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Ten game development studios in Africa have come together under one umbrella, the Pan Africa Gaming Group (PAGG), in an effort to unify the continent’s gaming sector, which is currently fragmented.

Launched during Africa Games Week 2022 in Cape Town, the Group aims to grow the Africa Gaming industry by 2x every year due to the rapid growth of youth with Internet-connected smartphones on the continent.

The Group, which represents 10 African countries, include the following studios: South Africa (Sea Monster), Senegal (Kayfo Games), Cameroon (Kiro’o Games), Ghana (Leti Arts), Tunisia (Digital Mania), Ethiopia (Qene Games), Kenya (Usiku Games), Tanzania (Khanga Rue), Rwanda (DopeApps), and African Diaspora (Messeka Games).

Pan Africa Gaming Group will be governed through a Founders’ Council combining many of the top gaming entrepreneurs across the continent. They will be joined by Peter Kihara (ex-Goldman Sachs & PWC) serving as the Group Chief Financial Officer and Jake Manion (BAFTA nominated Game Director at Aardman Animation in the UK) serving as Group Creative Director.

Each studio will maintain its sovereignty and autonomy when it comes to things such as the brand, leadership and financial independence. The founders will work together collaboratively, voting up/down proposals and resolutions brought to the Founders’ Council.

According to Dawit Abraham, CEO of Qene Games (Ethiopia) and spokesperson for the Pan Africa Gaming Group, the network has been formed to enable the Africa Gaming Industry to unlock the world’s next one billion players.

“Together, we represent over 200 professionals and 8 different languages. Our team has over 30yrs of experience, leading some of the top gaming companies globally, including Ubisoft, Electronic Arts & Aardman Animation. We have produced more mobile, PC & console games than anyone else on the continent. Most importantly, all of our network members are committed to #GamingForGood, harnessing the power of gamification to create a positive social impact in our local communities,” Dawit Abraham said.

The Group is developing & publishing locally relevant content that is relatable to African gamers. Despite the massive audience growing on the continent, there is still very little relevant, local content in Africa, according to Jake Manion.

“We are creating a portfolio of mobile-first casual games that are fun, non-violent, and gender-inclusive. Our games are Made-In-Africa, For Africa, featuring African heroes wrapped in local culture, music & environments. This allows our players to see themselves reflected in our games, which makes all the difference,” Jake Manion said.

PAGG’s more than one hundred existing games entertain, engage and educate. By harnessing the power of gamification, the Group is creating fun ways to solve some of the continent’s challenges, including healthcare, education, women’s empowerment and climate change.

Once developed though, content must be published in order to reach the audience. To that end, PAGG brings together the “Gara” African game store, and “AfroComix” the largest African eComics publishing platform. Through these PAGG will have a channel for distributing its games tied in with Africa’s dozens of diverse payment platforms including mobile money, airtime billing, and credit cards.

To expand these efforts in the future, PAGG is equipping and training Africa’s next generation of game developers, creating new jobs across the continent for youth. As an example, the Nairobi Game Development Center is a 6000 sq ft community co-working space that will be replicated in each of the African markets to train, incubate and host the next generation of talent.

“One of our core values is not just to build a collection of games, but to incubate Africa’s gaming industry of tomorrow. There is a wealth of incredible talent already on the continent, with more graduating every year from top-tier game development schools like Rubika. Most graduates though are relegated to doing remote work for overseas clients due to the lack of local gaming job opportunities. We’re going to fix that,” Eyram Tawia, CEO of Leti Arts in Ghana, said.

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