Kuluya, the African online gaming platform, announces the launch of an exclusive partnership with Nokia to bring the very best of gaming onto the Nokia Windows store for Asha and Lumia devices. The first Kuluya game to be released onto the Nokia Store is Oga @ The Top.
Nokia, one of the world’s leading mobile handset manufacturers has partnered with Kuluya, the pioneering Lagos-based games studio in a strategic bid to connect with Africa’s online gaming community. Africa’s youth continues to come online, and with approximately 65% of the population under the age of 35, content providers, platforms and distributors are focussing on how to connect with this burgeoning online community. The new partnership launches with one of Kuluya’s most successful games to-date, Oga @ The Top, available to download from the Nokia Windows Store now.
Developed in lightening speed in the wake of the viral interview and PR gaffe from a senior Nigerian civil servant who was unable to tell an interviewer the website he wanted to promote, the Oga @ The Top case resonated with millions of Nigerians and inspired spin-offs including video remixes, blog posts, t-shirts, as well as Kuluya’s online game. In just three days, Kuluya’s games developers were able to build and launch the game which saw an overwhelming 60,000+ plays in only 72 hours of release.
Speaking on the new Nokia partnership, Kunle Ogungbamila, Head of Kuluya says: “Nokia users will have the same dynamic user experience on their Asha or Lumia devices as we have worked hard to optimized the user interface for these platforms and, as with our online platform www.kuluya.com, they will be able to compete against other users and play for prizes.
“We know that gaming will explode across the continent of Africa, just as it has in the West, usurping other forms of entertainment to become a multi-billion dollar generating industry. We also know that mobile is the prominent platform for content distribution in Africa, be it movies, news, music and, in this instance, gaming, so we see this partnership with Nokia as the beginning of an exciting and mutually beneficial content / platform relationship of the future.”
Speaking on the partnership, Emmanuel Oluwatosin, Partner Manager, Nokia, West Africa, said: “Africa is a continent with great potential across all sectors. We are excited at the fact that the youths are looking inwards and taking advantage of the opportunities that are in abundance. Kuluya is leading the way in this regard and we are happy to work with them in providing great games for our consumers.”
Ogungbamila concludes: “Oga @ The Top is one of our biggest successes, so it seemed only fitting to celebrate our joint venture with Nokia with launching it as our first game. A great platform deserves a great game. We look forward to launching more Kuluya games onto the Nokia Windows Store in the coming months”.
In May 2013, Kuluya announced that it had been valued at $2Mn, after a seed-investment round, just six months after launch. At that time, the company introduced an interactive gaming element to the redesigned platform, where gamers compete against each other, make bets, and make money through competitive cash games.
The company continues to build its gaming catalogue and now has 65 games online, attracting gamers from across Africa, including Ghana, Kenya, Senegal and Ethiopia. Oga @ The Top is available to download for free on the Nokia Windows Phone and for the Nokia Asha
