On September 3 this year, NTV Kenya reported that 38 students had been arrested in Thika for allegedly engaging in “suspicious adult activities”.
The students, 26 of whom were in secondary school, nine in college and three in primary school, were rounded up at a gaming complex owned by two young adults. “It is very wrong for children under 18 to be indulged in such kind of gaming and betting businesses,” said Thika OCPD Bernard Ayoo after the arrests.
RESTRICTIONS
His sentiments were shared by the community policing body that reported the children for their alleged truancy, as they would skip school to visit the establishment.
The report, available on YouTube, attracted commentary from the ever-growing gaming community in the country, with some pointing out the “ignorance” in the statement that gaming is an illegal activity and that it is unsuitable for children.
In today’s digital world, video games are a pastime for children as young as six, with parameters and age restrictions ensuring that the games are appropriate and not harmful to their development.
A study conducted in 2011 by Michigan State University’s Children and Technology Project in the United States linked video games to improved creativity in children who play them, while another in 2014 by the University of Rochester ascertained that children that play action video games were faster and more efficient at decision-making and task completion than their non-gaming counterparts.
With a wealth of psychological research making the case for video gaming in the West, its economic benefits further create an atmosphere that promotes professional gaming in adulthood.
Hence the introduction of e-sports — the online gaming industry that has surpassed the $1 billion mark in accrued revenue globally in 2019, with an impressive 26.7 percent growth rate since last year, according to a report by market analytics company Newzoo.
PROFESSIONALS
What is it, and what strides have Kenyans made towards eating a piece of this cake?
It is defined as organised, competitive gaming at a professional level. Countries such as South Korea are pioneers in legitimising the sport by creating in 2000 the Korean eSports Association, an arm of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism.
The association has established a minimum wage for professional players, as well as a mandatory one-year contract for new players, and manages 25 of the country’s main eSports games such as League of Legends, Dota 2 and Starcraft II.
The viewership statistics for the sport are staggering. In 2018, the League of Legends World Championship presented by Riot Games was held in South Korea, peaking at 200 million viewers during its finals, making it the most viewed eSports event in history, and overall surpassing the peak viewership of sports events such as the Super Bowl. In 2014, the championship final in Seoul filled an entire football stadium, with about 40,000 fans showing up to watch. Prize pools for games such as The International 2019: Dota 2 Championships stand at about $34 million (Sh3.5 billion) — currently the biggest in eSports history.
INVESTING
Kenya is yet to participate in such international championships, but we are well on our way. Although the most popular game is FIFA, competitions also include action games such as League of Legends, Tekken and Mortal Kombat. Currently, Pro-Series Gaming (PSG) is a local gaming syndicate that organises competitions in the country, with prizes for winners as high as Sh1 million. Other crucial industry events include the Nairobi Comic Convention (Naiccon), as well as the Africa eSports Championship, presented by Ludique Works, a Pan-African game publishing company.
“In Kenya, the climate is becoming more accommodative and the involvement in several partners from the private sector such as Safaricom, Liquid Telecom, ASUS, Dell and others are giving eSports enthusiasts a valid reason to become a pro gamer,” says James Karanu, a pro-gamer, game streamer and owner of eSports team Simba Ultimate.
“A young university student or job seeker could now play video games to rank up his skill against his friends whether locally or online to win a prize pool enough to improve himself both in skills, knowledge and gaming gear. It validates how good a person is skills-wise in a certain game. Hopefully, in the near future, we may see corporate partners investing their resources in eSports teams that manage the player’s talents,” he adds.
LICENSING
The government has also expressed its interest in legitimising eSports, with the registration of the eSports Federation of Kenya (ESKF) in 2018 under the Ministry of Sports, Culture and the Arts. The federation promised to establish a 16-team league by July 2019 to participate in this year’s International eSports Federation (IESF) Championships, but this is yet to materialise.
“We have a couple of teams practising and these will start us off once we roll out the league,” says Bavon Ojwang, CEO of the federation. He adds that they also seek to distinguish eSports from betting and lotteries in the country, besides interceding for gamers and protecting their interests.
Policies are also yet to be developed to regulate the industry in Kenya, as is the case of South Korea, which has a pro-gaming licensing system in addition to its “Shutdown Law”, which prohibits children under the age of 16 from playing between the times of midnight and 6am.
INADEQUACIES
“I believe the main issue is, first of all, educating the public on what gaming is. The current definition in the Kenyan context is that gaming is gambling,” says Sylvia Wahome, alias Queen Arrow, a pro-gamer who happens to be the first Kenyan to be recruited by a major eSports outfit in the United States dubbed XiT Woundz.
As is the case with any other sport, eSports in the country has encountered numerous challenges on its path to full realisation. Besides policy development by the government, Mr Karanu points out that infrastructural inadequacies and the societal stigma against gaming hampers the growth of the industry.
“Gaming needs the internet, as most of our competitions, especially for eSports teams, happen online. Some areas and major towns in Kenya do not have proper coverage of fibre internet,” he says.
“Another issue is that gaming is expensive. Purchasing a console is not enough, maintenance and other issues like PlayStation subscription costs further deter new gamers from participating in eSports,” Mr Solomon Oswago, alias Shoryuken, from the Tekken 254 outfit adds.
AMBITIOUS
However, there is hope for the future of eSports in the country. “How it can improve is simply by starting at the bottom; by urging the elder, pre-gaming generation to recognise that video games are just as viable as, say, marathon running, in terms of importance,” Mr Oswago says.
Nathan Masyuko, co-founder and CEO of Ludique Works and Kenyan manager of the African eSports Championship, agrees.
“The eSports industry in Kenya (and Africa by extension) is set to grow exponentially in the next 10 years. Today we are in the enviable position to take for granted that one can become a full-time musician, DJ and software developer. They all came to be because of the efforts of pioneers who dedicated their time, energy and resources when it was not fashionable to choose those industries as a career path. I am confident that in the next 10 years, the video game development and eSports scenes will join them and be among those industries that are looked at as noble professions.”
His words capture the essence of an industry that is here to stay, that will be nurtured by a relentless and ambitious generation.