By 2018, there were 500 million online gamers in Africa alone.
This increase has been greatly attributed, in part, to the widespread use of smartphones.
In Kenya, the video game market is expanding rapidly as the country now ranks as the ninth most popular gaming hub in Africa.
Since the adoption of 4G broadband internet, with the emergence of tech-savvy youth, Kenya now has one of Africa’s major game industries.
The global video gaming sector is currently estimated at $150 billion ( Sh 15 trillion) and Kenyans continue to vie for a piece of this enormous market.
The availability of high-speed internet access and gaming cafés and tournaments that have established bases in various sections of the city to tap into the rapidly expanding number of online players have significantly changed the local gaming landscape.
Safaricom partnered with Huawei to unveil 5G Experience Centres within Nairobi.
The three centres located in Safaricom’s Buruburu, The Hub Karen and Village Market shops are set to be showcasing the superfast speeds and cutting-edge devices that come with a 5G network.
At these 5G experience centres, consumers will be experiencing VR gaming zones, showcases of smart capabilities for homes and businesses, and speed-testing booths.
Speaking during the launch, Safaricom’s head of fixed data Franklin Ocharo said that the telco is looking to partner with the online gaming community.
This partnership seeks to better the adoption of 5G in gaming spaces and also scale up the professionalism of Kenyan gamers.
Safaricom Ag. chief consumer business officer Fawzia Ali said 5G enables Kenyan online gamers to meet the standards of their international opponents when it comes to connectivity.
“We are currently setting up this network in areas where we are seeing a high concentration of 5 G-enabled devices. We want to establish where most of these gamers can be found and also set up 5G sites in such areas,” Ali said.
“But gamers must also adopt 5G enabled devices to be able to fully enjoy the 5G experience.”
Professional online gamer Brian Ndiang’a aka “The Beast” said that even though 5G is being adopted in Kenya, there are still no gaming servers in Africa.
“The question that still remains is; is the fast speed in 5G going to make online gaming work or will it give telcos the idea that these guys (online gamers) are now investing in 5G, let’s give them servers?” he asked.
Ocharo said that gamers need to start generating gaming traffic that will make a case to get gaming servers in the country.
“The more you enable the system, the better it is for us to set up gaming servers. When we started generating a lot of video traffic, we decided to set up Google cash servers in Kenya and then we set up for Netflix as well as Tiktok,” he said.
Ndiang’a also said that telcos need to subdivide the internet and WiFi set-up in homes.
“When you are playing a game, sometimes you might find that you are lagging,” he said.
“This is because someone is on Netflix, or downloading stuff online. The quality and response time of the game is not as good as it should be because everyone is on the same connection.”
Ndiang’a said having a gaming bundle or a gaming WiFi router can help address some of these issues as it will improve the quality of gaming.
“One thing I know about gamers is that if they are satisfied with the game, they will spend. Gaming has an opportunity to change lives as there is something for everyone.”
Ocharo said that Safaricom is planning to launch 5G-specific bundles by mid-April.
Ndiang’a was equally excited about the launch of the 5G experience centres.
“As a VR gamer, I am used to the wired connection as it is fast but experiencing a 5G connection, the reaction was crisp and clear,” he said.
He urged Safaricom to keep up with such spaces and also make them cheaply and readily available to gamers.
