Michael Oscar: Why African youths should tap into the billion-dollar gaming industry

Michael Oscar Esio, the founder of Africacomicade’s Gamathon, has highlighted the importance of a sustainable video game industry in Africa and its vast employment potential for the youth.

Gamathon is an annual video game convention that unites over 2,000 creatives from across the continent to showcase projects, network, and explore collaboration and funding opportunities.

This year’s convention was held from September 30 to October 5 in Lagos.

Speaking with journalists, Oscar stressed the significance of envisioning a thriving video game industry in Africa, citing its potential transformative impact on the continent’s ecosystem.

He said the video game industry can drive economic growth, create employment opportunities, and shape the continent’s entertainment landscape.

“It is very important to make sure that it is something sustainable,” he said.

“So this event is about stakeholders in the African videogame and the immersive interactive media industry coming together to connect, discuss and collaborate so that they can be an industry that are employers and can employ the youth of our continent.”

Oscar also discussed the obstacles hindering Africa’s video game industry growth.

He said lack of understanding and cultural perception are some of the challenges facing the industry with games often viewed negatively, especially by older generations.

“The industry is a very niche industry, a lot of people do not understand anything about these video games. We also have that cultural perception of games, our parents do not like games,” he said.

“This industry is a soft tool like government in advanced countries. The global game industry is worth $200 billion, bigger than the music and movie industries combined.

“Look at what music is doing to Africa with Afrobeats, Nollywood is doing for Nigeria as well. If the global game industry is bigger than these, imagine what a sustainable video game industry can do to our ecosystem.”

In November last year, Forbes reported that the global revenue generated by the gaming industry in 2022 is greater than the music and movie industries combined.

“The global gaming industry generated an estimated $184.4 billion,” the prominent US business magazine wrote, quoting industry statistics.

“In 2022, the global recorded music industry generated $26.2 billion. In 2022, the global movie industry generated $26 billion in box office revenue.”

Speaking further, Oscar said Africa’s gaming industry has vast employment potential, encompassing various disciplines like art, music, narrative design, sound, storytelling, marketing, and programming.

He also disclosed that sustainable game studios can create hundreds of jobs and foster economic growth and opportunities for African youth.

“The game industry is a big one, it is not just programming. There is art, music narrative design, sound, storytelling, and marketing,” he said.

“So if we have sustainable studios generating revenue, they would employ. If you look at the cast of people that work on a game, the credit in global studios, you would see like 200 people on a single game.

“Imagine if we have 100 students across Africa, employing over 200 people in the field. And that directly not the ecosystem around it including e-sports, gaming, and events. This is a huge opportunity and market.”

Oscar also revealed that Afrocomicade is engaging with the federal government to secure support to attract foreign investment and foster growth.

“We are in discussion with them. Even where government can not provide funding, they can give us access, and leverage,” he said.

“With government backing, we can attract more foreign investment, and have infrastructure that can support us and we are having these talks already.”

Since its inception, Gamathon has successfully united global stakeholders and established partnerships with major industry players such as XBOX, STEAM, UNITY, Rovio, Carry1st, the IGDA Foundation, IndieGame Business, and Humble Bundle, among others.

This year’s six-day event featured a game jam with African game development talents building exciting and interactive video games.

One of the biggest highlights for the week was the Ark pitch where game studio founders and indie developers were provided with the platform to pitch their projects for an opportunity to receive prototype grants.