Bringing Africa's Game Makers Together: Notes from the Endless Convening in Nairobi
Last month, 23 leaders gathered in Nairobi, Kenya for the first Endless Convening—an intimate gathering of builders and thinkers working at the intersection of games, technology, education, and Africa's future.
The event was hosted by Endless, and made possible through the generosity of Alight, a humanitarian organization that partners with displaced communities, who opened their doors to us for the conversation. The convening happened on the eve of the Games for Change Games & SDG Summit, a gathering that brings together the gaming industry, the UN, and social impact organizations to discuss how games can further the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Coming together first in Nairobi was intentional, with the goal of spending time understanding the current landscape from the experts on the ground doing the work locally, in studios from Lagos to Nairobi to Yaoundé and beyond.
“The diverse array of event participants is indicative of the growing energy around the African gaming industry and the opportunity to build global ties.”
- Leo Olebe
Advisor, Endless Foundation
The People Powering the Work
The studios and organizations represented at the convening tell their own story of where African game development is right now, and where it’s going.
Teams from Maliyo Games and Kucheza Gaming hailed from Nigeria. Kiro'o travelled from Cameroon. Weza Interactive, Usiku Games, and Kunta Content represented Kenya, alongside our hosts and colleagues from the United Nations office in Nairobi. Leti Arts joined from Ghana. From further afield, Blockworks came from London, Big Kitten from the US, Supercell from Finland, and Xbox Game Camp brought a global lens.
The diverse array of event participants is indicative of the growing energy around the African gaming industry and the opportunity to build global ties.
Sharing the Work Behind the Vision
Stephen Reid, VP of Learning at Endless, and Heather Drolet, Director of Programs at Endless Access, spoke to the Endless mission and to Threadbare—an open-source game where players become learners who contribute to the game’s expansion. Threadbare is designed to scaffold learners from first-time creators to genuine open-source contributors, blurring the line between playing, learning, and building by harnessing the power of community.
Mark Ollila, Director of the ASU Endless Games and Learning Lab, followed with a tour of the lab's work, including microcredentialing pathways that translate game-making skills into recognized signals for college and career opportunities. He also shared info on Project MIRANDA, which stands for Multimodal Intelligent Recognition and Assessment for Next-generation Digital Accreditation, an effort to identify the skills players pick up through osmosis while gaming.
For attendees, this framed the conversation around what’s being built, what still remains, and opportunities for future collaboration.
The Questions that Mattered Most
The questions attendees brought to the session reflected both curiosity about Endless's model and the realities of building in under-resourced markets. Attendees wanted to understand who the program serves, what ages, and what pathways open up after learners complete the program. They pushed hard on questions that matter, like how narrative and story quests shape learning, and whether Endless’ programs can reach communities that don't yet have devices. There was real interest in how Endless and ASU are working together, and what that collaboration unlocks—for studios, for educators, and for young people considering a path into games.
When the conversation turned to industry barriers, two specific topics surfaced quickly: funding and jobs. Every studio in the room, regardless of size or geography, is navigating some version of those two pressures, which puts into sharp relief that the solutions must be shared too.
Turning Momentum Into Action
Meetings like this are only as valuable as what follows them, and the afternoon in Nairobi gave us a clearer picture of where Endless can be most impactful:
Access to devices, so that learning programs can reach communities currently outside the digital economy.
Pathways into jobs, connecting learners and emerging creators to real roles in studios, publishers, and adjacent industries.
Sustainable funding for studios, not just one-off grants, but the kind of patient capital and revenue infrastructure that lets a studio plan beyond its next milestone.
These aren't problems Endless can solve alone. They require a strong coalition of dedicated individuals, and the room in Nairobi was a useful reminder that this coalition is already forming.
How to Get Involved
If any of this resonates, whether you're a studio, a funder, an educator, a non-profit or someone working in an adjacent space, we'd love to hear from you. A few ways in:
Build with us. If you're a studio or organization working on games, learning, or the African games ecosystem, reach out and let’s explore how we might partner together.
Follow the work. Subscribe to the Endless blog or follow us on socials for ongoing notes from the field, program updates, and what we're learning along the way.
Thank you to every studio that made the trip, to the team at Alight for hosting us, and to the community that continues to show up for this work. There's a lot more to build, and we're excited to be building it with you.