Inside South Africa’s R7bn gaming industry, and how Raymond Ledwaba is trying to change it

Stephen Grootes speaks to Raymond Ledwaba, CEO of ITTHYNK Gaming about the business of gaming in South Africa, an industry valued at roughly R7 billion, yet one where most of the economic value still flows offshore instead of benefiting local creators.

Listen to the interview interview in the audio player below.

South Africa’s gaming industry is growing fast, with an estimated value of around R7 billion. But most of that money doesn’t stay in the country.

Instead, much of the revenue flows to international studios and publishers, leaving local developers with a small share of the market.

For Raymond Ledwaba, that needs to change.

Ledwaba is the CEO of ITTHYNK Gaming, a company focused on building South Africa’s gaming ecosystem from the ground up.

His goal is simple: create a thriving local industry where South African developers can design, build and profit from their own games.

South Africa however is still mostly a consumer of games, rather than a producer.

But through ITTHYNK Gaming, Ledwaba is working to change that by investing in game development studios, African intellectual property and skills development.

Speaking to Stephen Grootes on The Money Show, Ledwaba says gaming is no longer just entertainment, it’s a global business worth billions that South Africa needs to cash in on.

"Yes, games are an entertainment form, but they're also a commercial enterprise. 3 billion people around the world play games, that's almost half the world's population. If you look at the commercial value of revenue generated from this industry, it's north of $200bn."

- Raymond Ledwaba, CEO - ITTHYNK Gaming

"The size of the video games industry globally is bigger than movie and the music industry combined."

- Raymond Ledwaba, CEO - ITTHYNK Gaming

"Less than 1% of video game developers are African, yet we make up, together with the Middle East the second biggest population of gamers around the world."

- Raymond Ledwaba, CEO - ITTHYNK Gaming

Scroll to the top of the article to listen to the full interview.