It may take a little longer to get there than it has in European countries and the US, but the eSports industry is shaping up nicely in Africa and South Africa, with some major events in the pipeline for 2020 that are set to make this a formative year for its growth and longevity.
eSports is a global phenomenon that has exploded in popularity over the last decade to become a fully-fledged industry. As well as attracting audience members in their thousands and the best professional gamers on the planet, entire betting markets have now opened for those major tournaments involving games like CS:GO and DotA2.
Over in the US, major sporting leagues have their own professional eSports gaming teams, and individual players are reaching the levels of fame and wealth you would ordinarily associate with an NBA star or major celebrity.
So, what’s the current state of play of eSports on the African continent, and what can we expect to see happen this year?
The eSports landscape in Africa
eSports has become quite the trend across Africa and South Africa for a few years now, with amateur and professional gaming opportunities springing up all across the region.
Kenya, a country also becoming known for its beautiful beaches, has been positioned as the eSports hub of Africa. This is largely thanks to the establishment of the Pro Series Gaming tournaments, which run events in Mortal Kombat XL, Call of Duty: World War II and annual FIFA games.
African players are also beginning to catch the attention of professional eSports outfits in the West, too. Sylvia Gathoni Wahome, a law student at the Catholic University of Eastern Africa, made history by becoming the first Kenyan and first African woman to be scouted and signed by a respected international eSports team
Known as Queenarrow in the gaming world (malikasiheme98 on PSN), Wahome was recruited by XiT Woundz, a professional gaming team based in New Jersey, USA. After participating in a Nairobi tournament of Tekken 254 in 2018, she was immediately scouted and snapped up by the up and coming team, who are focused on player development. Since then, she’s become quite the pioneer for female players and African players, and has been featured in numerous stories and interviews with media outlets around the world.
As the culture has developed, major companies have also gotten involved with gaming platforms and tournaments. Safaricom, the telecom giants, partnered with PSG and the Africa eSports Championship Kenya to establish new tournaments open to players across both the coastal regions and the rift valley regions: the BLAZE eSports tournament.
In August 2019, the first tournament was held on the coast, with pro-gamer Fahad Ali being crowned the region’s champion. More recently, the rift valley tournament was won by an amateur player, Arnold Kipng’etich. Although it attracted pro gamers from across Bomet, Kericho and Trans Nzoia Counties, the 25-year-old hobby player emerged as the FIFA ‘19 champion, winning a grand prize of Kes. 50,000.
Further BLAZE tournaments are scheduled for 2020, as the initiative aims to “discover as much raw talent as possible” across the country and empower local youth to consider pro-gaming and eSports as a potential long-term career path.
Major developments set for 2020
It’s looking like it will be quite a busy year for eSports in the continent. In addition to more PSG and BLAZE tournaments, there will also be a couple of new events and opportunities on the horizon.
First up, Zimbabwe’s eSports team Zim eSports are hoping to make their mark in the African PUBG Mobile community by winning the prestigious La Cup D’Africana Pro Series. This is the first African Pro Series to offer a PUBG Mobile tournament and has been supported by six regions - Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa, Tanzania, Zimbabwe.
Each of the hosting countries will hold their own national qualifying rounds, which are due to kick off on March 28th in Zimbabwe. The qualifiers will be adjudicated by leaders in the local eSports community, who will decide which of the best clans will represent their country.
Meanwhile, another global mobile eSports pehnoment is beginning to emerge: Call of Duty Mobile. Within just weeks of its launch, millions of players around the world were active in the game on a daily basis, and now it’s reached new heights of popularity in Africa as well, leading the LXG (League of Extraordinary Gamers) to begin recruiting new members for its own team.
The league itself, which is based in Nigeria, is comprised solely of teams who compete in mobile eSports tournaments, including League of Legends, PUBG, and Brawlstars. At the beginning of February, the league posted a call-out on Twitter (where else?) and announced this new recruitment process was on for a Call of Duty Mobile team. As of now, there have been no official announcements for CoD Mobile tournaments, but they’re certainly on the horizon, and LXG is keen to build a competitive team of strong-willed, “extraordinary” gamers who will represent the league in future tournaments.
INSERT IMAGE HERE >>>> https://images.pexels.com/photos/2729669/pexels-photo-2729669.jpeg?cs=srgb&dl=game-gaming-mobile-phone-mobile-phones-2729669.jpg&fm=jpg < Photo
The development of the eSports scene in the continent is also going to get some significant support from India-based eSports organization NODWIN Gaming in 2020, following the recent announcement that the brand will be expanding into South Africa this year.
With the aim of creating a “professional and organized ecosystem” of pro gaming in the region, NODWIN sees their new expansion as not just a gateway to South Africa “but the whole of Africa”.