Why does Africa have no AAA game studio?

[Justin11]

Africa will grow, the documentary didn't tell exactly what Africa is all about. I know Africa is quite underdeveloped, but with time we'll see massive progress, it's just matter of time and AAA game companies will come around. 

[Empire]

45% of the people in argentina are poor

In general here we have a lots of taxes to everything so some people try to create games as a single developer or look to be hired by international companies that dont pay in our worthless currency

[Dannyjax]

African countries still have a long way to go no matter how they see it, it's just the reality for them now. They can't compete financially, economically and even politically to have AAA video games studios functionally working in their countries now. The infrastructure to run and maintain such project isn't readily available in Africa. 

[Justin11]

10 hours ago, Dannyjax said:

African countries still have a long way to go no matter how they see it, it's just the reality for them now. They can't compete financially, economically and even politically to have AAA video games studios functionally working in their countries now. The infrastructure to run and maintain such project isn't readily available in Africa. 

But it doesn't mean that people in Africa gonna run such huge financial demanding project. Rather, the gaming companies can run and maintain their project, and use it to create employment avenue, creating awareness and also gaining more sales, since we Africans love video games too. 

[m76]

On 7/3/2022 at 11:52 AM, Shagger said:

 

Even if you were right, there is absolutely no need for that insulting "Go get educated" type of response. It's rude and it's unnecessary. The fact you have offered the "advice" to "watch a documentary in Africa" to someone who actually lives there, well that only make you like a fool.

 

Yes, there are still large area's of Africa that are very poor with people who have other far less arbitrary things to worry about than video games, but it's also a continent in a development boom. May I suggest it's you that needs the education.

The documentary I linked is just an example, not supposed to be an all encompassing look at the whole continent. I specifically mentioned "series" not just this one piece, but I did not want to link all episodes pertaining to Africa individually.

Most of Africa is in a similar state. I do not know what is the benefit of denying uncomfortable truths, apart from making yourself more comfortable about it.

Yes, in some pockets there might well be economic growth in Africa, but that is like pretending one blossom in a field of weed is a rose garden.  So yeah, I think asking questions like why isn't Africa big on AAA game development betrays an ignorance of the socio-economic realities of Africa, either wilful or genuine.

Recent economic growth is not enough for AAA development to start. It needs a  pool of talented people, which requires the long term existence of a good education system that can produce digital artists and programmers well enough educated to work in the AAA industry.

Then you need political stability to drive business, which is scarce even in the more developed parts.

Edited July 5, 2022 by m76

[m76]

According to the latest statistics I could find 60% of people in Africa are not literate. So I think that question should be asked first before we ask why is there no AAA game development in Africa. And it wasn't me who generalized Africa, the question was put that way. If it was why is there no AAA game developer in Egypt, Morocco, or South Africa, that might be a more nuanced discussion as those are more developed countries, with significant foreign investments. But then again, I'm not aware of any AAA dev in Oceania either since Team Bondi went defunct. 

[Dannyjax]

10 hours ago, Justin11 said:

But it doesn't mean that people in Africa gonna run such huge financial demanding project. Rather, the gaming companies can run and maintain their project, and use it to create employment avenue, creating awareness and also gaining more sales, since we Africans love video games too. 

I read the article shared by @Reality vs Adventurein the beginning of the thread where there's a summit of 10 African countries that are looking at making this happen faster for African countries. I hope that holds and not be like some of their projects that fell off along the way because of their selfish reasons. 

 

[Justin11]

5 hours ago, Dannyjax said:

I read the article shared by @Reality vs Adventurein the beginning of the thread where there's a summit of 10 African countries that are looking at making this happen faster for African countries. I hope that holds and not be like some of their projects that fell off along the way because of their selfish reasons. 

 

I just hope they don't play politics with it, Africans have always been known for playing politics with stuffs which can help the generation of people. I wouldn't say much, I'll cross my hands, hoping that this comes into reality. 

[Reality vs Adventure]

6 hours ago, Dannyjax said:

I read the article shared by @Reality vs Adventurein the beginning of the thread where there's a summit of 10 African countries that are looking at making this happen faster for African countries. I hope that holds and not be like some of their projects that fell off along the way because of their selfish reasons. 

 

I hope they can expand on that and bring in resources and talent to make a nice headquarters for video games in Africa. And when they become successful, more will join in adding even more resources. This was a smart move to help jump start African gaming. And they only recently formed the gaming group so they have entered a new age in the gaming arena. 

[Shagger]

9 hours ago, m76 said:

The documentary I linked is just an example, not supposed to be an all encompassing look at the whole continent. I specifically mentioned "series" not just this one piece, but I did not want to link all episodes pertaining to Africa individually.

Most of Africa is in a similar state. I do not know what is the benefit of denying uncomfortable truths, apart from making yourself more comfortable about it.

Yes, in some pockets there might well be economic growth in Africa, but that is like pretending one blossom in a field of weed is a rose garden.  So yeah, I think asking questions like why isn't Africa big on AAA game development betrays an ignorance of the socio-economic realities of Africa, either wilful or genuine.

Recent economic growth is not enough for AAA development to start. It needs a  pool of talented people, which requires the long term existence of a good education system that can produce digital artists and programmers well enough educated to work in the AAA industry.

Then you need political stability to drive business, which is scarce even in the more developed parts.

 

Nice sidestep on the fact that you, and I am paraphrasing, told somebody to "Go learn about Africa" in very condescending, arrogant manner when the individual in question, as far as I know, actually lives there. But that's not the point the point, the point is whether you're right or wrong you need to show people more respect than that.

[Scorpion]

It’s disheartening that AAA studios overlook Africa. Diverse stories and talent thrive here, yet investment and support remain lacking. Time to change!