In a quiet but highly deliberate move, Nigerian game developer Sunday Akor, has been documenting something rare in Africa’s gaming ecosystem and that is, a live experiment on how to generate real revenue from mobile games, especially in a market where developers are often told not to bother. His game, tentatively marketed as Jollo Play, is at the center of a self-led study on monetization, advertising behavior, and audience psychology in African and global contexts.

GIA has previously written about Sunday’s innovative way of converting social media followers to gamers, so he is quite familiar with this aspect in mobile gaming cycle.
The project is not just about game design, it is a case study in data-driven game development and what it means to operate commercially as an indie creator on the continent.

“There’s this notion that you can’t make money from African users, that you’ll just waste your ad spend,” said Sunday Akor. “I wanted to prove otherwise that with the right design, structure, and audience targeting, you absolutely can.”

THE ECPM TEST: ADVERTISING, STRATEGY, AND RETURN

At the heart of his test is eCPM, short term for effective cost per mille, which measures how much revenue a developer earns for every 1,000 ad impressions. In most African markets, average eCPMs range between $0.50 and $1. But Sunday’s game broke the ceiling.

“At one point with just 100 users, I was hitting $4 eCPMs,” he noted. “And these were Nigerian users only.”

His strategy? Smart “ad manipulation” tactics baked directly into the game’s loop, including spin-to-win mechanisms and episodic level unlocks that incentivize multiple ad views. Not only did this boost eCPM, but it also allowed deeper engagement without alienating users.
“I noticed roulette-style spin features trigger ad networks to serve more betting or gambling-style ads — which pay more,” he explained.

FROM NIGERIA TO THE WORLD: MONETIZATION BY DESIGN

While the revenue numbers are impressive, what stands out is how localized insight fueled global strategy. Unlike many developers who replicate Western game styles, Sunday, through his game, took a culturally informed approach, understanding the Nigerian market’s ad behavior, designing within it, and then scaling globally.
“Nigerians don’t mind seeing betting ads. It’s normal. But in the U.S., people are very sensitive about ads — especially intrusive ones.”

HOW DOES THIS STRATEGY DIFFER FROM HIS “REST OF THE WORLD” GAMES

His Western-facing games, like Virago, were crafted differently, targeting female audiences and drawing attention from skincare and beauty brands through design choices like a Netflix-style UI and story-driven mechanics rooted in women’s experiences.
“My sister actually inspired the story behind Virago. She told me there was nothing like it. So, I made it,” he shared.
Majority of the audience for Virago came from foreign countries such as USA, Japan, Germany, Finland and for this the eCPM and that is per 1,000 people that watch your ad is as high as $16 compared to Africa’s highest of about $1.

The impact? Virago became one of the first indie games made in Africa to cross 150,000 YouTube subscribers and pull in an estimated $4,000–$6,000 monthly — not including revenue from game downloads and ad views triggered by viral social posts.

THE SOCIAL MEDIA CONVERSION FROM TIKTOK

A major engine behind Sunday’s visibility and growth has been TikTok. With ad spends as low as ₦5,000 (~$3 USD), he drove download surges that returned four to five times the investment.
“I spent ₦20,000 and made ₦38,000. That’s rare. But I also designed my ads to not be boring — no plain gameplay, just engaging visual hooks.”
He warns other developers about one key misstep: boring ads.
“If you’re on TikTok, you’ve probably scrolled through 5,000 videos in a day. If your game ad doesn’t catch attention immediately, you’ve lost.”
Despite the insights Sunday is generating, he’s critical of the larger African dev space.
“Everyone’s cloning Subway Surfers or making another African tribal game. And they’re surprised when they only get 500 downloads.”
He argues that success won’t come from overused cultural templates unless they’re hybridized or adapted for narrative depth or commercial logic. His critique points to a broader problem: a lack of originality and market-oriented design.
“If I made a tribal game, I’d mix it with modern elements. Maybe the character goes from the village to the city. But right now, the market is oversaturated with clichés.”
This comment aligns with an industry-wide concern: that African games, unlike African music or film, haven’t yet cracked the exportability code. While Afrobeats dominates global charts and Nollywood exports increasingly find new audiences, most African games remain either unseen or underperforming.

AUTHOR’S ANALYSIS

Sunday Akor’s work reveals a clear evolution in how monetization strategies are being approached by African game developers. His success points to two distinct tracks within ad-based monetization and navigating this split may be the key to building commercially viable games from the continent.

The first is the standard model, where developers earn through traditional ad impressions (eCPM). Most developers in Africa rely on this, and Sunday has shown that even within this framework, meaningful returns are possible if the game design is optimized for ad engagement. By incorporating features like spin-to-win mechanics and gated progression that trigger higher-yield ads, he has been able to generate up to $4 eCPMs from Nigerian users — far exceeding the typical $0.50–$1 average seen across the region.

The second, and more commercially significant model, is what Sunday has introduced through a system that allows users to “pay through ads.” This isn’t the same as passive ad viewing; it’s a design-led approach where users consciously opt to engage with ads as a form of payment. Though the technical details haven’t been shared, the results speak for themselves: this single mechanic generates $30–$60 per day on iOS and $5 on Android. In markets where direct payments and in-app purchases are often blocked by infrastructure and behavior, this approach changes the economics of mobile gaming entirely.

This shift brings a strategic question to the forefront for developers: who are you building for?

If the target market is primarily African, where direct spending is low and payment systems are fragmented, then developers need to move beyond passive ad models and start actively tweaking how ads function within the game experience. Sunday’s approach shows that standard ad placements aren’t enough — revenue only grows when the game design itself is built to trigger higher-value ad behaviors or alternative payment flows.

This means ads must be treated as active mechanics, not background noise. Developers now need to explore creative ways to make ads part of the gameplay — not just as interruptions, but as choices, rewards, or even forms of access. Whether it’s spinning for rewards, unlocking levels, or customizing characters, the goal is to find structures that encourage players to engage with ads in ways that replace traditional payments.

There’s no fixed template yet, and that’s exactly the point — success in this model will depend on continued experimentation. What Sunday has introduced is not just a tactic but a challenge to the ecosystem: figure out how to make ads work harder. For African developers, the future of monetization won’t come from copying what’s already out there. It will come from rethinking the role of ads entirely — and building systems where engagement equals payment.

But for developers looking to target international markets, especially higher eCPM regions like the U.S., Germany, Japan, or Finland, the strategy must change. In those environments, ad fatigue is real. Users are far more sensitive to intrusive ads, and in many cases, avoid them entirely. This means games must be more polished, the user experience seamless, and the monetization strategy often reliant on brand alignment and product-driven ad partnerships.

Sunday’s own project Virago provides a perfect case study. Designed around a female narrative and interface inspired by streaming platforms, it attracted advertisers from beauty and skincare industries — sectors known for high ad spend. That alone helped push eCPMs to over $16 in global markets. This shows that monetization potential isn’t just tied to where your players are located, but also to the type of content you create and the industries it naturally aligns with.

In practical terms, this means developers must not only define their audience early but also understand what kind of advertisers will be interested in their game based on theme, tone, and user demographic. If you are building for local players, structure the ad logic accordingly. If you are aiming to scale globally, design a product that appeals to global users and global advertisers alike, not just through gameplay, but through visual and narrative cues that speak to those industries.

GOING FORWARD: KICKSTARTER, COMMUNITY, AND COLLABORATION

Looking ahead, Sunday is preparing to launch a Kickstarter campaign for a new project titled Vira: Twisted Reality — a top-down, high-fidelity narrative game expanding on the Vira universe. His goal: raise between $500,000 to $1 million and hire global talent to push the production quality even higher.
“It’s going to be the most ambitious project I’ve done. I’m trying to gather 10,000 Kickstarter followers to build momentum.”
He believes strongly in transparency and collaboration, two traits often missing in the local industry.
“The more we share real numbers, the more informed decisions others can make. Everyone’s going in blind right now.”
The African gaming industry is entering a new phase. Between DreamHack showcases, YouTube monetization, and viral TikTok loops, the playbook is changing, and people like Sunday are trying to shine the light on it, in real time.
By focusing on data, culture-informed design, and experimental monetization, he’s proving that making money in African gaming isn’t just possible, it’s replicable. All it takes is strategy, insight, and the willingness to be original.