Google Play Launches $1 Million Indie Games Fund for Africa: Who Qualifies and How to Apply

Google Play has opened applications for its first Indie Games Fund aimed at Africa. It is a $1 million programme that will give equity-free cash, mentorship, and technical support to a small group of independent game studios on the continent. Kenya is one of 32 countries where developers can apply.

Here is the plain version of what is on offer, who can get it, and what a studio has to give up in return.

What the money looks like

Google plans to pick 10 studios. Each selected studio will receive between $50,000 and $200,000. At the current exchange rate of about KES 129.5 to the dollar, that works out to roughly KES 6.5 million to KES 26 million per studio.

The funding is equity-free. That is the part worth understanding first. Google is not buying a stake in the businesses it backs. A studio that receives $150,000 keeps full ownership and does not owe Google shares, board seats, or a cut of future profits. This is a grant-style award, not a venture investment. For small studios, that distinction matters, because it means the money comes without the dilution that usually follows raising capital.

On top of the cash, recipients get hands-on mentorship from industry experts and technical support to improve their games and make them easier to find on the store.

Applications close at 3PM East Africa Time on 31 July 2026. Google says the 10 chosen studios will be announced in September. You can review the terms and apply on the official Africa Indie Games Fund page.

First for Africa, but not a new idea

Google Play describes this as its first Indie Games Fund for Africa, and that framing is accurate. The Indie Games Fund itself is not new to Google Play. The company has run the same programme in Latin America since 2022, committing $2 million each year and reaching a total of $8 million there by 2025, according to Google’s own blog.

Two differences stand out when you put the African fund next to the Latin American one. Africa’s fund is $1 million for 10 studios, while Latin America’s is $2 million for the same 10 studios. The minimum award is also lower. In Latin America, selected studios receive between $150,000 and $200,000. In Africa, the floor is $50,000. So the African programme spreads a smaller pool across the same number of winners, and the smallest awards are a third of the Latin American minimum.

Who can apply

The fund is open to independent developers who meet a specific set of conditions. A studio must be officially registered and based in one of the 32 eligible countries. It must be private and not publicly listed, and it must have 50 or fewer employees. It also has to have already launched a game on mobile, PC, or console. This is not a programme for idea-stage teams or first-time builders. You need a shipped title to qualify.

There is one commitment attached that applicants should read carefully. Selected studios must agree to make their game available on Google Play and to take part in Google Play Pass, non-exclusively, for two years.

Play Pass is Google’s subscription service. Users pay a flat monthly fee and get access to a catalogue of games and apps without ads or in-app purchases, and developers are paid from that subscription pool based on how much people play their titles. “Non-exclusively” means a studio can still distribute its game elsewhere, including on other stores. But for two years, the game has to be on Play and in the Play Pass catalogue. We recently covered how Play Pass affects pricing during Google Play’s Mega Game Sale, where some discounted titles were already free for Play Pass subscribers.

Why an equity-free fund matters for African studios

To understand the fund, it helps to know the state of game development on the continent.

African game development is creative and growing, but it runs on very little money. Most studios are small and under-capitalised. According to the 2025 Africa Games Industry Report, produced by Maliyo Games and KPMG, about 85% of African game studios earn less than $100,000 a year. A separate survey summarised by the Atlantic Council found that only around 59% of African studios have received any external investment at all.

The audience is there. Mobile phones account for roughly 90% of gaming activity on the continent, and Google Play is the main way most Africans download games. Estimates of the market’s total size vary a lot by methodology, from just over $1 billion in 2024 in one industry count to about $2.29 billion in 2025 in another. What the different reports agree on is direction. The market is growing faster than the global average, and it is overwhelmingly mobile.

The gap is money reaching developers. A large share of players cannot easily pay for games, because most Africans do not hold the credit or debit cards that app stores rely on for purchases. That is part of why a Play Pass commitment is central to this fund. Play Pass pays studios out of a subscription pool tied to engagement, rather than depending on individual card payments that many players cannot make.

This is not Google’s first equity-free push in Africa. We have reported before on its Startups Accelerator, which selected 15 African AI startups using the same no-equity model. Kenya also already has homegrown game studios. We wrote about Usiku Games building edutainment titles for local schools, the kind of studio this fund is designed to reach.

One thing to check before you apply

The fund covers 32 of Africa’s 54 countries. The full eligible list runs from Benin and Botswana through Kenya, Nigeria, and South Africa, to Zambia and Zimbabwe. It leaves out the whole of North Africa, including Egypt, which is one of the continent’s larger gaming markets. It also excludes some Sub-Saharan hubs such as Rwanda, Ethiopia, and Senegal. If you are a developer outside the listed countries, you cannot apply this round, so confirm your country is on the list first.

For a Kenyan studio that has already shipped a game, this is a rare chance at capital that does not cost equity, plus direct help from Google. The trade-offs are the two-year Play Pass commitment and a short window to apply. If you qualify and want in, the deadline is 31 July.