Africa’s Gaming Revenue Surges, Egypt Claims the Top Spot

• Egypt leads Africa’s gaming market with $368 million USD revenue, followed by Nigeria’s $300 million USD.
• Mobile gaming dominates in the country, showing Africa’s mobile-first digital landscape.
• Africa’s esports sector, worth $40 million, is projected to surpass $60 million by 2025.

The gaming industry of Africa is surging steadily, with its market forecast projected to hit $2.1 billion USD, backed by 349 million gamers.

Data from Carry1st and Newzoo reveal that Egypt claimed the top spot with $368M USD in revenue with over 20M gamers, followed by Nigeria.

Nigeria also accounted for 46.5M gamers contributing to a revenue of $300M USD in 2024, up from $249M USD in 2022. Notably, mobile gaming was quite a hit amongst Nigerians, with 90% of them playing games on smartphones. 

South Africa, the continent’s other large market, generated about $278M USD backed by 26.5M players, came in third position. Other emerging markets, which include Kenya and Côte d’Ivoire, earned $46M USD and $31.9M USD, respectively, from mobile gaming.

Africa Esports and Competitive Gaming Market

Maliyo Games 2025 values Africa's esports and competitive gaming sector at ~ $40M USD, and expects it to grow to over $60M USD by 2025. Africa’s esports scene is led by South Africa, which depicts a revenue of $7M USD to $10M USD, backed by 3M viewers.

On the other hand, Egypt stands a bit in the back in the esports sector but has generated a revenue of around $5M USD to $7M USD with a better supportive viewership of 6M.

Nigeria, although a champion in mobile gaming, as stated above, trails behind in the esports sector, with an estimated revenue of $3M USD to $6M USD, and has around 1M to 3M viewers. 

Kenya and Côte d’Ivoire also trailed behind in the esports rankings, accounting for revenues under $2M and around $600,000, respectively. The audience count is also relatively small, accounting for just around 1.5M. 

What Should Africa Look Up To?

Africa's gaming sector is gaining real push with an increased number of mobile users, rising revenue in key markets, and a thriving esports economy that remains quite under-penetrated. What Africa needs at the moment is the creation of good mobile-first games, noting its consumer preference.

In 2024, LeMone cited a survey by Usiku Games (Nairobi) and the Pan African Gaming Group (PAGG), revealing that 56% of gamers did not know or play games made in Africa. Meanwhile, the State of the African Games Industry report of 2025 stated that only about 8% of African-developed games have garnered over $1M USD in revenue.

Nonetheless, studios like Qene Technology (Ethiopia), Leti Arts (Ghana), and Gamsole (Nigeria) exist. Qene Technology's game Kukulu, released in 2018 and 2021, for Android and iOS, respectively, is said to be attracting a significant number of players. 

Not only that, AfrikaTech reported that around 2016 Gamsole's games were downloaded over 10 million times around the world