"Even if I don’t sell my games domestically, I still want to make games that are culturally somehow South African."
- Raheel Hassim, a student in South Africa's first-ever game design program
Polygon today has an in-depth look at the state of the South African video game industry, which is still in its youth but looks to be expanding thanks to a new crop of developers studying at Witwatersrand University in Johannesburg.
The students want to represent the country's unique culture in their games; "I want to make games that are culturally resonant here," student developer Lucky Nkosi told Polygon.
These feelings run up against conventional wisdom in the country, however: "There’s this feeling that there’s no truly South African market. You’ll find a popular myth that you can’t sell local," game design lecturer Hanli Geyser told Polygon.
The full feature is a great read and offers a view of distinct and quickly evolving game scene. It also coincidentally serves as a great companion to our feature, published just yesterday, about overall African game development.
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