Biased Opinion: Phones Saved The African Gamer

Gone are the days when everything had its segregated use. for instance, the wall clock told the time and the calculator well, calculated. But today’s world, pushed heavily by technology, has fitted everything into the palm of our hands. Whenever we need to tell the time we turn to our phones. Got something you want to be calculated? The phone comes to the rescue!!!

Technology has advanced exponentially so quickly that we don’t need a TV and a console to enjoy our favourite games. We have our phones!!! Awesome right? Granted there are some people who prefer the big screen for various reasons (the most significant reason that comes to mind? Quality of GRAPHICS). Still, there’s no denying that mobile phones have made gaming more accessible to enthusiasts, especially to the African youth.

Africa had always been relegated to the sideline when it came to gaming considering the economic state of most countries. Due to this fact, most households or individuals could not afford to purchase the PlayStations and Xboxs or Nintendos. This was and still is primarily due to the cost of the products in Africa where the consumer has to cough up twice as much money needed by consumers in America or Europe. With the COVID-19 pandemic disrupting the world flow with its debut back in 2019, things have gotten worse.

Despite the high costs of acquiring consoles, the love for gaming only grew strong and steady. A lot of thanks can be attributed to gaming centres and mobile phones. The gaming centres provided gamers with a haven to grow their love and skills for the joystick but there remains one issue.

You couldn’t take the games with you. This is where mobile phones come into play. Smartphones cost less than the average console and one could get most of the games off the App Store or Play Store for free (thank you Google).

Among Us, Call Of Duty Mobile, PUBG etc are some games that have gained a lot of popularity on the continent. Why?? they can be played on mobile phones. Games in recent years have been developed for consoles as well as mobile phones. Gamers can access and play their favourite games on the handheld device and even engage their friends in parties for missions in various MMOs.