The South African games industry in numbers
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Of the many markets found throughout the African continent, South Africa is – as we discussed with the organisers of Africa Games week – one of the most prominent. Hence our week-long editorial special dedicated to its games industry.
While we'll be exploring the development scene in depth, it's worth beginning with a look at the games industry in general, including the size of the audience and the revenue it generates, for which we've consulted market research firm Newzoo.
We've also scoured through a 2021 report by Tshimologong Wits University to get a clearer sense of the developer landscape.
2023 revenue: $266 million
Average player spend per annum: $25.50
Last year, South Africa accounted for approximately $266 million in video games spending, according to Newzoo. To put this in a global context, this is 0.14% of the $184 billion the data firm estimated was spent on video games worldwide last year.
However, Newzoo emphasised the continued growth of the South African market, at a Compound Annual Growth Rate of 4.7% since 2020. It is also expected to continue growing to $333 million by 2026, a CAGR of 7.8%.
Mobile represented the vast majority of games spending in South Africa in 2023, accounting for 91% of revenue. PC is slightly more lucrative than consoles at 5% of total spending vs 4%.
The average player spent just over $25 per year on games last year, mostly on in-game microtransactions given the popularity of mobile titles.
Newzoo reported that the most popular console and PC games in 2023, in terms of monthly active users, were as follows:
Total number of players: 26.5 million
Proportion of population that plays video games: 44%
Gender split of players: 53% men vs 46% women
Newzoo told us that 26.5 million people in South Africa played video games last year, showing a CAGR of 5.4% since 2020. The company estimated this accounts for 44% of the nation's population.
85% of these players have
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