NIGERIA: 'Maliyo Games' is Nigeria's first online gaming site set up by young entrepreneur, Hugo Obi in 2012

Record ID: 236305

  • Title: NIGERIA: 'Maliyo Games' is Nigeria's first online gaming site set up by young entrepreneur, Hugo Obi in 2012
  • Date: 11th February 2014
  • Summary: LAGOS, NIGERIA (RECENT) (REUTERS) HUGO OBI, CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER, MALIYO GAMES, WALKING INTO HIS OFFICE BUILDING NUMBER ON BUILDING READING: "294" VARIOUS OF HUGO WORKING ON HIS LAPTOP/LAPTOP SCREEN SHOWING VARIOUS GAMES STICKER ON A LAPTOP READING: "GAMES OUT OF AFRICA, BY MALIYO GAMES" HUGO WORKING ON HIS LAPTOP AND EXPLAINING ONE OF THE GAMES: "Okada (motorcycle) ride for instance is a game where you are trying to navigate your way through traffic, your obstacles are very simple, you have potholes and you have keke marwas (tricycle) which you have to avoid. The game lasts for a few minutes, you weave through traffic, you sort of like have the landscape of Lagos, it's kind of fun." VARIOUS OF HUGO WITH HIS TEAM MEMBERS HAND DRAWING ON TABLET COMPUTER HUGO AND TEAM MEMBERS LOOKING ON LAPTOP SCREEN SHOWING ONGOING GAME (SOUNDBITE) (English) HUGO OBI, CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER, MALIYO GAMES, SAYING: "We looked at the gaming segment which is growing rapidly, back in 2011, 2012, 2013, you know like with the sort of huge or great adoption of mobile devices and we thought that you know an African game category will be great to have, people are very keen on content for their devices so why can't we create something that has local relevance, so take some of these cultural experiences that we have in a place like Nigeria for instance and make that available in the game format." VARIOUS OF GAME ON A PHONE STREET SCENES VARIOUS OF EDIDIONG UWEM-AKPAN, ONLINE GAMER, PLAYING MALIYO GAME IN HER OFFICE SCREEN SHOTS OF ONGOING GAME (SOUNDBITE) (English) EDIDIONG UWEM-AKPAN, ONLINE GAMER, SAYING: "When I play foreign games, let's say 'Need For Speed', I like racing games, and when I play games like 'Need For Speed,' I cannot relate because it gives me areas like Texas and Los Angeles, but then I'm playing the 'Okada Ride' on Maliyo and it's like I'm on Ikorodu road (suburb in Lagos), I see Keke Napep (tricycle), I see danfos (commercial buses), so I really can relate, and that's something I really do like." VARIOUS OF MALIYO'S ILLUSTRATOR DRAWING (SOUNDBITE) (English) HUGO OBI, CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER, MALIYO GAMES, SAYING: "The internet is relatively new in the space, our games are browser games, our games are web games which means that we need to be on the internet to play them. Our mobile games, you need to download them, you need to have data plan, you need to have a smart device. The good thing is that the cost of smart devices are coming down, the challenge is that the cost of data is still relatively high, so that and the data speed as well, the speed of the internet that we have available here is not as fast as what you will get in more developed, more evolved society." VARIOUS OF HUGO AT HOME DRINKING COFFEE WITH HIS FRIENDS
  • Embargoed: 26th February 2014 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Nigeria
  • Country: Nigeria
  • Topics: Entertainment,General
  • Reuters ID: LVA4CI7C64XT7BWKUORFHJK5JNPB
  • Story Text: Nigerian entrepreneur, Hugo Obi walks into his office located in the heart of the university community of Lagos.
    For him, it is another day to strategise and develop new products that push his gaming company to new horizons.
    Motivated by the desire to create something from Africa that the rest of the world will enjoy, Hugo Obi set up Maliyo games in May 2012 and since then, he has created about 14 online games.
    Maliyo is focused on bringing local content to device manufacturers who are interested in African products for their distribution channels.
    The games are intended to give the player a sense of ordinary life on the continent.

    "Okada Ride for instance is a game where you are trying to navigate your way through traffic, your obstacles are very simple, you have potholes and you have Keke Marwas (tricycle) which you have to avoid. The game lasts for a few minutes, you weave through traffic, you sort of like have the landscape of Lagos, it's kind of fun," explains Hugo.
    Nigeria, with its huge population of about 170 million has been a burgeoning market in recent years for smart phone manufacturers, but none with a local content game.
    Although Hugo studied International Business and Finance, he says the concept of his game was born out of a need to portray and project real life occurrences in his country.

    "We looked at the gaming segment which is growing rapidly, back in 2011, 2012, 2013, you know like with the sort of huge or great adoption of mobile devices and we thought that you know an African game category will be great to have, people are very keen on content for their devices so why can't we create something that has local relevance, so take some of these cultural experiences that we have in a place like Nigeria for instance and make that available in the game format," he said.
    One of Hugo's games, mosquito smasher sees people trying to kill as many mosquitoes as they can and brings home the reality of life for millions of people across the continent.
    Mosquitos are vectors for parasites that cause Malaria which kills hundreds of thousands of people in Africa every year.
    Twenty two-year-old gaming enthusiast, Edidiong Uwem-Akpan works with an advertising agency in Lagos. She says Malay games are much more relatable than the games she plays from other countries.

    "When I play foreign games, let's say 'Need For Speed', I like racing games, and when I play games like 'Need For Speed,' I cannot relate because it gives me areas like Texas and Los Angeles, but then I'm playing the 'Okada Ride' on Maliyo and it's like I'm on Ikorodu road (a major road in Lagos) , I see Keke Napep (tricycle), I see Danfos (commercial buses), so I really can relate, and that's something I really do like," she says.
    Maliyo Games have had tens of thousands of downloads in just two years and about 20,000 visitors to the site on a weekly basis who play at no cost.
    Hugo, however, makes a living by building enterprise games for companies who use the medium to engage their customers whenever they visit their site.

    "The good thing is that the cost of smart devices are coming down, the challenge is that the cost of data is still relatively high, so that and the data speed as well, the speed of the internet that we have available here is not as fast as what you will get in more developed, more evolved society," added Hugo.
    Hugo plans to perfect game development in Nigeria, inspiring a new generation of IT professionals and entrepreneurs whose work he hopes will make an even bigger impact around the world.
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