The overall goal of the research is to provide an analysis of the international gaming industry environment in order to produce a scoping report and database of the South African gaming industry.
In 2018, the global gaming industry consisted of 2.3 billion consumers, who spent nearly US$ 138 billion on games. Although the South African gaming industry is small, it is growing at an exponential rate. A recent PWC (2018) report identifies the digital video games sector as one of “the biggest success stories” in the South African entertainment and media industries.
The PWC Media and Entertainment Outlook (2017) also makes the point that, in the past, participation in games was restricted to audiences who could afford to buy expensive PC or gaming equipment. Even in this segment, research reported on by Hall et al. (2017) showed that there were more than 11 million gamers in South Africa: 78% black; 8% coloured; 3% Indian/Asian and 11% white. However, the rise of mobile gaming via smartphones has meant that many more South Africans can afford to play.
This research identified 54 gaming or gaming and animation companies in South Africa. Nearly half (48%) are based in the Western Cape. The most commonly used gaming release platform is still PC, which (given the international shift to mobile), may be a future constraining factor (along with high data costs).
There is considerable overlap between gaming and animation with 46% of companies producing games also doing animation work. Given turnover data provided in a detailed online survey, it is estimated that the turnover for the gaming and animation industry in the 2017/8 financial year was R476 million, of which R198 million was attributed to gaming and hybrid companies. This is a considerable increase from the R100 million revenue for the gaming industry in 2015 found in a previous study (IESA, 2016).
The South African gaming and animation sector currently create 1225 direct jobs, of which 457 are in the gaming sector. A challenge for the gaming and animation sector is transformation – the majority of people working in the sector are white men (as also found in previous studies). Part of the reason given for this is that the sector is still perceived to be a risky and unstable sector, so that it is not recognised as a viable career path by many. Support for the technical training required was suggested, as were tax breaks for smaller companies to encourage more start-ups.
Advantages identified by those in the industry included: Unique African stories and cultural diversity; Lower production costs that enable international service work; a significant pool of talent and skills; the high quality of the work produced; and access to advanced production and infrastructure.
