{"id":2912,"date":"2025-05-15T09:33:19","date_gmt":"2025-05-15T12:33:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/africa\/?p=2912"},"modified":"2026-04-19T16:59:11","modified_gmt":"2026-04-19T19:59:11","slug":"esports-call-of-duty-mobile-world-championship-opens-door-to-africas-gamers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/africa\/esports-call-of-duty-mobile-world-championship-opens-door-to-africas-gamers","title":{"rendered":"Esports – Call of Duty Mobile World Championship opens door to Africa’s gamers"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

For the first time in history, African Call of Duty: Mobile players can fight for a shot at the $1m global prize, thanks to Carry1st’s landmark partnership with Activision.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

South Africa.- After five long years on the sidelines, African Call of Duty: Mobile (CODM) <\/strong>players have finally been handed a ticket to the world stage, and it’s worth a cool $1m.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gaming publisher Carry1st <\/strong>announced that its flagship tournament, the Carry1st Africa Cup<\/strong>, has been formally recognised by Activision<\/strong> as an official qualifier for the 2025 CODM World Championship<\/strong>. This move places Africa in the ring alongside North America, Europe, Asia and Latin America.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis is a watershed moment for African esports,\u201d said Guillaume No\u00e9<\/strong>, VP of Growth at Carry1st in a statement to Techpoint Africa.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAfrican gamers are no longer just spectators in global events; now they\u2019re part of the main stage.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite a passionate and growing community, African players have long been excluded from Activision’s competitive CODM ecosystem until now. The announcement marks a seismic shift in the global esports landscape.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Over 200 teams participating<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The battle begins in May through to July, with regional qualifiers set to run across seven zones including Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, Uganda and South Africa<\/strong>. Over 200 teams and more than 1,000 players are expected to take part in the qualifiers, all chasing a chance to represent the continent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The grand finale will be held in Lagos, Nigeria, in August 2025, as a live LAN event. A $15,000 prize pool will be awarded to top performers, but more importantly, the winning team will advance to the global finals, gunning for their share of the $1m purse.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While African creators have already made waves in international creator tournaments – six Nigerians competed in a $10,000 CODM event hosted by Irish creator Luke Fergie<\/strong> in 2024 – this is the first time the continent has a direct pipeline to the pro circuit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With Activision launching dedicated African servers in late 2023, and the local esports market projected to hit $66m this year, the continent’s competitive gaming future just hit a new level.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This tournament isn’t just a milestone, it’s a new era for African esports<\/strong>. <\/p>\n\n\n

\n\t\t\tSee also:<\/span><\/p>\n
\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\tSee also:<\/span> Hollywoodbets renews partnership with SAFA to bolster women’s football<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For the first time in history, African Call of Duty: Mobile players can fight for a shot at the $1m global prize, thanks to Carry1st’s landmark partnership with Activision.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2396,"featured_media":2918,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"is_press_release":false,"is_interview":false,"is_opinion":false,"focusai_summary":"Carry1st has partnered with Activision to establish the Carry1st Africa Cup as an official qualifier for the 2025 Call of Duty: Mobile World Championship, granting African players access to the $1 million global prize pool. This landmark agreement integrates Africa into the global esports ecosystem, signaling significant growth potential within the continent's projected $66 million competitive gaming market.","focusai_entities":"Carry1st, Activision, Guillaume No\u00e9, Techpoint Africa, Luke Fergie","focusai_location":"South Africa, Africa, Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, Uganda, Lagos","focusai_target_profile":"ceo_executive (0.9), regulator (0.7), compliance_legal (0.7), operator_casino (0.8), affiliate_publisher (0.8), product_ux (0.7), tech_data (0.7), marketing_crm (0.85), payments_fraud_aml (0.75), investor_analyst (0.95), supplier_vendor (0.85), journalist_researcher (0.9)","focusai_suggestions":[{"label":"African Esports Investment?","query":"What specific investment and M&A opportunities are anticipated in the African esports and broader iGaming market following this formal integration into global competitive circuits?"},{"label":"Regulatory Framework Impact?","query":"How might the increased visibility and financial stakes in African esports influence the development of specific regulatory compliance and governance frameworks across key jurisdictions?"}],"footnotes":""},"categories":[60011,60017],"tags":[60265,60264,72],"class_list":["post-2912","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-south-africa","category-sportsbetting-news","tag-activision","tag-esports","tag-gaming"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2912","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2396"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2912"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2912\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2922,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2912\/revisions\/2922"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2918"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2912"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2912"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2912"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}