2026 will be South Africa’s biggest year for gaming — Gamefinity CEO
Mario Dos Santos, CEO of Koodoo and Sony’s distributor for South Africa, Gamefinity, told MyBroadband that 2026 will be the country’s biggest year for gaming.
He said that the November launch date of Grand Theft Auto VI, alongside a number of highly anticipated single-player experiences, will see record game and console sales locally.
Gaming market research firm Newzoo reported in 2024 that there were approximately 26 million gamers in South Africa across PC, mobile and consoles. Over 80% were on mobile alone.
The South African gaming industry was recently estimated at R7 billion, and South Africa remains the continent’s most mature market for gamers, platforms, and developers.
Cape Town hosts half of South Africa’s active game development studios, with independent developers like Brotherhood Games producing successful, globally acclaimed titles such as Stasis: Bone Totem.
Another success story is studio Free Lives, whose debut game, Broforce, was a massive hit in 2014. Free Lives has been consistently releasing games since then, including Stick it to the Stickman in 2025.
According to Dos Santos, South African gamers responded strongly to the slate of single-player experiences in the first four months of 2026.
This included Pearl Abyss’s surprise hit Crimson Desert, which recently surpassed 5 million copies sold worldwide. Capcom’s Resident Evil Requiem and Pragmata also excited the local market.
Dos Santos said that single-player games would continue to drive South African gaming into a banner year, one of the biggest in some time.
“These, along with tentpole titles to come such as Saros, 007 First Light, Wolverine and then the colossus, being GTA VI in November, we should see the biggest year in games in the last decade.”
He said that Gamefinity saw an increase in demand for the PS5 Pro, the most expensive console in PlayStation’s current lineup, following the rollout of PSSR.
Sony officially rolled out PlayStation Spectral Super Resolution (PSSR) in an update to its Pro consoles on 16 March 2026. This launch marked the transition to the 2.0 version of the technology.
PSSR is Sony’s brand of software-driven AI upscaling technology, developed with AMD through the Project Amethyst partnership.
“Through AMD’s FSR 4 upscaling technology, PC gamers have already seen the benefits of our collaboration,” said Mark Cerny, PS5 and PS5 Pro lead architect.
“With the updated PSSR, we’re delivering the very latest of this co-developed technology with a further six months of refinement for PS5 Pro players.”
Sony soon expanded the titles that support the technology, which now includes Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, Monster Hunter Wilds, Crimson Desert, Silent Hill f and Resident Evil Requiem.
Dominance of PlayStation in South Africa
According to Dos Santos, PlayStation remained the dominant console brand in South Africa for the first four months of 2026.
“Retailer reports and feedback consistently suggest that PlayStation is the leading gaming brand. This is also supported by the sales format mix on multi-platform games,” he said.
A MyBroadband survey of our readers in 2025 found that 56% of respondents owned a PlayStation, compared to roughly 40% who owned an Xbox and 6% who owned a Nintendo.
That year, Massmart and Amazon.co.za told MyBroadband that PlayStation 5 led sales in its gaming categories, although there was a demand for Xbox Series S consoles.
Meanwhile, Amazon indicated that the PS5 Pro release in South Africa successfully drove existing PlayStation 5 customers to upgrade.
In Africa, mobile gaming is responsible for 90% of industry revenues, according to data from Mordor Intelligence. The segment is considered dominant, with user share surpassing that of all other platforms.
Mobile gaming remains the most affordable and accessible platform, with the lowest hardware requirements and the smallest monetary investment.
Popular titles like Fortnite and Roblox are free to play, but they feature microtransactions and digital currencies that can be traded for in-game items.
Dos Santos said the dominance of mobile gaming did not affect Gamefinity’s console games. He said that instead, local console gamers typically play on multiple platforms, including mobile.
“If anything, entrants into mobile gaming tend to migrate to console/PC gaming when wanting a more immersive experience.”
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