Did you know that blockchain gaming is one of the fastest-growing sectors in the gaming industry in the crypto world? Triple-A indicates that the crypto gaming industry had market revenue of US$321 million in 2020, with around 41.9 million gamers owning crypto. The APAC region has the highest ownership rate with 22.6 million gamers that hold cryptocurrency, followed by Europe with 5.9 million gamers, Middle East & Africa, Latin America, and North America regions. Innovations around the use of blockchain in gaming will not only transform and revolutionize how people play games but also introduce potential ways for players to earn as they play, call it play-to-earn. Recent research by Newswagg indicated that gamers are much more likely to own crypto with 55% of millennial gamers owning crypto compared to 5% of all Millenials. there is great potential for blockchain to be involved in the gaming industry. In Africa, there are over 350 million connected smartphones; this is projected to be 680 million by 2030. With such connectivity and a huge youth population, it’s clear that Africa will play a significant role in the adoption of blockchain gaming by contributing to both players and developers.
In Kenya, Usiku Games is in the thick of everything blockchain gaming. January 2022 kicked off this conversation when we hosted two blockchain gaming events at the Nairobi Game Development Center. With our partners Harmony and Polygon, we hosted the Women in Blockchain event that had over 100 women in attendance.
Women in Blockchain Nairobi Meetup
Women in Blockchain Nairobi Meetup
Women in Blockchain Nairobi Meetup
The second event themed BLOCKCHAIN GAMING IN AFRICA: A force for social impact, brought game developers and blockchain gaming enthusiasts from all over Africa to discuss how advancements in Web 3 can be used for social impact. We had speakers from Kwasi Kena, CEO of Legends of Mitra from Gem Studios in Ghana and Kenya, Defi Kingdoms, Abhishek Purushotham, Marketing Manager at Harmony Platform, VP of Business Development at Polygon Studios NFTs and Gaming, and Prakash Somosundram, CEO & Co-founder of Enjinstarter launchpad for Blockchain Gaming, and Metaverse and Jay Shapiro CEO Usiku Games. The turnout at the Nairobi Game Development Center was amazing with the rest of Africa following the event at the remote viewing parties hosted in tech incubators and universities in Digital Mania Games (Tunisia), Dope Apps (Rwanda), Paradise Games (Côte D’Ivoire), Nigeria, Cameroon, Zimbabwe, Ghana, and Morocco. The discussion was around blockchain, NFTs, and how to launch projects on Harmony and Polygon generating a great deal of buzz and a strong desire to unlock the potential of the technology.
BLOCKCHAIN GAMING IN AFRICA: A force for social impact at the Nairobi Game Development Center, Nairobi Kenya
If you missed this event, you can watch the full event here