2023-06-23 09:39:07
At the very last second, a professional “gamer” wins a game of the “Street Fighter” video game and the delirious crowd roars in delight, a scene unimaginable just a few years ago in Nigeria, where esports is now in full swing. boom.
In a room with a futuristic decor in an upscale district of Lagos, the economic capital, several thousand visitors (4,500 according to the organizers) attended a giant video game tournament on Saturday.
White-hot by a speaker on fire, the young spectators gave voice all day long in front of the games of Street Fighter (combat), FIFA (football) and Call of Duty (shooting in first person view), interspersed with concerts of stars local Afrobeats (Victony, Crayon).
A “Nigerian-style” show that lives up to the stated ambition of Africa’s leading economy: to establish itself despite the obstacles as a key player in esports in the world of course, but first on its continent. .
South Africa is now overwhelming the African esports scene, thanks to numerous investments, followed by Egypt and Morocco, then to a lesser extent by Senegal, Côte d’Ivoire and Kenya.
But Nigeria has enough to make its neighbors green because its assets – just like its challenges – are immense.
Gamers at an esports tournament in Lagos on June 17, 2023 in Nigeria
AFP
Immense especially in size: it is the most populous country in Africa with more than 215 million inhabitants, renowned for being fierce competitors, and three quarters of whom are under 25 years old.
In Lagos, in the midst of the din of the tournament he supervises, Kunmi Adenipebi explains that it is almost impossible to know exactly how many players there are in Nigeria.
“Some say there are 60 million. Thanks to surveys, we are sure of one thing: there are at least three million”, underlines helmet on the head Mr. Adenipebi, chief of operations at Gamr, who organized the event.
feet of clay
The potential pool of players is therefore enormous: broadband internet penetration has reached 48%, almost all of which on smartphones, and it continues to grow.
Gamers during an esports tournament in Lagos on June 17, 2023 in Nigeria
AFP
However, this is only the beginning since Nigeria will be the second most populous country in the world at the end of the century with nearly 790 million inhabitants, just behind India, according to Lancet projections.
But, between the gigantic poverty, the power cuts and the poor quality network, Nigeria remains a colossus with feet of clay.
It has few professional players even if there are more and more since the Covid, specifies Mr. Adenipebi.
In Nigeria, youth unemployment is at 42.5%. “Esports is a great opportunity for young people and to lift people out of poverty. We want it to become a means of livelihood,” insists Chike Okonkwo, co-founder of Gamic, which promotes esports.
A gamer wears a virtual reality headset during an esports tournament in Lagos on June 17, 2023 in Nigeria.
AFP
A few meters from the main room, Akintoye Arogunmati, known as The_Arogs, participates in the tournament. Eyes glued to the screen, the young man of 25, one of the very best professional players in the country on FIFA, says he earns an average of 300,000 naira (420 euros) per month, or 10 times the minimum wage.
In November, he participated in the Paris Games Week, “a dream”.
But before getting there, “there are so many challenges to overcome,” he laughs, controller in hand.
“For an average Nigerian, the equipment and the generators to have electricity are really expensive,” he breathes. “And the network…”
– Nightmare –
To play online, a “gamer” must obviously have a good internet connection but also a weak “ping”, a nightmare for Africans.
Gamers at an esports tournament in Lagos on June 17, 2023 in Nigeria
AFP
Ping is the reaction time between when a player presses a key and when that action actually takes place in-game.
African players are at a disadvantage in online competition because the servers of almost all games are hosted in Europe, North America or Asia, causing too high a ping (over 100 ms).
“It’s so frustrating. You know your opponent is less good than you but since you’re behind, you can’t do anything”, enrages The_Arogs.
In the room drowned in purple and blue neon lights, players compete on state-of-the-art giant screens. In the VIP area, the whiskey flows freely.
Means that contrast with the reality of pro players, because even when you are a champion, life has “nothing fun” and the rewards are too low, denounces “KID”.
“For a tournament like that, we can pay you in three months or more,” blows Kevin Durst, 37, pioneer on “Street Fighter”. “The truth is that without my sponsors, I mightn’t eat.”
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