Maliyo Games lands spot in Apple’s Africa Day spotlight
Pan-African gaming software developer Maliyo Games features in Apple’s Africa Day celebration with three culturally rich titles crafted by local talent.
Nigeria.- Maliyo Games, the Lagos-based studio rewriting the rules of African game development, has just scored a major industry win, earning global recognition from Apple Inc during this year’s Africa Day celebrations. Africa Day was commemorated on May 25, 2025.
In a powerful thumbs up to the continent’s fast-growing creative tech scene, Apple handpicked three of Maliyo’s games – Crazy Ludo, Safari City, and Whot King – for its annual Africa Day editorial feature on the App Store. The games were spotlighted alongside exclusive Africa Day-themed updates, available since May 21, 2025, across both iOS and Android platforms.
“This recognition from Apple is a huge moment for us and for African game development as a whole,” Hugo Obi, Founder of Maliyo Games, told Punch Newspaper.
Obi, a fierce advocate for African storytelling in tech, explained that the updates were developed by local creatives trained through Maliyo’s GameUp Africa initiative, a talent accelerator that’s quickly become a force in grooming the next generation of African game developers.
Mobile-first gameplay
Founded in 2012, Maliyo Games has long served as a cultural bridge, using mobile-first gameplay to bring African narratives to global audiences. And Apple’s spotlight may just be the rocket fuel needed to push Africa’s game dev industry further into the mainstream.
With Africa’s gaming market now worth over $1 billion, according to a recent KPMG report, Maliyo’s rise is more than a milestone, it’s a movement.
“The future of gaming is diverse, inclusive, and global, and Africa is a big part of that story,” Obi said.
