not to mention a subscription based business model.
Africa’s decided to do it all on phones, and also because smartphones are getting cheaper, data is getting more affordable, and 4G/5G coverage is expanding, we’re suddenly at the center of the gaming universe without ever having to go through the “traditional” path.
Internet penetration in Africa reached approximately 40%; with the region now representing 13% of worldwide internet users. Projections indicate the Middle East, and Africa region could reach 60 million 5G subscribers by 2024. This isn’t about catching up. This is about arriving at the exact right moment.
Here’s where the plot thickens…
Web3 gaming (or GameFi, if you’re fancy) is built on three principles:
- True ownership (your in-game assets are NFTs you actually own)
- Play-to-earn mechanics (gameplay that generates real economic value)
- Decentralized economies (player-driven markets, not corporate gatekeepers)
And all three of these principles work better on mobile than on any other platform.
Why? Because Web3 games don’t require expensive hardware. They’re cloud-based, mobile-first, and designed for accessibility. Even simple phones can host blockchain games or connect crypto wallets. The barrier to entry isn’t a console or a gaming PC. It’s a smartphone and a data plan.
Take Axie Infinity as a case study. During its peak in 2021, the game exploded in the Philippines, Venezuela, and Brazil: places where economic instability made play-to-earn not just attractive, but necessary. Filipino players were earning about US$300 to US$500 per month, which exceeded the country’s minimum wage of around US$250 at the time. Some quit their day jobs to play Axie full-time because it paid better than their “real” work.
Here’s the kicker… Wages in Web3 games aren’t location-dependent. Axie Infinity players earn the same amount of SLP per win, no matter where in the world they live. A win in Lagos is worth the same as a win in Los Angeles. But US$400 goes a lot further in Lagos.
Africa is perfectly positioned to dominate this space. We have the mobile infrastructure. We have the youth demographics. We have the economic incentive, and we have the cultural familiarity with mobile first platforms that the West is still trying to figure out.
To be real though… The play-to-earn boom of 2021 had problems. Axie’s economy eventually crashed. The hype cycle moved on, but the fundamentals haven’t changed. If anything, they’ve gotten stronger.
In January 2024, Sony’s Innovation Fund made an undisclosed investment in Carry1st, a Cape Town based game studio and Africa’s leading mobile game publisher.
Esports revenue in Africa is projected to reach US$66 million in 2024, with over 50 million users by 2029. South Africa officially recognized esports as a sporting code. Lagos based Gamr held one of Africa’s largest esports tournaments in 2023, bringing together players from over 10 countries.
This isn’t fringe anymore. This is mainstream…
When people talk about Africa’s gaming market, they always miss the fact that it’s not only about the numbers. It’s mainly about the culture.
Mobile gaming in Africa isn’t a solo experience. It’s social. It’s communal. You’re not locked in a basement grinding alone. You’re playing with friends, sharing strategies, competing in local tournaments, hyping each other up in WhatsApp groups.
Sports games like FIFA and PES dominate consoles, while puzzle games, adventure games, and strategy games dominate on mobile. But it’s not just what we play; it’s how we play. We’ve turned mobile gaming into a lifestyle, and Web3 gaming thrives on that exact energy. Community driven economies. Guilds and clans. Shared ownership. Collaborative earning. These aren’t new concepts for us. This is how we’ve always gamed.
The West is trying to retrofit Web3 into a gaming culture built around individual ownership and isolated experiences. Africa’s gaming culture is already built for Web3 — we just needed the infrastructure to catch up, and it’s slowly nearing perfection…
So, here’s “The Second Screen” thesis:
For decades, the “first screen” was television. Then it was the PC. Then it was the console. The “second screen” was always the afterthought: the thing you checked while waiting for the main event.
But in Africa, the second screen is the first screen. Mobile is how we consume content, how we communicate, how we transact, how we play. It’s not supplementary. It’s become primary, and in Web3 gaming, mobile isn’t a limitation; it’s an advantage because Web3 games are designed for accessibility, not exclusivity. They’re built for global participation, not regional gatekeeping. They reward time and skill, not hardware and geography.
Which means the continent that “skipped the PC era” didn’t miss out on anything. Showing up late positioned us perfectly for what comes next…
The challenges are real: There’s a lack of regulatory frameworks. Major education gaps around blockchain. Security concerns remain barriers… But these are solvable problems, not existential ones!
Collaboration between developers, investors, and regulatory bodies can create an enabling environment. Regulatory sandboxes could provide controlled environments where startups can innovate with oversight; and as more success stories emerge (African developers creating globally competitive games, African players earning sustainable incomes), the ecosystem will only strengthen…
African game developers have been leveraging local cultures and histories to create distinctive, story rich games that resonate both locally and internationally. Kiro’o Games in Cameroon released Aurion: Legacy of the Kori-Odan, a role playing game rooted in African mythology that became the first game by a Black African studio released on Xbox.
So, the next time someone jokes that Africa “skipped the PC era,” smile and nod, because while they were building walled gardens, we were building open fields. While they were investing in hardware that would be obsolete in five years, we were investing in platforms that scale infinitely. While they were debating whether mobile gaming was “real gaming,” we were turning it into an economy…
We’re not just consumers. We’re creators,and the mobile first infrastructure we’ve built gives us a platform to build for the world.
The Second Screen isn’t the backup plan. It’s the blueprint; and Africa’s not catching up. We’re leading!