Ivory Coast: African professional “gamers” appear at Feja 4
The 4th edition of the Abidjan Electronics and Video Game Festival brought together a large number of players from Africa.
© FEJA
Text by: RFI Follow
3 min
The 4th edition of the Festival of electronics and video games of Abidjan (Feja) ended this Sunday, December 6.
This international festival has become the meeting place for African players who are becoming more and more professional, and are even starting to make a living in front of the console, like their counterparts from other continents.
Publicity
Read more
With our correspondent in Abidjan
,
Sidy Yansané
The Feja ended in sports and fighting game tournaments.
For the
Tekken 7
final
, the play area of the Cosmos shopping center in Yopougon was transformed into an arena, the two players competing through interposed screens, their fight projected on the wall.
The public does not miss a beat.
End of the first day of the # FEJA4 competitions.
Let's rediscover together some images of our lovers and players in gaming.
See you tomorrow for the apotheosis.
Always at @Cosmos_yopougon from 9 a.m. # eSport #Gaming pic.twitter.com/5iyz2WbPhZ
- Paradise Game (@ParadiseGame_) December 5, 2020
But this competition is no longer a game. For some gamers present, it is even a job.
For two months, Dakar's Sidy Mohamed Sow, alias Kuro666, has been part of the Senegalese team Solo e-Sport.
He turned professional in the
Street Fighter
game
.
His teenage passion became his livelihood: “
Sometimes we watched European, American or Japanese tournaments.
We saw players who started like us who moved up to the professional category thanks to their talent.
And we said to ourselves that if we can make a profession of that, then it is “all profit”,
”he says.
Africa seeks to catch up in the sector
If professional players are legion across the rest of the world, Africa is in the process of catching up.
Advertisers are still cautious, but change is coming, according to Sidick Bakayoko,
founder of Paradise Game
and of the
Festival of electronics and video games in Abidjan
.
“
This year, we were able to have Ubisoft and Bandai-Namco who joined forces with Feja 4 and we hope that next year we will be able to go even further and that's what is needed,
” explains Sidick Bakayoko.
Then add: "The
more we have big publishers, big brands that will be associated with African events, with African teams and with African project leaders, the more you will see that this universe will develop, structure itself, and it will be better for everyone.
"
For now, the video game industry weighs a billion dollars in Africa.
Barely 1% of the world market.
► To read also: Paris Games Week: “African video games are possible! "
Newsletter
Receive all the international news directly in your mailbox
I subscribe
Follow all the international news by downloading the RFI application
google-play-badge_FR
Ivory Coast
Video games
On the same subject
Video games
Difficult to make a living from e-sport for African competitors
Senegal: “Clean my beach”, a video game to raise environmental awareness
Africa on the move
Guinea: rehabilitating the great figures of Guinean history through video games