- The broader MEA area now has 640.12m players, representing greater than 17.3% of the worldwide participant base.
- Egypt was Africa’s largest video games market at $458.1m in income.
- Turkey and Saudi Arabia led the Center East with $1.65bn and $1.59bn respectively.
- Africa added an estimated 36.6m new players in 2026 alone.
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Africa and the Center East’s video games market is forecast to succeed in $8.53 billion in 2026, up 10.3% year-over-year, as Africa’s gamer inhabitants is anticipated to surpass 406 million.
That’s in keeping with a brand new report from Carry1st and Newzoo, which discovered that video games income throughout Africa grew 11.9% yoy to $1.98bn, practically twice the worldwide video games market’s 6.1% progress.
The Center East is forecast to generate $6.55bn in video games income, up 9.8% yoy, with cellular accounting for 64.3% of spending.
Africa’s progress was much more closely pushed by cellular, which is about to generate $1.62bn or 81.8% of the continent’s whole video games income.
Rising viewers
The variety of players in Africa appears to succeed in 406.25m in 2026, up from 369.66m in 2025 and 186m in 2021. This represents a 118% enhance over 5 years and means Africa now accounts for 10.98% of the world’s 3.70bn players.
The broader MEA area is anticipated to be house to over 640m players when the Center East’s 233.86m gamers are included, representing greater than 17.3% of the worldwide participant base.
Egypt is forecast to be Africa’s largest video games market by income at $458.1m, adopted by South Africa at $263m and Nigeria at $226.6m.
Within the Center East, Turkey is forecast to steer with $1.65bn, adopted by Saudi Arabia at $1.59bn. Israel and the UAE generated $595.3m and $593.1m respectively.
“Our newest information with Newzoo highlights what we’ve got lengthy believed: Africa and the Center East are the first progress engines of the worldwide video video games trade,” mentioned Carry1st CEO and co-founder Cordel Robbin-Coker.
“Watching Africa’s gaming inhabitants develop from an estimated 186m gamers in 2021 to over 406m immediately demonstrates the immense velocity of this market. Because the trade factors to a structural plateau in mature markets, Africa’s sustained enlargement proves the place the subsequent billion gamers will come from.”
You possibly can pre-register for Newzoo’s World Video games Market Report here.