What is the future of gaming?

 Video games are a growing part of entertainment. The industry continues to get bigger and more profitable as more people are able to access video games.

People like to harp on about microtransactions or gatcha games or their favorite consoles or the best PC parts, but what everyone is failing to recognize is the rise of Asia and Africa in gaming. Online communities are becoming more and more diverse as more people get access to video game consoles or free to play games. PUBG Mobile for example is still widely popular throughout Africa and the Middle East, where anyone with a smartphone was able to download the game and play for free.

Though internet is limited for billions still, any access online means they are keen to join the international community of gamers. Competitive tournaments, once dominated by American and Japanese players, now has spread to Europe, Latin America, and the Middle East, with Africa slowly joining in as well. Games such as FIFA or Smash Bros cultivate large fan bases where it is not necessary to have an online connection to get good. In many places, internet and gaming "cafes" are very popular. 

It was a hot and muggy June night when I went to my first "gaming" café. The month was almost over, and the general mood in Alexandria was very high. My friends and I had just had several cups of tea after meeting up at 11:00 and, as it was decided that I would stay with my friend for the night instead of the monastery, we determined to have a fun night. After navigating through the streets of endless lookalike towers in one of the upper-lower class neighborhoods we made it to a small hole in the wall. Adorned on the wall just above the wall read signs of "free wifi" (this is a lie, there is never free wifi in Egypt" and "PS3". A picture of FIFA and Grand Theft Auto 4 was taped to the door. After paying the doorman, we entered a room with little cubbies which had PlayStation 4s locked in cages. We got a spot towards the back, sitting next to two chain-smoking high schoolers in an intense match of FIFA. It was horribly hot, the fans on the wall doing next to nothing, while the smell of body odor mixed with tobacco filled the room. A mosaic of Mohammed Salah was behind us. We, of course, also played FIFA and I, of course, lost badly. This is how most people in Egypt experience gaming. Spending $500 on just the console alone is completely unobtainable for the majority of society. However, there is a growing market for these places and are serious investments, with thousands being spent on consoles alone.

 I think that mobile gaming is the next big thing in Africa though. Free to play games with microtransations means increased accessibility and potential for profit. Instead of middlemen making the money, the game company makes money, even if it is just from ads. With the introduction of cheap Chinese smartphones, those who could previously never afford an iPhone or Android or what have you now have access to a plethora of options. 

Living abroad showed me that people experience gaming in a much different way than we do in the developed world. Though that doesn't mean they are unable to encounter most of the new inventions which are being introduced to us. At malls one could try a VR headset (with little cleaning...) and small arcades have begun popping up in areas with reliable power supplies. It will certainly be interesting to see the rise of the African gamer.