Game development is undergoing a renaissance in Africa. A new game development studio has
been opened in Nairobi, Kenya. It’s first game Usoni, to be released on Friday November 27, is a
post apocalyptic journey from the Mediterranean sea to Turkana, the cradle of mankind.
Games are big business the world over, bigger than movies and music combined. The gaming
industry was worth USD200 billion (Ksh20trillion) in 2019 and expected to be more than USD250 billion this year.
This presents a huge opportunity for African game developers to tell their stories to the world.
Jiwe Studios was founded by Max Musau, a technologist and community developer,
who played games for decades since his childhood and has always dreamed of starting a game
development studio.
Read: Usiku Games Now Offers Kenya Gamers Free Access During Coronavirus Lockdown
He finally got an opportunity and started Jiwe, which means rock in Swahili, a material that almost all African communities have played with, fought using and built with.
“The studio’s vision is not only to create uniquely African game experiences and to empower
game developers on the African continent to build and distribute video games, and in the
process showcase a rarely seen side of Africa, but also to provide young Africans with
opportunities to earn stable income through the digital economy,” Musau said.
The first game, Usoni is based on a book of the same name by Marc Rigaudis, which is set in
the year 2063, and is above all a story of injustice, love and loss, when Europe has exhausted
all its resources, and Africa becomes the cradle of hope, and all have their eyes set on seeing
the sun again.
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