Carry1st Focuses on Commerce, Payments, and Localized Growth as Africa’s Gaming Revenue Outpaces Player Expansion

South Africa-based digital publisher and commerce platform Carry1st has spent the past 12 to 18 months sharpening its commercial strategy. Moving beyond traditional publishing models, the company has heavily concentrated its resources on proprietary payment gateways, online storefronts, and business-to-business API infrastructure designed to help companies sell games and in-game items seamlessly across Africa and the Middle East.

Ahead of Pocket Gamer Connects Jordan, industry leaders and analysts have turned their attention to how the region’s gaming landscape is evolving. Guillaume Noé, Vice President of Growth at Carry1st, recently sat down to discuss the company’s refined commercial focus, how Africa’s burgeoning gaming market has transformed over recent years, and why regional revenue growth is now outpacing raw player acquisition for the first time.

Over the past year, Carry1st has maintained a noticeably quieter public profile compared to its earlier years of aggressive expansion. According to Noé, this quiet period reflects a deliberate internal refocusing rather than a slowdown in activity. The company has streamlined its operations around a robust commerce platform, anchoring its business model on three core pillars: the Carry1st Shop storefront, Pay1st as a proprietary payment gateway, and Flow1st, a new application programming interface (API) solution. Flow1st enables any digital consumer platform to sell in-game items, virtual currencies, and digital goods directly to their end users without friction.

Distribution partnerships have particularly ramped up over the past year. Carry1st has forged alliances with new partners across Africa and international markets who procure games directly through the Flow1st API, expanding the reach of major global publishers into underserved territories.

When Carry1st previously evaluated the continent’s potential, leadership noted that the company was merely scratching the surface of Africa’s capabilities. Two years later, the fundamental market dynamics remain exceptionally strong. This resilience stems from a powerful combination of demographic growth, rapidly increasing smartphone penetration featuring higher hardware specifications, and broader access to online payment ecosystems. These compounding factors continue to position Africa as the fastest-growing gaming market globally.

To better capture these opportunities, Carry1st has expanded its operational scope to jointly analyze and serve Africa alongside the Middle East. This strategic pivot reflects the deep behavioral and structural similarities between North Africa—a region Carry1st has served since its inception—and key Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) markets.

Recent joint analysis conducted by Carry1st and market intelligence firm Newzoo forecasts that combined games revenue across the Middle East and Africa (MEA) region will reach $8.53 billion, representing a robust 10.3% increase year-over-year. This milestone highlights that the region continues to outpace global industry growth benchmarks significantly. Despite these impressive figures, persistent hurdles remain for everyday players. High mobile data costs, fragmented payment access, and a historical lack of localized pricing or dedicated local game servers continue to create friction for consumers across many territories.

Operating as a multifaceted enterprise, Carry1st juggles payments, commerce, digital marketing, esports tournaments, and community development alongside its foundational publishing division. Balancing these diverse business units requires a flexible approach to resource allocation. Publishing remains deeply rooted in the company’s DNA, and its intimate local knowledge of the African continent serves as the cornerstone for successful partnerships with global industry giants such as Activision, Tencent, and Riot Games.

Carry1st approaches market growth through a dual-pronged strategy. First, the company expands player acquisition via grassroots, on-the-ground activations, including esports tournaments, active community building, creator partnerships, and broader brand collaborations. Second, it maximizes monetization by deploying localized commerce and payment infrastructure. By maintaining organizational dexterity, Carry1st can flexibly deploy internal resources to meet the unique goals of each international partner.

The opportunity for homegrown African game developers is also experiencing a notable shift. The advent of artificial intelligence tools has significantly reduced development costs, while global distribution platforms like Steam make it easier for independent studios to reach worldwide audiences. According to Carry1st, the standards for signing a game remain universally rigorous. The company looks for compelling gameplay, strong user retention, and clear potential for in-app purchase monetization, regardless of whether a studio originates locally or internationally.

North Africa and the broader Middle East remain critical strategic territories for the company, which maintains a direct local presence in Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Morocco, and Tunisia. The Carry1st Shop has achieved substantial success in Egypt, while its broader payments business remains solid across the region alongside an active distribution network spanning Algeria, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and Morocco.

The company’s ongoing partnership with Stellar Gate Games continues to expand, featuring distribution through third-party networks, rights to cover new territories like Iraq, and collaborative planning for upcoming game titles. Operating across North Africa reveals structural similarities to Sub-Saharan Africa, characterized by a fragmented digital ecosystem and the rapid rise of digital wallets and cash-to-digital payment solutions. However, direct carrier billing and cash transactions remain dominant, while navigating complex local regulations and successfully repatriating funds present ongoing challenges that necessitate specialized local expertise.

Esports has emerged as a major focal point for Carry1st’s regional investments. Described by Noé as the equivalent of Formula 1 for the automotive industry, esports acts as a flagship vehicle that showcases local talent, celebrates success, and inspires gamers across the continent. Hosting successful tournaments in Africa validates the health and competitiveness of the local gaming ecosystem, putting the continent firmly on the global esports map.

For the second consecutive year, the Carry1st Africa Cup served as an official qualifying event for the Call of Duty: Mobile World Championship and the Esports World Cup through the Mobile Legends: Bang Bang Women’s Invitational. These partnerships provide vital pathways for African competitors to advance to elite global stages.

Investment in the Carry1st Africa Cup has scaled up alongside production values, with this year’s total prize pool doubling from $15,000 to $30,000. Widely recognized as the largest prize pool for an exclusive African esports tournament, winners secure direct eligibility to compete in international championships. Because Carry1st generates no direct profit from these events, funding is managed through a careful balancing act between delivering a world-class competitive experience and justifying the investment through broader year-over-year revenue growth.

The tournament continues to scale efficiently, drawing comparable numbers of participants across dozens of countries while focusing primarily on Call of Duty: Mobile and Mobile Legends: Bang Bang. Rather than aggressively inflating the number of featured game titles, the organization prioritizes sustainable expansion and operational excellence.

To support its continental footprint, Carry1st introduced its Entrepreneur in Residence program. Designed to mirror the responsibilities of a traditional country manager, the initiative grants entrepreneurial leaders complete profit-and-loss responsibility across all core products, including the Carry1st Shop, Pay1st, and Flow1st. This localized leadership model ensures that the company maintains deep, boots-on-the-ground insight in every market it serves.

Data from Newzoo underscores the massive structural transition underway within the continent. Africa is projected to house over 406 million players while generating nearly $2 billion in revenue. However, unlocking the true financial potential of this vast user base requires confronting historical payment constraints. With fewer than 10% of consumers possessing access to international credit cards typically required for standard digital checkouts, spending has traditionally been limited by payment infrastructure rather than a lack of consumer enthusiasm or willingness to pay.

By deploying localized, non-traditional payment rails, the industry is gradually building a reliable bridge to millions of eager players. This foundation is already yielding measurable results: African gaming revenue reached $1.77 billion across nearly 370 million players, establishing a trajectory where revenue growth now outpaces player expansion. This trend indicates that monetization per player is steadily climbing as barriers to entry fall.

Providing expanded payment access, combined with localized live operations and engaging community experiences, remains vital for giving players more meaningful opportunities to spend. As digital infrastructure matures, Carry1st remains committed to supporting its partners across every stage of the market’s evolution to secure long-term commercial success for game franchises throughout Africa and the Middle East.