As mobile penetration grows in Africa so is the interest in gaming. Some see it as a past time activity, while others find it a good opportunity to make money. Now the Web3 gaming space is growing steadily in tandem with rising internet penetration, with a couple of platforms offering mature digital playfields.

For these startups, gaming can be a way to introduce more Africans into the world of Web3 by rewarding gamers with tokens and cryptocurrencies. According to a 2021 report, there are 186 million Africans playing online games, creating a revenue of $3.3 billion. Leading countries are South Africa, Ghana, Nigeria, Kenya, and Ethiopia.

The following are some of the top gaming platforms that are changing the e-sport scene in Africa:

BitSport: Earning Real Rewards

BitSport is a platform that seeks to transform GameFi, eSport, and NFT (Non-Fungible Token) landscape by building a competitive gaming ecosystem, where players can earn rewards through gameplay. Built on blockchain, BitSport offers a secure, transparent, and decentralized system that enables gamers to monetize their skills and receive cryptocurrency rewards.

How it Works:

New users can log in with their email or social media profiles. Once in, players can see ongoing tournaments and create their own competitions on the platform. Users can also wage a stake in a tournament.

The platform’s flagship web game, BitPool, is an HTML5 game that allows users to earn cryptocurrency while playing 8 Ball Pool. This initiative seeks to expand gaming accessibility beyond costly consoles, allowing HTML5 games to be enjoyed on both PCs and Internet-enabled phones. All of this is achieved by leveraging the BNB Chain.

Diagon Studios: Income Through Casual Games

Diagon is a crypto-powered Casual Gaming, Utility, and NFT platform that aims to accelerate the global adoption of blockchain and digital assets through social gaming. Diagon Studio’s flagship product is CASUAL by Diagon, which contains various games where users can play for fun and earn rewards in crypto or points.

How it Works:

CASUAL by Diagon is an app that allows consumers to play various casual games and earn rewards in the form of crypto tokens or gift cards. Consumers can also join weekly draws and leaderboards to compete with other players and win more prizes. The app is powered by blockchain technology and uses NFTs to create unique digital assets for the games.

Awujo: Win Tournaments

Awujo offers a play-to-earn platform for gamers across the continent, helping them to earn crypto rewards for their talent. These games enable users to accumulate cryptocurrencies and NFTs that can be traded on the market.

In order to expand its user base, Awujo conducts training sessions for community members to familiarize themselves with popular games like Axie Infinity, League of Kingdoms, and SplinterLands. Additionally, Awujo has fostered a passionate community of gamers who share a common love for gaming. The company invests in NFT assets, allowing local communities across Africa to gain accessible entry-level access to the world of Web3.

How it Works:

Users can register on the platform using their email address. Then they can choose to play a variety of games from mobile and web-based games. Users can also join tournaments with prizes on the tournaments page.

Metaverse Magna: Traversing the Virtual World

As a Nestcoin-backed platform, Metaverse Magna (MVM) provides the space and opportunity for gamers to compete, earn crypto rewards, and connect over the games they love. MVM also offers a platform for investors, game developers, and guild operators to partner with them and expand the crypto-gaming market across Africa and the rest of the globe. The platform completed a seed sale token round of $3.2 million at a $30 million fully diluted valuation, according to Techcrunch.

How it Works:

MVM works for users by providing them with a step-by-step guide to joining their community of gamers. Users can sign up and join their Telegram and Discord communities, apply to join the game tribe they are interested, choose a clan in their tribe and compete together for awesome prizes and bragging rights.

Users can also play casual games with friends and frenemies for bragging rights or prize money on Hyper, a social gaming and eSports tournament app by MVM. Users can also earn crypto rewards by playing games supported by MVM, such as Axie Infinity, Pegaxy, Thetan Arena, Call of Duty, Candy Crush, and Genopets.

Usiku Games: Controlling Betting Addiction

One reason for the immense popularity of gaming is the high unemployment rate across many countries. For unemployed gamers who lose money on betting, the addiction is doubly ruinous.

Nairobi-based Web3 gaming startup Usiku Games wants to help end this addiction. Its mission is “Gaming for good” and it wants to create a savings culture among Africans, money that would got to finance their education or health. Usiku Games is strategically creating savings structure in the form of crypto.

Popularizing the concept of “play-to-save” among young people and encouraging them to pay towards their health insurance premiums can ease the stress of paying for future medical treatment.

How it Works

Log in to the Usiku Games web-based platform and select a game. Learn the concept behind the game on the introducing video, then understand how it is played. Play till the end. You will get rewarded with tokens based on your game score. Gamers can save their winnings as digital tokens on a blockchain system and then “spend” them on paying for health insurance or school fees.

The games have been designed to appeal to local users and so the commands, are in Swahili (Africa’s biggest language with origins in east Africa) and Sheng languages (Kenyan street language based on Swahili), and the audio tracks are African music.

Usiku Games has a portfolio of 30 games, and hundreds of thousands of gamers log in everyday to play, according to data on its site. All games are free to access, Usiku makes its money through player subscriptions on some of its games.

-Edited by Faustine Ngila, Shigeru Sato