Comic Con Africa is helping to grow independent local game developers, as well as to also give them an international platform, by focusing on Project Mosi and Project Springbok.
Project Mosi is the brainchild of Mario Rizzo, a 17-year veteran of the international video game industry. It is a viable plan to establish the very first video game hub on the continent of Africa that will produce video games suitable for international export.
Rizzo’s career in the video game industry has included work as a game designer and executive producer on some of the top franchises in the industry (such as Star Wars, FIFA, Battlefield, and Warhammer). He has held senior management roles at Sony Interactive Entertainment, Electronic Arts, Inc, and Ubisoft Entertainment.
Announcing the vision of Project Mosi, Rizzo says: “Project Mosi is an opportunity to create the first AAA video game hub on the continent of Africa to export content to the rest of the world. This would be the first studio in the world to focus on content for African consumers, designed by African game developers, in an African studio, to share top class content with the world.
“South Africa has unique characteristics that make it suitable for projects in software development and Comic Con Africa is ready to step up and support Project Mosi to make this a reality.”
Rizzo’s team includes former EA product manager and producer Gerald Tan and marketing and art director Nathan Newman MBKS, who has a diverse 15-year track record in video games, marketing and creative industry.
With the lion’s share of games being developed in the US, Europe, and Asia, there is a perception that the gaming industry is not a viable career choice in South Africa, resulting in a lack of African representation in the international marketplace.
To grow local game developers in support of helping to realise Project Mosi, in 2019 Comic Con Africa is launching Project Springbok that will allow 40 local developers to showcase their current work.
To be in the running for this free initiative, developers will register through our portal at http://bit.ly/CCA_ProjSpring and those that meet certain requirements will be accepted.
Visitors to Comic Con will be able to vote for their favourite game. The game with the most votes will not only win the public vote but will also be funded by Comic Con Africa to get onto Steam, a digital distribution platform for games.