Supercell’s Games First 2024 explores emerging markets in LATAM, India and Africa

• Supercell’s Games First 2024 event is underway in Helsinki
• Speakers from emerging markets brought forward their cases for why Latin America, India and Africa are growing in the games industry

Supercell’s annual Games First event is currently underway in Helsinki, Finland, and two panels in particular have highlighted the potential of emerging markets in the games industry.

The first focused on the rising prominence of studios in Latin America and the sheer number of potential gamers in India, while the second considered the transformations ahead for Africa.

Panellists attended from their studios in these respective regions, sharing their perspectives on the industry and optimism for future growth.

LATAM and India

During the first panel, Paraguayan studio Possibillian Tech’s CEO Juan Eduardo de Urraza highlighted the breadth of progression in the games industry across Latin America.

He argued that Paraguay is the newest region to emerge and that Bolivia and Ecuador are similarly new to game development. Meanwhile, Argentina, Columbia, Brazil and Mexico are further progressed as game makers.

He also noted the opportunity to grow in smaller countries and the potential for acquisitions across Latin America.

Whiteboard Games CEO and game director Luciano Musella echoed that sentiment, adding that developing in Latin America would be cheaper for many overseas games studios.

“Many people see Latin America as just a huge consumer market, but we have so much more,” added Petit Fabrik, head of game design and animation, Humberto Rodrigues.

Meanwhile, Columbia-based StudioBando’s CEO and creative director Juan Castaneda expressed his optimism at the current state of Latin America’s games industry, suggesting it’s progressed further than many overseas may realise.

“It’s a very, very exciting time, because there are a lot of studios throughout Latin America that have been operating for 20, 25 years, and they’ve been working on huge Triple-A projects from all kinds of productions,” he said.

“You don’t hear about them very often because they’ve been working under NDAs, quietly building up talent and capital. I think now we’re at this transition period where all of these studios are suddenly out in the open and are able to create original IP.

“We have unique aesthetics, unique music and unique stories that haven’t been seen before in games. I think we’re going to start to see a lot of studios that come off as overnight successes, that are really just emerging with some really original projects.”

Roby John, CEO and co-founder of India-based SuperGaming, also spoke about the progression of the Indian games market, both as a consumer and creator of content.

“We literally download every game. We download the most games on Google Play,” he said. “On Google Play more than 50% of first-time new spenders every month are from India.”

John noted that 700 million people under the age of 25 are part of India’s population, and the region already has 500 million gamers. This explains this enthusiasm for games and India’s influence over the install numbers for many popular games.

“India is a mobile-first country. A lot of kids who grew up playing mobile games are now in the workforce and spending their time and money on games. And kids who played a lot of games are now making games too,” he added.

“What I’m most excited about is monetisation. We’ve seen a big change in monetisation in the country led by battle royale shooters.”

African transformation

Supercell’s second emerging markets panel focused on Africa. During this conversation, Maliyo Games founder Hugo Obi also quickly noted Africa’s penchant for mobile games. Android is the predominant platform on the continent, and casual, hybrid and hypercasual make up the three key pillars of mobile play.

Considering Africa’s population size is approximately 1.4 billion, he highlighted that less than 20% of people in Africa play games today and sees potential for this to rise as the population continues to grow.

Maliyo Games programmes manager Dorothy Orina seconded that stance, adding that she expects to see more African culture appearing in games in the future, as is already being observed in the film and music industries.

“Africa has the youngest population and a growing middle class who can pay,” added Leti Arts CEO and co-founder Eyram Tawia, based in Ghana.

Usiku Games game producer Denis Odera agreed: “There’s a lot of enthusiasm in the continent, especially from young people. That’s what’s going to skyrocket the industry.”

Lastly, discussing games development in Africa, Tawia highlighted a drive from African studios to employ local talent and educate them through custom-created internships and boot camps, accelerating development capabilities in the region.

Obi chimed in to add: “I think in the next two to three years, we’re going to see a great transformation of Africa, transforming from a net consumer market to a net producer market.”