The Future Is Gaming
Back in 2018 Pew Research found that 90% of teens in America are gamers. Since then it’s grown. Those 17 year olds are now 21 and making the adult decision of where and how they want to spend their money.
In South Africa, we’re known to be a few steps behind, but we’re catching up, and fast. The private school group Curro has started using Minecraft to help build STEM learning. In addition, they kicked off their Minecraft Esports League, where 200 learners in teams of 10 build pirate themed items under the pressure of a time limit.
Moving on to high schools, esports leagues have been popping up and are being treated like rugby leagues. Despite this, the knowledge gap between the traditional school system and the digital world we find ourselves in is still big and schools are scrambling to catch up or getting left behind.
Statista has confirmed that Africa and the Middle East are the fastest growing esports markets globally. With this in mind and far from its full potential, South Africa is set to have a booming gaming scene. Below are stats pertaining to the number of gamers and their preferred device, thanks to a report by Newzoo and Carry1st.
Photo by Florian Olivo on Unsplash
Source: Newzoo
Despite being overshadowed by Nigeria, the revenue generated from South Africa ($289.5m) in gaming surpassed Nigeria ($184.6m), indicating Nigerian players are less likely to spend money in-game or on new games.
More than half of the players in South Africa has played FIFA, followed by Need for Speed and GTA. This is due to the country’s interest in sport, confirmed by console gamers citing their favourite genres are, “sport”, “racing” and “fighting”.
The mobile market is dominated by time-killers like candy crush. Mobile gaming being the lowest barrier of entry in times where disposable income is limited.
This leaves a large question mark on the PC market, which is stereotypically a more diverse, variety driven space in terms of genres. However, it can be said with certainty that if your brand has an opportunity to align with gaming and the esports market, it’s bound to benefit from the 23.9 million and growing consumer base.