The Tekken Tournament 'Lifestyle' of South Africa and Madagascar

Video games are the largest entertainment medium in the world, according to data from Felix Richter on Statista. These days, gaming communities are as varied as the genres they support. The fighting game community in particular is one whose history can be dated back to the early 1990s when Street Fighter II ushered in an era of competitive 1v1 competition and whose legacy continues to this day with thousands anticipating the approaching launch of Street Fighter 6.

In South Africa and Madagascar, the Tekken fighting game series has garnered dedicated fanbases that regularly compete in both online competitions and at local in-person tournaments. More specifically, Tekken 7 has seen a greater rise in the number of new players joining.

While similar communities exist in multiple African nations - most notably Kenya, Sierra Leone, Nigeria and Mozambique - South Africa and Madagascar have also seen efforts from local players putting vast amounts of effort into getting their respective nations recognised on a greater scale.

allAfrica's André van Wyk had the privilege of talking to two organisations whose grassroots efforts to push Tekken in local scenes have earned them much experience and have put greater focus on those that play the game.