Google Play selects 10 African studios for $1m Indie Games Fund

• Google has selected 10 African studios for its inaugural $1 million Indie Games Fund.
• Nigeria and South Africa each account for four selected studios.
• The selected games span several genres, including survival, strategy, music and casual games.

Google Play has selected 10 game studios from Nigeria, South Africa, Ghana and Kenya for its inaugural $1 million Indie Games Fund in Africa.

Google is offering each studio between $50,000 and $200,000 in equity-free funding. The programme also provides mentorship and technical support to help independent developers grow their games.

Selected studios must publish on Google Play and join Google Play Pass on a non-exclusive basis for two years. The funding aims to help them develop their games, grow their teams, expand their audiences and strengthen their businesses. 

The selected studios are:

• Clockwork Acorn (South Africa)
• Deluxe Studios (Nigeria)
• Fer Factor (Nigeria)
• Gazuntype (Nigeria)
• Disputed People Games (South Africa)
• Leti Arts (Ghana)
• Maliyo Games (Nigeria)
• Studio Bo (South Africa)
• Vetkoek Studios (South Africa)
• Weza (Kenya)

Clockwork Acorn plans to use the support to finish Jetstream and release it on mobile, while Deluxe Studios aims to create a version of Rasta Santa for Google Play Pass.

"Each of these studios will receive a share of non-dilutive funding, alongside direct access to commercial and growth resources, hands-on 1:1 mentorship from Google Play specialists and tailored technical support from Unity," Google Play head of ecosystem and core partnerships EMEA Nicola Julius stated in a blog post.

"This support is designed to help them optimise their titles, scale sustainably and bring authentic African stories and gameplay mechanics to a worldwide audience."