When I say better late than never here, I’m actually blaming myself a little since I’ve seen multiple instances of major news in Africa not properly soaring till a month later when Tumblr-liberals feel the stars have aligned for a spot of performative sympathy… For more on ‘Tumblr-Liberals’ as a term, check out the book ‘Kill All Normies’ by Angela Nagle.
Back to the news: Games Industry Africa recently released a report claiming South Africa generated some $290 million in consumer spending throughout 2021. The revenue of Nigeria was $185 million, Ghana made $42 million. Following them, Kenya and Ethiopia made $38 and $35 million respectively.
Despite being the second-highest in consumer spending, the GIA study states only 32% of it’s gaming consumer base paid for titles and only 23% played their games.
Oddly enough, this isn’t as strange as it may sound. I’ve heard many a fable from letsplayers and offhanded mentions of more academically-bulletproof sources stating that the majority of games bought on Steam, shock horror, are not played! This is largely attributed to a combination of someone buying something on sale, then forgetting to touch it a week later because of other life commitments.
As for 2022 statistics so far, the State of the African Games Industry 24 million (43% of South Africa’s population) pay to play.
Overall, the report predicts that Africa will be experiencing an increase in collaboration with gaming development studios, followed by various black-centered gaming developer funds next year. If you want to read more on the topic, check out the previously-mentioned GIA link above… The rest of this is gonna take a hard turn towards assorted anecdotes vaguely-related to economics in general!
Despite being a self-proclaimed leftist, I’ll be the first to admit, I’m not, I repeat, NOT incredibly knowledgeable as far as economic commentary goes. The one time I heavily studied economics for a formal debate with a capitalist mate, all of the hours of notes and memorization just floated away a week after, like the world’s most despicable Kirby main in Smash!
With that said, I can hopefully point you, dear reader, in the right direction of a few good introductory sources for learning the economic basics:
Max Keiser: While Russia Today can be questionably questionable at the worst of times, the Keiser Report never ceases to get a chuckle out of me while also breaking down various aspects of economy… See? I can reference non-YouTubers too!
Unlearning Economics: Okay, I really wanted to talk about this bloke! Despite being a leftist, I actually found his channel via his critique videos on many of my other favourite lefty YouTubers. Not in a “DRAMA RESPONSE VEE-DEE-OH” kinda way, but in a “let’s unpack this shall we?” kinda way. I mean, I love Shaun, Abby Thorn and Contrapoints as much as the next guy, but I’m also man enough to admit when people I like make mistakes and that’s all a part of the learning… Or, unlearning, depending on your point of view!
Product Poems (click the links, see what I’m selling).
Bioshock? Collection. Chemstunned? Erection!
“Yer a wizard, Harry“. I’m a what? “Deaf too, I suppose”. You wot?
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