Kuluya, the African online gaming platform, has announced the launch of an exclusive partnership with Nokia to bring its best gaming offerings onto the Nokia Windows store for the mobile handset manufacturer’s range of Lumia and Asha devices.
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The partnership with the Lagos-based games studio appears to be a strategic bid for Nokia to reach Africa’s growing online gaming community. 65% of Africa’s population is under the age of 35, indicating that as more of this “young” continent comes online, there is huge potential for content providers, platforms and distributors to connect with this rising consumer-base.
To kick off the partnership, one of Kuluya’s most successful games to date, Oga @ The Top, is now available for download from the Nokia Windows Store.
Oga @ The Top was developed in the wake of a local viral interview and PR gaffe from a senior Nigerian civil servant who was unable to tell an interviewer the website he wanted to promote. The incident inspired various spin-offs such as video remixes, blog posts, t-shirts, as well as Kuluya’s online game. The game was developed at lightning speed — just three days — and launched to huge success with over 60 000 plays within the first 72 hours of release.
Kunle Ogungbamila, the head of Kuluya, had this to say on the Nokia partnership:
“We know that gaming will explode across the continent of Africa, just as it has in the West, usurping other forms of entertainment to become a multi-billion dollar generating industry. We also know that mobile is the prominent platform for content distribution in Africa, be it movies, news, music and, in this instance, gaming, so we see this partnership with Nokia as the beginning of an exciting and mutually beneficial content / platform relationship of the future.”
Ogungbamila adds that Oga @ The Top will have the same dynamic user experience on Asha and Lumia devices as on the online platform, and users will also be able to compete against other players for prizes.
Just six months after launch, in May 2013, Kuluya announced that it has been valued at US$2-million after a seed-investment round. The company now has a catalogue of 65 online games. Oga @ The Top is available for free download on the Nokia Windows Phone and for the Nokia Asha.
