Players prefer offline, free-to-play games, says African games study
A new report looking into how games are consumed in French-speaking African countries Senegal, Côte d'Ivoire, and Cameroon shows a clear preference for free-to-play titles, in an ecosystem dominated by Android.
The report showed that over 80% of respondents across the three countries use Android phones – the percentage is particularly high in Cameroon, where 96% of the respondents have an Android device. On the other hand, Senegal is the country with the most iOS users, with 19% of the respondents owning an iPhone.
A majority of players across Senegal, Côte d'Ivoire and Cameroon play offline, at 53%. This is particularly prominent in Cameroon, with 66% of the respondents playing offline versus 34% online. It's more balanced in Côte d'Ivoire (57% offline vs 43% online) and Senegal (54% offline vs 46% online).
Over 40% of players across the respondents have downloaded less than five games over the past 12 months. 28% of the respondents had downloaded between five and ten games.
Looking at spending habits in the three countries, Côte d'Ivoire is the place where most players have already spent money on a game, at 57%. The percentage fell to 52% in Cameroon, and 40% in Senegal.
Among people who have already spent money on a game, players in Cameroon and Côte d'Ivoire primarily use mobile payment options. In Senegal however, players tend to use payment cards. Not having a bank card was cited as the primary reason in all three countries for not spending money on a game.
Looking at players' favourite game models, free-to-play was preferred, whether with ads (at 34% on average between the three countries, with a high majority in Senegal at 45%) or without ads with paid options (29%). This was followed by subscription models (roughly 24%) and paid games without ads (12%).
When naming the latest games they had played, the most common answers were EA Sports FC, Call of Duty, Free Fire, Ludo King, and Temple Run.
A large majority of the respondents (over 60%) have never played an
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