What is the Nigerian Fighting Game Community?

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While watching the Europe, the Middle East, and Africa (EMEA) leg of the CPT, I was struck by how devoid it was of any African presence. This, of course, fuels the erroneous belief that there is no esports scene in Africa, and this couldn’t be further from the truth. Understandably, not everyone thinks this way.

However, there’s this generalization that happens when it comes to Africa; a lot of the world seems to think we’re one country, so you can imagine that the knowledge of individual countries’ esports scenes is sparse.

Being a Nigerian, I am particularly interested in my FGC scene and its perception from the outside world. Also, in a bid to let people know what’s going on in that part of the world, I figured it would be a good idea to take a look at the scene and give an update as to how things are going.

The state of the Nigerian FGC

So how are things looking now for Nigeria and her fighting game scene? Well… in the words of Samuel Keri, a tournament organizer in Abuja, Nigeria’s capital— ‘disjointed.’

The scene is such that small-medium entities are setting up tournaments and trying to sustain a community but unable to unite due to several factors. Nigeria is blessed with passionate players and enterprising tournament organizers who are ready to do what they can to elevate the medium in the country. I was able to speak to two of the most prominent ones: Samuel Keri of Adeiza gaming and Uzoma Odinu Goodway Gaming. According to them, the Nigerian scene is not at its best at the moment, but there are several encouraging signs of growth.

Goodway gaming was established earlier this year, but Uzo has been organizing tournaments since as far back as 2011 when he set up a tournament he called ‘Shaolin Rambat.’ Since then, there have been more entrants into the tournaments and more recognition for the work he has been doing. Similarly, Adeiza gaming has reported huge growth in the attendees to their tournaments, with their regular events drawing over 30 people. These numbers are more impressive when you take into context how novel the idea of esports is in Nigeria.

In addition, this growth has been achieved in spite of numerous challenges that TOs and gamers alike face in the country, including poor internet service, epileptic power, and lack of support.

The Nigerian FGC’s biggest problems

While there is a lot to be encouraged about in the Nigerian scene, there are also some pretty significant issues that the community has to surmount to attain the level of competitiveness that they need to excel. You must understand, Nigeria is a deeply cultural nation with conservative values. The recent #EndSars movement was a call from youths to stop being vilified by the police and killed simply for being different. This is because law enforcement doesn’t seem to understand that the world is changing, so people with unconventional jobs like coding or content creation are deemed to be criminals.

People with tattoos or braided hairstyles are looked upon with scorn by a society that refuses to progress. These issues also affect the FGC and esports as a whole since the concept of playing video games for money isn’t one that Nigerian parents understand.

There’s hope

The problems above are by no means insurmountable, and with some of the moves being made, there is some hope for esports in Nigeria. For instance, the problem of positive media coverage is still an issue, but we are seeing some good news on that front as there is some attention being drawn towards esports. The fact that the esports industry is worth over a billion dollars is no longer news, and the Nigerian government is becoming aware of it. This means that there is less resistance to providing support for stakeholders. Educated parents are more inclined to let their kids play video games and explore in case they find a suitable niche.

Also, Ernesto Lopez’s recent interview with Uzoma of Goodway Gaming was another massive breakthrough as it turned the attention of the global FGC to the Nigerian scene. Since then, Uzoma has organized a tournament, Batallas De Redençion (15th of November, 2020), for which he required funding and was promptly provided with the necessary money thanks to the kind donations of members of the FGC worldwide.

Based by weplay.tv