Infusing Hyper Casual Gaming with Crypto: A Look at Diagon Studios Demystifying Web3 Gaming System in Africa

4 min readApr 20, 2023

Welcome to another unique episode of the BuildUp Africa podcast. In this episode, George Payne together with the founder and product developer at Diagon Studios, Jeremiah Onojah, explores the development of blockchain in powering hyper-casual gaming in Africa.

Tune in to BuildUp Africa S1E4 on your favourite podcast platform

Jeremiah Onojah is a software engineer with a great passion for gaming. With a history of game development that spanned several years, his passion led him to explore more opportunities for game development in Web3, and his exploration of hypercasual games was influenced by the simplicity and ease of adoption. Through his career journey to create economic opportunities for Africans, Diagon was created to balance ease, simplicity, and economic opportunities.

Rise of Gaming in Shaping Economy and Culture

Gaming is becoming a major driving force in shifting culture within the entertainment industry, particularly in the Western world. This trend is also rapidly emerging in Africa, where the growing number of gamers indicates that gaming is increasingly seen as the core of the entertainment industry of the future, especially among the youth and even children. In Africa, there were an estimated 87 million active gamers in 2020, generating gaming revenue of around US$3.3 billion. The significance of gaming in shaping culture is evident in the rise of esports and the increasing number of people who consider gaming to be a legitimate career option and thus create more adoption of gaming apps

Furthermore, given Africa’s rapid adoption of cryptocurrency and internet access, there is a unique opportunity to integrate blockchain technology with gaming. If done effectively, this integration can enable online communities to flourish and facilitate new economic opportunities.

Hypercasual Games and Crypto

Hypercasual games are a genre of mobile games that are designed to be easy to play and require minimal time commitment from players. They typically feature simple gameplay mechanics, short play sessions, and minimalistic design. Hypercasual games are often free-to-play and generate revenue through in-app advertisements or microtransactions. Examples of popular hyper-casual games include Flappy Bird, Fruit Ninja, and Temple Run.

Infusing hyper-casual gaming with crypto involves integrating cryptocurrency and blockchain technology into the game mechanics. This can be done through the use of NFTs to represent in-game items, or by offering cryptocurrency rewards for completing certain milestones or challenges. This innovation can help to create a more engaging and rewarding gaming experience for players, while also providing a new revenue stream for developers.

One of the companies leading the conversation of infusing hyper-casual gaming with blockchain technology is Diagon Studios. Led by Jeremiah Onojah, Diagon Studios uses hyper-casual games to promote blockchain adoption by integrating Play-to-Earn gaming and blockchain technology.

In our podcast session, Jeremiah Onojah discussed his personal inspiration for Diagon and the progress since its launch.

Watch his interview on YouTube. Click play

Jeremiah’s vision for Diagon was to address the challenges of blockchain adoption in Africa by providing a community-focused platform that simplifies the complexities of the technology. He recognized the potential for the casual gaming market to be a key driver in the adoption of cryptocurrencies and thus designed Diagon to prioritize the user experience while incorporating crypto-earning features. The platform continues to grow with the user in mind, aiming to improve and innovate in ways that will attract more people to the world of blockchain and cryptocurrency.

Diagon Studios Driving HyperCasual Gaming in Africa

Diagon is building a crypto-powered casual gaming ecosystem that is focused on utility and boosting earning opportunities with crypto tokens. The platform is developing its next phase on the highly efficient and scalable Cardano blockchain with the aim of accelerating the global adoption of blockchain and digital assets for the global mass audience.

Diagon’s play-to-earn gaming platform offers benefits such as earning real money while playing casual games, enhancing gaming skills, community building, raffles, a transparent rewards system, and supporting small and indie game developers. The platform promotes innovation and diversity in the gaming industry and encourages a positive gaming environment. Players can download CASUAL by Diagon from the Google Play Store and Apple Store to play games, gather points, and win cash prizes in weekly challenges.

Opportunities for Growth

The gaming industry is estimated to generate revenue of $174 billion in 2021, with the potential for further growth as the world of AI, Metaverse, and digital innovation expands. By leveraging blockchain technology, gaming platforms can enhance trust and transparency among players, thereby addressing issues of fraud and piracy that have plagued the industry in the past. The ecosystem will benefit from better legislation, proper mass education, accessible loans, high rewards, and fully decentralized platforms, especially apps that promote interconnectivity with web2 platforms to further enhance the gaming experience and provide new economic opportunities for developers, players, and investors alike.

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