What Xbox Game Camp Africa 2025 is offering
Xbox Game Camp Africa is back for its third year, this time as a structured 12-week program tailored for pre-selected professional studios across the continent. Teams will move from ideation to a working prototype or vertical slice with mentorship from Team Xbox across design, storytelling, production, publishing, and market readiness. The initiative runs in partnership with ID@Xbox’s Developer Acceleration Program, which focuses on lowering barriers for underrepresented creators.
Key details at a glance
- Kickoff: 4 December 2025, Cape Town, in collaboration with Africa Games Week.
- Format and duration: Virtual program over three months, with weekly learning tracks and office hours.
- Participants to date: Over 1,900 new-to-industry creators engaged in the first two Africa camps.
Why this matters for African studios
This edition shifts from open learning days to a pipeline that helps established teams ship. For many studios, the biggest obstacles are funding prototypes, platform knowledge, and publishing readiness. DAP specifically targets those gaps, offering non-recoupable support for porting and guidance to get games onto Xbox without exclusivity requirements. That mandate is designed to amplify underrepresented creators, including teams from emerging markets like Africa.
The program’s alumni momentum is already visible. Nairobi’s Kunta Content conceived its debut title Hiru during earlier camps and recently unveiled a trailer that tours African biomes, from the Masai Mara to the Congo. The studio credits mentorship from Game Camp and DAP for accelerating quality and milestones.
How to join or stay on the radar
For 2025, Xbox says participating teams are pre-selected. However, Microsoft’s Game Dev post lists eligibility signals and a contact path for interested companies registered and operating in an African country that work in software, game development, visual arts, 3D visualization, music or audio, or web design. Studios can express interest via gamecamp@microsoft.com, while developers who want publishing support should explore ID@Xbox and DAP.
Practical next steps for teams
- If you run a studio: Email Game Camp to be considered for future waves, and onboard with ID@Xbox to learn the technical and business requirements early.
- If you are an indie collective: Review DAP’s scope around porting support and mentorship, then prep a short prototype plan and milestone roadmap that demonstrate feasibility.
Tied into a fast-growing African gaming scene
The December kickoff aligns with Africa Games Week in Cape Town, a B2B hub that convenes publishers, investors, and studios, creating timely exposure for participating teams.
Across the region, the ecosystem keeps compounding: Safaricom has held a dedicated gaming conference in Nairobi, Lagos hosted the Carry1st Africa Cup Grand Finals for Call of Duty Mobile, and Otamatsuri turned KICC into a 5G-powered LAN playground. Each of these beats points to stronger networks between creators, platforms, telcos, and communities that Game Camp participants can tap into.
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