RuneStorm

The Great Divide

This 2020 opinion and analysis piece from Games Industry Africa challenges the perception of Africa as a single, uniform entity and examines why the continent's most commercially and critically recognized games originate overwhelmingly from South Africa.

• The African game development industry is highly fragmented, with the majority of commercially successful titles originating from South Africa and North Africa due to better access to technical infrastructure and international financing pipelines.
• South Africa’s industry maturity is driven by an established community ecosystem, such as Make Games South Africa, and a history of development dating back to the 1996 release of 'Toxic Bunny' by Celestial.
• North Africa’s development scene was historically bolstered by Ubisoft Casablanca, which operated from 1998 to 2016 and trained 300 graduates, creating a talent pool that eventually formed independent local studios.