Young workers drive South Africa’s video games industry

As a child, Devlyn van der Walt dreamed of one day becoming a video game developer.

“In elementary school, I would make games out of paper and put them in binders, cut out paper characters and move them around the pages of books,” he said.

But his hometown of Middelburg, 100 miles east of Johannesburg, South Africa, is not a hub for video game production.

Nevertheless, his passion inspired him to get training in software development and learn game development.

His hard work paid off and he landed a job at 24 Bit Games in Johannesburg, where he worked for over a year.

“I really enjoy this kind of different and challenging work,” he said.

Mr van der Voort is now part of South Africa’s small but thriving video games industry.

Nicolina Visentin-E’Silva, Studio Manager at 24 Bit Games, waves proudly at the “Wall of Fame” in the company’s offices.

It showcases games the team has worked on, such as the locally-focused Broforce and Cocoon, the latter of which was nominated for four Bafta Games Awards in 2023.

Ms. Vicentin Esilva said her company has expanded as the local industry continues to grow.

“I definitely feel like everything about my game has improved since I’ve been here.”

This growth has been noticed overseas – 24 Bit Games was acquired by California game publisher Annapurna Interactive in November.

Part of the success is due to an increase in the number of junior staff, who are being trained through more university courses.

In addition, Ms. Visentin Esilva also said that there is a positive and enterprising culture in the area.

“South Africans are just a different bunch,” she said with a smile.

“We’ve always been very adaptable. No matter what, we’re going to get the job done, and we’re going to get it done professionally.”

Arabella Rogerson, marketing manager at game studio Sea Monster, agrees.

She said South African developers were happy to develop games for both the local market and international players.

Another attraction, she said, is that these developers are relatively cheap compared with other parts of the world.

“It’s like all eyes are on Africa as the next frontier of the world’s creativity, and it’s an amazing place,” she said.

Despite the opportunities, the South African video games business remains small.

A September 2022 review of the sector by the South African Cultural Observatory found that it was in its infancy, with around 50 studios.

At the time, most of these companies were less than a decade old, and few were generating significant revenue directly from game production.

At the time, there were about seven larger studios entering the global games market, but their focus was primarily on service work rather than making games from scratch.

The survey found that the industry’s growth potential is concentrated in high-end computer games that are more likely to be played abroad.

However, the country’s lower cost of living makes the country’s gaming professionals potentially more attractive, or at least more competitive, on a global scale.

A study by Tshimologong, a technology development centre at the University of the Witwatersrand, found that there are nearly 60 active studios, but most of them are small, with just one or two people. A handful of larger studios are driving growth in the sector.

Erik Prinz is just starting his career in video game design and has been working for local game developer Nyamakop since 2022.

While in high school, he saw an article in a magazine about a game design course being offered at the local University of the Witwatersrand.

“My best friend and I couldn’t believe it,” he said. “We didn’t expect anything like this to happen in South Africa!”

Mr Prinz studied for his undergraduate and master’s degrees at the university with his friend Rodwin Malinga, both of whom later joined Nyamakop.

Mr Malinga acknowledges that the industry in South Africa is relatively small at the moment, but he is optimistic about the future.

“While things may seem slow on the surface at the moment, there will be a huge wave of South African content in the industry when a slew of new projects, new teams and new companies debut.”

GWI analyst Chris Beer noted that South Africa not only has a new wave of game developers, but the games market itself is also growing.

“South Africans are keen gamers and are more likely than the global average to use the three major gaming devices – smartphones, PCs and consoles.”

This is especially true for sports-related options such as racing and fighting games. South Africans are also the most likely in the world to use gambling or betting apps, he said.

Over the past two decades, local gaming and digital entertainment expo rAge has seen not only a steady growth in audience interest, but also in diversity.

“Today, we have people from all walks of life in South Africa, from all ages, races and genders,” said Michael James, rAge project director.

He said he’s seen some people who grew up attending events as gaming enthusiasts return as game developers.

But Sam Wright, an esports commentator and a well-known figure in the competitive gaming community, noted that challenges remain.

“We do have a gap in terms of building an audience because most of the young people I talk to can’t actually afford to play games because the consoles are so expensive. [internet] Data and technology.”

She explained that data costs in South Africa are more expensive than in other parts of the world.

The cost issue is made more difficult by the gaming industry’s overall shift toward digital products and subscriptions rather than physical games.

“We have a large number of active smartphone users, but access to the internet is very expensive,” she said.