鈥楻ubik鈥檚 Digital鈥檚 young software developers are helping tell Africa鈥檚 stories through e-sports and gaming,鈥� - Anthony Okeyo
It鈥檚 eight o鈥檆lock in the morning in East Africa, and a board meeting is underway just a few metres from the Wilson Airport, about six kilometres southwest of Nairobi鈥檚 central business district.
Anthony Okeyo, the chief executive officer (CEO) of the social gaming company Rubik鈥檚 Digital, six board members and seven staff members sit around the table. They are all techies.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a meeting of equals,鈥� says Okeyo, an electrical and electronic engineering graduate of the University of Nairobi. 鈥淎t Rubik鈥檚, we see ourselves as pioneers in a new realm 鈥� e-sports.鈥�
Rubik鈥檚 Digital has quickly proven itself as a gaming innovator that nurtures young software developers to create compelling content for e-sports.
鈥淚n essence, we purposely design mobile-based video games to entertain, educate and inform our target audience, particularly the youth,鈥� Okeyo explains.
Connecting more Africans through mobile phone
According to industry reports, about of the population in sub-Saharan Africa is connected to the Internet, including who play video games.
With expected by 2025, the region represents a very promising market for the gaming industry, especially in Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria and South Africa.
But what kind of market?
Unprecedented across Kenya in 2019 got Okeyo thinking. 鈥淭he government had a problem with gambling,鈥� he thought. 鈥淪ports betting or gambling, as some called it, was drawing in thousands of youths who spent all their time and money in the activity.鈥�
Kenyans were concerned.
In of sub-Saharan gambling online, scholars from Ghana, Malawi and elsewhere found that gaming applications often centered on European sports, with European companies supplying the technology and Africans promoting it locally.
鈥淭here needed to be an alternative that was better, safer 鈥� a counter-narrative,鈥� Okeyo recalls, describing the inspiration for Rubik鈥檚 Digital.
Changing the narrative
In the gaming industry, differentiation matters.
鈥淔rom what I鈥檝e seen and learned, local gamers enjoy local content. People like what they can relate to, what resonates with their way of life,鈥� says Okeyo. 鈥淚t鈥檚 important to understand the context in which you are setting up an e-gaming firm.鈥�
Okeyo sees culture as an important asset in developing content. As such, the innovators at Rubik鈥檚 Digital are developing video games inspired by diverse African folklore. In the process, they are helping to preserve the people鈥檚 rich heritage and history.
鈥淢any aspects of our African culture are dying out. I鈥檓 looking at e-gaming as an avenue for cultural preservation. That鈥檚 my motivation,鈥� he quips. 鈥淚t has informed the kinds of games we develop.鈥�
It is a much-needed niche.
鈥淥nly through innovation and technology can we relive authentic African stories. Our video games allow individuals or teams to play for fun, or they can register and play in award-winning tournaments,鈥� he said during an interview.
Reimagining Ajua for a new generation
Ajua, a much-played Rubik鈥檚 Digital game, aligns with that philosophy. A team of young innovators turned this traditional board game 鈥攑opular in East and Central Africa 鈥� into a dynamic mobile App.
In Ajua, played with pebbles, two opponents move around the .
Not so long ago, the game brought people together, with modest crowds gathering to cheer the players on as they cracked jokes and aimed jibes at each other. In Kenya, Ajua was even a competitive sport organized in a league.
It was a tradition in danger of dying out. But, thanks to the e-gaming innovation of Rubik鈥檚 Digital, it may find a new generation of fans online.
While developing the Ajua App, the Rubik鈥檚 team was conscious of the diversity of East Africa.
鈥淔or Kenya, it was simply Ajua,鈥� notes Okeyo. 鈥淔or Tanzania and the East African coastal region, we built Bao, and for Uganda, Omweso. Of course, all are just Ajua, but the idea is relevance in name, if not anything else.鈥�
Entering the local markets
On the efforts of Western video gaming companies to penetrate the African market, Okeyo says: 鈥淭hey are much better off here with content that Africans relate to.鈥� They need to study the market.
For example, the high cost of gadgets required to play video games has slowed the growth of e-sports in Africa. So, Rubik鈥檚 targets low-income earners.
鈥淲e develop Apps that can run on cheap, low-storage Android phones, which many of our prospective clients can afford,鈥� Okeyo says.
The firm also built the robust delivery platform PlayOn Games, available on .
Rubik鈥檚 Digital is developing several exciting video gaming concepts around African legends and folklore from different parts of the continent. Once complete, Okeyo says they will offer the African audience a repertoire of compelling e-sports content.
Kenya has now joined Egypt, Tunisia, Morocco and South Africa in the continent鈥檚 e-sports league. Furthermore, Kenya, Nigeria and Senegal have formed e-sports federations.
鈥淭here is a clamour for a piece of the pie. I can see it,鈥� Okeyo marvels. 鈥淚 encourage young people to innovate on the global stage and create what鈥檚 authentically African.鈥�
Doing that will put African developers in an e-sports league of their own.
