At this point it has become a meme when global online games completely ignore the African continent with launch window announcements and servers.
But local gamers were pleasantly surprised when it was announced that Valorant would be getting local servers.
Valorant’s Cape Town servers went live on 31 August. The difference in latency was immediately apparent, with gamers able to achieve a 3ms ping as opposed to the regular +100ms ping from European servers.
To bring local servers to the country, Carry1st partnered with Riot Games. But with a noticeable lack of local servers for many other online games, what made the launch of Valorant’s local servers possible?
Carry1st Growth Lead Spencer Ma shared some insights on the launch.
“Valorant is a great fit for local server launch, given that it’s a highly competitive FPS, a genre that is very popular in South Africa,” Ma told Tech Valkryie.
“Launching low-latency Valorant servers allows us to better serve the local gaming community in South Africa and meet their gaming needs.”
Specific conditions need to be met in order to launch local servers, Ma noted.
Firstly, publishers will need a server partner, such as AWS or Azure, who will set up and maintain the server hardware in the region.
Secondly, there needs to be a large enough local user base that plays the game. This ensures that there is healthy matchmaking on the servers. After all, there’s no point in having local low-latency servers if there’s no one to match with for games.
“A sufficient number of active players in the region is crucial to ensure lively matches at all times and avoid lengthy wait times matching players. The user base has to be big enough to sustain an active community that utilises the local servers,” Ma said.
Will we see more local game servers in South Africa?
With the launch of local Valorant servers, South African gamers may be feeling hopeful that more competitive titles will launch servers in the region.
Expanding African server infrastructure is part of Carry1st’s core goals, so there is the potential for additional launches.
In 2022, Carry1st helped launch local servers for Call of Duty Mobile in South Africa.
“We are absolutely open to exploring partnerships with other publishers to bring local and African servers to popular online games,” Ma told Tech Valkyrie.
“Though we cannot comment on specific, unannounced partnerships at this time, expanding server infrastructure across Africa is a key component of our long-term mission. We believe that bringing low-latency gaming to more players in more regions is critical for the growth of gaming and esports.”
Ma notes that local servers are not just about lower latency. They have a direct effect on the ability to organize local tournaments, which can grow the community from a grassroots level.
In fact, the server launch for Valorant is being celebrated with a local streamer invitational for the game.
Ma also added that launching local servers shows players that publishers are prioritising the region’s player base.
“Having servers placed directly in their area signals to players that they are a core priority for companies, not an afterthought. Ultimately, the presence of on-the-ground servers represents a crucial stepping stone for building an inclusive, fully-supported gaming community across Africa.”
Here’s hoping more server launches will be seen on the African continent.
Tech Valkyrie 