The year 2025 was not just a year of milestones for Maliyo Games; it was a year of motion, a year where our products matured, our ecosystem efforts expanded, our talent pipelines deepened, and global visibility converged with local impact.

Across games, training, events, community, and research, one theme cut through everything:  Africa’s gaming future is being built, piece by piece, and Maliyo is building many of those pieces.

Leveling Up Our Games: Safari City Takes Centre Stage

From the beginning of the year, Safari City, Crazy Ludo, and Whot King all progressed steadily with new features, content, and updates rolling out across the app stores.

But mid-year, something shifted. We made a studio-wide decision:

Safari City became the priority.

Every team: Design, Art, Engineering, Audio, QA, and Marketing, all aligned around transforming Safari City into a world-class, story-driven, culturally grounded match-3 experience.

• A major UI and UX overhaul, cleaner interfaces, richer visuals, smoother interactions
• Cinematic storytelling with new cutscenes, including a full introductory sequence and end-of-episode scenes
• Expanded and redesigned spaces, updated renovation animations, and up to ten new episodes
• A rebalanced game economy:
  • Keys replacing coins for renovation
  • Introduction of gems
  • Reopening of the in-game shop
  • Over 1,000 match-3 levels unlocked

Recognition, Awards & Global Visibility

As Safari City evolved, the response followed, from players, platforms, and the wider industry.

Industry Awards

At the Games Industry Africa Awards (GIAA) 2025, Safari City: Renovate & Design was recognised as Most Impactful Mobile Game, celebrating its innovative blend of match-three gameplay, home renovation mechanics, African city settings, and narrative-driven progression.

This recognition highlighted Maliyo Games’ commitment to telling African stories through globally competitive game design.

Platform Recognition & International Features

Across 2025, Safari City (alongside other Maliyo titles) received multiple platform features and international visibility.

Maliyo Games was featured in Google’s global #WeArePlay campaign, spotlighting African developers turning local creativity into globally played games.

Our titles were also highlighted in App Store editorial collections for:

• Africa Day
• Nigeria’s Independence Day
• Thematic features celebrating African creators and studios

Together, these moments placed Maliyo’s work in front of millions of players worldwide and positioned African-made games firmly on the global stage.

Watch the Google #WeArePlay Campaign Here

Research, Insights & Industry-Shaping Publications

This year was one of our strongest years in establishing Maliyo as a source of trusted data and analysis for the African games ecosystem.

Africa Games Industry Report 2025 (with KPMG)

In collaboration with KPMG, we released the continent’s most comprehensive report on the games industry:

• Updated market size insights
• Revenue projections
• Studio landscape mapping
• The first-of-its-kind Game Studio Directory
• Developer sentiment data from the Game Dev Survey

This report became one of the most widely referenced industry sources of the year.

Access the Africa Games Industry Report Here

Esports Nigeria Report

We also published the Esports Nigeria Report, giving structure to a rapidly growing but undocumented sector.
It provided:

• Market insights
• Ecosystem mapping
• Infrastructure analysis
• Future trends in Nigerian esports

Together, these publications reinforced Maliyo’s position not just as a studio, but as a knowledge hub for Africa’s emerging games industry.

Talent Pipelines: Five Years of GameUp Africa & New Frontiers

2025 marked the 5th anniversary of GameUp Africa, our flagship immersive training programme for emerging game developers.

Over the years, GameUp has evolved into one of the continent’s most consistent and respected entry points into game development.

This year was no different.

GameUp Africa Meetup

A monthly virtual meetup for game developers across the continent to learn, share and connect with each other.

GameUp Africa Elite

GameUp Africa Elite participants contributed directly to minigames inside Safari City — a milestone that showcases the real power of talent pipelines feeding live products.

Junior Internship Programme

We ran our annual two-week Junior Internship — a structured crash course for younger aspiring developers.
The interns learned:

• Game design basics
• Collaboration
• Production workflows
• Prototyping foundations

This programme continues to be one of our most inspiring initiatives.

MaliyoCON 2025: Africa’s First Developer-Led Mobile Games Conference

December 11th marked a historic moment: The first-ever developer-led mobile games conference in Africa, built and hosted by Maliyo Games.

MaliyoCON 2025 brought together leaders from SYBO, Supercell, Endless, and Threadbare, alongside investors, publishers, educators, creators, government representatives, and developers from across the continent.

Conversations explored tools, talent, capital, studio building, monetisation, game-based learning, and global pathways for African mobile games.

An exclusive investor breakfast at KPMG Tower further deepened dialogue between capital providers and game builders.

Traveling the World: Showcases, Stages & Ecosystem Building

Across 2025, Maliyo Games wasn’t just present; it was visible.

Nigeria

The team attended and showcased at Lagos Games Week, Lagos Comic Con, Moonshot by TechCabal, Création Afrique, and multiple local meetups. Lagos Games Week also featured a ₦1,000,000 developer pitch competition supported by Maliyo.

Global

Maliyo’s CEO represented the studio internationally at Devcom and Gamescom in Cologne, and at the Games for Change Festival in New York, and GDC in San Francisco speaking on African game design, education through play, sustainable talent ecosystems, and mobile gaming as Africa’s strongest gaming vertical.

These appearances didn’t just raise Maliyo Games’ profile; they raised Africa’s.

Community, Content & Storytelling

We strengthened how we communicate our work:

• Monthly studio updates
• Talent cohort announcements
• Developer stories

Our storytelling became more human, more consistent, and more ecosystem-focused.

What 2025 Proved

Looking back, a few truths became obvious. Africa’s gaming ecosystem is no longer theoretical, it is taking shape. Studios are scaling, talent is emerging, players are increasing and investors are finally paying attention.

We also learned that focus builds excellence. Once we concentrated mid-year on Safari City, the progress spoke for itself. Ecosystems grow through proximity too. From MaliyoCON to Comic Con, Gamescom to Moonshot, every room we entered accelerated belief and momentum.

Talent remains the engine. GameUp Africa, the Junior Internship, Elite cohorts and the Creator Academy are forming a real feeder pipeline. And most importantly, Africa now has a seat at the gaming table, a confident one, grounded in the proof of what we built this year.

Looking Ahead: 2026 and Beyond

Maliyo enters 2026 with clarity, ambition, and proof of concept.

The year ahead will bring richer Safari City content, expanded training programmes, new creator pipelines, deeper research, stronger partnerships, new IP foundations, and a bigger, more intentional return of MaliyoCON.

The story continues, and the next chapter will be built with the community, partners, and players who made 2025 possible.

The story continues, and we’re excited to build the next chapter with our community, partners, and players.Thank you to everyone who walked with us through 2025.
We’re just getting started!