As mobile and Internet penetrations grow in Africa, opportunities for mobile games are becoming apparent. More game developers are finding success, painting a promising future for game developers and gamers alike.

One Lagos-based founder is seeking to capitalize on the growing gaming trend and targets users to earn digital tokens as they play online games.

Diagon Studios, a 2019 creation of Jeremiah Onojah, is inspired by the successes of Amazon’s founder Jeff Bezos in the e-commerce space.

Onojah aims to use casual mobile games to introduce more people to the Web3 space.

“This is more of a marketing tool to onboard more Africans into the crypto space. That’s the vision we have for it,” he told Nodo News in an interview in Lagos, Nigeria. “Casual games are easy to play. [We will] extend them to the mass market.”

“Right now, we have close to over 90% of Africans. Not just Nigerians who still don’t understand the whole blockchain space and utilizing tokens,” he highlighted.

The game platform already has over 4,000 users, and has an ambitious plan to hit one million users by the end of this year.

How Does it Work?

(Diagon Studio’s application / Nodo News)

Users can sign in and set up an account. Once you are in, you can select games to play, and see other players in the community and the scoreboard.

When you play, you earn tickets that you can use to participate in other raffle draws that can win you cash prizes, he explained. Soon, he stated, winners will be able to receive Diagon (DGN) tokens, powered by the Cardano blockchain. According to the game’s dashboard, 1 DGN token equals 10 naira.

The ultimate goal of the platform would be to enable users to pay for goods and services with their points by providing an exchange medium – from points to tokens to fiat. Every time you play the game you earn points. The move will enable users to enter the web3 space, through gaming

The platform currently has 10 games but it is in the process of adding more. Some of the games are Omnon Run, Endless Truck, City Dunk, and Archery. “Currently we are working on the licenses. We’re discussing with different game developers to have theirs on the platform,” he said.

His path to attract crypto users through mobile gaming can be backed by South Africa-based Carry1st’s funding of $27 million last year to Mekan Games’ success in topping the US mobile game market last year with their game. Onojah of Diagon Studios hopes that many Africans will join his unique platform and earn tokens.

According to a report by Games Industry Africa, Nigeria is the top destination for mobile gamers in Africa. It tops $249 million in revenue, followed by South Africa and Kenya with $236 and $46 million respectively.

– Edited by Faustine Ngila