South Africa dominates the African game development sector, accounting for all top-ten selling titles and contributing to a 2% share of global Steam unit sales.
See it on page 10The industry is shifting from volume-driven growth to longer development cycles, evidenced by a decline in annual Steam releases from a peak of 23 in 2023 to 11 in 2025.
See it on page 6There is a significant genre mismatch in the market, as action titles dominate release volume while simulation games achieve the highest median sales at approximately 372,000 units.
See it on page 7The technical landscape is highly decentralized, with Unity powering 18% of releases and Unreal Engine 7%, while 73% of titles rely on a diverse range of smaller development tools.
See it on page 17Pricing for African-developed titles remains aligned with global indie norms, with the vast majority of games priced between $5.99 and $19.99 and very few exceeding $21.99.
See it on page 16Future industry growth depends on diversifying development beyond South Africa and prioritizing distinctive cultural content over high-volume release strategies.
See it on page 19The analysis delivers a data‑driven overview of African‑developed video games, concentrating on performance across global platforms—primarily Steam, with supplemental PlayStation and Xbox data—from 2015 through 2025. Its central thesis is that the continent’s game‑development ecosystem is emerging rapidly yet remains highly concentrated, especially in South Africa, and is transitioning from volume‑driven growth to a focus on higher‑quality, strategically positioned titles.
South Africa accounts for the overwhelming share of both developers and commercial success, supplying all titles in the top‑ten sales list and driving the continent’s 2 % share of Steam unit sales—higher than the Middle East and comparable to Oceania. Releases peaked in 2023 with 23 Steam titles before falling to 11 in 2025, suggesting a shift toward longer development cycles. Genre analysis reveals a mismatch: simulation games achieve the highest median sales (≈372 k units), followed by adventure and RPGs, while action titles dominate the release count. Pricing follows global indie norms, with most games priced between $5.99 and $19.99; premium pricing above $21.99 appears in only a small fraction of titles. Unity is the leading engine (≈18 % of releases), Unreal accounts for about 7 %, and the remaining 73 % use a diverse set of smaller tools, reflecting a decentralized technical landscape.
Methodologically, the study relies on Video Game Insights estimations for games launched after 1 January 2015, employing internal sales‑estimation algorithms that convert review counts and apply the Boxleiter method to infer unit sales and revenue. The scope encompasses all major platforms, covers the entire African continent, and isolates trends in genre, pricing, engine choice, and geographic distribution.
Conclusions point to a transitional phase where success will depend less on release volume and more on distinctive cultural content, genre diversification, and broader support structures beyond South Africa. If these dynamics persist, the African game‑development sector is poised to evolve from an emerging participant to a recognized creative force within the global industry.
