For the first time in years, Ghana’s gaming industry had another major conversation to attend, MTN Gaming Conference 2026
On October 1, 2026, MTN Ghana, working with Leti Arts, brought back the MTN Gaming Conference at Labadi Beach Hotel in Accra.
And after years of waiting, there is something we can finally say:
We got the gaming conference.
But it came with a lot of questions.
What was this conference actually supposed to be? Who was it for? Did the wider gaming community know about it? Did it represent the people who have spent years building Ghana’s gaming and esports ecosystem?
And perhaps most importantly:
What happens next?
What Was the MTN Gaming Conference 2026?
MTN positioned the 2026 edition as a one-day conference focused on the future of gaming, esports, mobile entertainment and Africa’s creative economy.
The stated audience was broad: developers, studios, publishers, investors, educators, students, esports stakeholders, brands, policymakers and ecosystem partners. The programme included keynotes, panels, workshops, showcases, networking and activation zones.
That description tells you quite a lot about what MTN wanted this event to become.
This wasn’t really designed as a traditional gaming convention.
It wasn’t Gamescom.
It wasn’t NerdCon.
It wasn’t primarily an esports tournament.
It wasn’t a day built around gamers coming in, picking up a controller and playing games all day.
It was much more of an industry conference about gaming.
And once you understand that, the rest of the event begins to make more sense.
The People Who Made It
One of the best parts of the day was seeing people from different corners of Ghana’s gaming ecosystem actually occupying the same space.
Among those we spotted were Caleb Mantey from Relu Interactive, Kofi from Kofiro Games, Ichigo AlGhoul from EverythingIchigo, members of the Organised Khaos team, developers from Unchained Universe, and members of the Video Gaming Developers Group.
For some of these people, it was actually the first time they had met each other in person.
That is easy to overlook, but it is exactly the kind of thing a conference can accomplish.
Ghana’s game-development community is still small enough that many people know each other through online conversations, Discord servers, social media and shared projects.
Putting them in the same room changes that.
And it wasn’t just developers.
We saw Oscar from Warped Talk, Gamers Blog, and several other media personalities and journalists who have spent time covering gaming, esports and the wider digital-creative space.
There were also people who have contributed to the gaming and esports ecosystem in different ways over the years.
The room therefore had something that cannot simply be measured by the number of booths or presentations:
people who have actually been doing the work.
But Something Was Missing
And this is where our review becomes more critical.
For an event that was supposed to bring together Ghana’s gaming ecosystem, some notable parts of that ecosystem appeared to be missing from the conversation.
We didn’t see the kind of visible presence we would have expected from Antrix Gaming, one of the longstanding names associated with building Ghana’s competitive gaming community in Accra.
There was also little or no visible presence from Game Nerd and several of the esports organisers and community builders who have been contributing to the scene in different ways.
This isn’t to say that nobody connected to these groups was present or that we know every attendee.
But from the perspective of what was visible at the conference, some of the people and organisations that have spent years building the grassroots side of Ghanaian gaming weren’t prominent in the programme.
And that matters.
Because when you’re talking about building an ecosystem, you need more than investors and companies.
You need the people who built the community before the big companies started paying attention.
The PR Problem
For us, this was one of the biggest weaknesses of the conference.
The PR surrounding the event was not strong enough.
The wider gaming community either didn’t know about the conference early enough or discovered it relatively late.
And that creates a problem before the doors even open.
You cannot expect the entire gaming community to participate in something if a large part of that community doesn’t know it is happening.
MTN’s own event page required registration and described the intended audience as developers, studios, publishers, investors, educators, students, esports stakeholders and ecosystem partners.
But the communication surrounding the event could have done much more to reach the wider gaming audience.
There are gaming communities across Accra and Ghana.
There are esports groups.
There are gaming lounges.
There are university gaming communities.
There are content creators.
There are developers working independently.
There are gamers who don’t follow corporate technology pages.
There are people who would have attended if they had known about the conference early enough.
And that’s why it sometimes felt like the conference was being built for a certain number of people rather than the entire community.
Whether that was intentional or simply the result of the planning and communication timeline is something only the organisers can answer.
But the result was noticeable.
Was It About the Community?
Not entirely.
And we think this distinction is important.
The 2026 conference appeared much more focused on the people who can build, finance, distribute and commercialise the gaming industry.
That’s why you heard so much about:
- Investment
- Publishers
- Developers
- Market access
- Education
- Partnerships
- Infrastructure
- Business opportunities
- Industry growth
MTN’s post-event messaging reinforced that direction.
The company announced a partnership with Ashesi University around a gaming lab/hub and a partnership with Leti Arts to establish a gaming academy focused on developing talent and skills. MTN also emphasised access to its large customer base as a potential route to market for local game developers.
Those are important conversations.
But they are industry conversations, rather than community conversations.
There wasn’t enough discussion around the everyday gamer.
The people who play.
The people who organise tournaments.
The people who create gaming content.
The people who build gaming communities.
The people who have been advocating for gaming in Ghana for years.
That side of the ecosystem felt quieter.
And Yet, That’s Not Necessarily a Bad Thing
This is where we don’t want to be unfair to MTN.
Because someone has to ask:
Who is going to put money into this industry?
Who is going to fund studios?
Who is going to provide distribution?
Who is going to create jobs?
Who is going to give developers access to millions of potential customers?
Who is going to help turn a Ghanaian game from a passion project into a sustainable business?
Those questions were clearly important to MTN.
And the company’s Chief Digital Officer, Ibrahim Misto, explicitly said the goal wasn’t simply to hold a conference, but to create partnerships between developers, academia, investors, startups and other parts of the ecosystem.
That makes the focus understandable.
The problem isn’t that MTN talked about money.
The problem is that the people who make that money possible — the community — also need a seat at the table.
Fewer Booths, More Business
Another thing we noticed was the reduced exhibition presence compared with what many may remember from the earlier edition.
There were fewer booths and less of that traditional “gaming expo” feeling.
But again, we have to look at the purpose of the event.
This conference seemed designed to attract industry players and potential investors, rather than simply maximise foot traffic.
And that explains the shift.
The value proposition wasn’t necessarily:
“Come and play games.”
It was more:
“Come and find the people building the games, funding the games, distributing the games and creating the infrastructure around the games.”
That’s a legitimate direction.
But perhaps the answer isn’t choosing one over the other.
Perhaps the next edition needs both.
It Felt Like a Two-Day Conference Crushed Into One
This may be our biggest criticism of the actual format.
There was simply too much to cover.
Developers.
Esports.
Investment.
Publishing.
Education.
Mobile gaming.
Technology.
African game development.
Creative industries.
Business.
Community.
Networking.
Announcements.
Showcases.
Workshops.
All in one day.
MTN officially designed the conference as a one-day event, so this wasn’t an accident.
But sitting through the range of topics, it was difficult not to wonder:
Should this have been two days?
One day could have focused heavily on the industry:
Developers → publishers → investors → platforms → education → business.
And another could have focused on the community:
Esports → tournaments → gamers → creators → gaming media → showcases → local studios → playable games.
That would have allowed both sides of the ecosystem to breathe.
Instead, at times, it felt like everything had been squeezed into one very busy day.
PlayProvince, Academies and the Bigger Picture
There was also an important reminder that gaming in Ghana is increasingly becoming about career pathways, not just entertainment.
PlayProvince has been building beyond esports competition into education and career development through PlayProvince Academy, with training touching areas such as esports careers, game development pathways, content creation, entrepreneurship, digital literacy and STEM.
That broader movement is important.
Because if Ghana wants gaming to become an actual industry, young people need to see pathways beyond simply becoming professional players.
They need to be able to become:
developers.
artists.
designers.
producers.
casters.
content creators.
esports managers.
business owners.
publishers.
community managers.
And that is where initiatives such as MTN’s Gaming Academy and Ashesi partnership become particularly interesting. MTN says the academy will focus on skills development while its market access can potentially connect developers to its customer base.
MTN’s DigiFest Game Developer Contest also includes both university and community categories, giving independent developers and development teams an avenue to showcase their projects and potentially receive further support.
These are things we will be watching closely.
Because announcements are one thing.
Execution is what matters next.
Was This Leti Arts’ Fault?
Yes and No. But the truth is not just black and White
From the outside, it looks like Leti Arts had a limited amount of time and resources to help bring this together.
And whatever shortcomings the event had, they managed to pull it off.
The official partnership between MTN Ghana and Leti Arts was specifically designed to bring together the wider gaming ecosystem and create conversations around its future.
We can criticise the communication.
We can question the programme.
We can ask why certain parts of the community weren’t more involved.
But it would be unfair to look at the finished product and pretend organising something of this scale is easy.
Leti Arts has been one of the studios pushing Ghanaian and African game development onto international platforms, including Gamescom and Games for Change.
They know this ecosystem.
And from where we stood, it looked like they did what they could with the time and circumstances available.
MTN Deserves Credit
For all of our criticism, there is something we absolutely have to commend MTN for:
They came back.
The first MTN Gaming Conference was held in 2019, and it took until 2026 for the conference to return.
That is a long time.
And yet MTN came back to the table.
The company is now talking about gaming not merely as entertainment but as an economic opportunity.
MTN Ghana’s CEO Stephen Blewett has said the company wants Ghana and Africa to develop their own games and not remain dependent entirely on games produced elsewhere.
It has backed a developer competition.
It is supporting gaming education.
It is working with academia.
It is talking about market access.
It is putting telecommunications infrastructure behind the conversation.
And, importantly, no other major telecommunications company in Ghana has followed through with this kind of dedicated gaming conference in the same way.
That commitment deserves recognition.
So What Do We Want From the Next One?
Simple.
More community involvement from the beginning.
Don’t wait until the event is almost here.
Bring the developers into the planning.
Bring the esports organisers into the planning.
Bring gaming communities into the planning.
Bring gaming media into the planning.
Bring the people who run gaming events into the planning.
Bring the players into the planning.
Ask them what they want to see.
And communicate early.
Let people know months in advance.
Give communities time to prepare.
Give developers time to showcase their games.
Give esports organisations time to build competitions.
Give media time to plan coverage.
Give gamers a reason to show up.
Because Ghana already has people doing this work.
Antrix Gaming has built competitive gaming communities.
PlayProvince has built esports infrastructure and education pathways.
Game Nerd and other community organisations have contributed to the culture.
Esports organisers have been running competitions.
Developers have been building games.
Media organisations have been telling their stories.
And gamers have been supporting all of it.
A future MTN Gaming Conference should bring those people into the room from the start.
Final Verdict: We Got the Conference
So, after everything:
Did Ghana get the gaming conference it had been waiting for?
Yes.
But it came with problems.
The PR could have been much better.
The wider gaming community could have been reached earlier.
Some important community and esports voices weren’t as visible as we would have liked.
The programme was packed.
There was a lot to accomplish in a single day.
And at times, it felt like a two-day conference had been compressed into one.
But that doesn’t erase what happened.
Developers met each other.
Some met for the first time.
Industry players sat together.
Investors were brought into the conversation.
New partnerships were announced.
Gaming education was discussed.
PlayProvince and others continue to demonstrate that gaming can create actual career pathways.
MTN put serious corporate weight behind the industry.
And Leti Arts helped bring this part of the ecosystem together.
That’s progress.
But now comes the difficult part.
Keeping the momentum.
We don’t want another seven or eight years before Ghana has another major gaming conference.
We don’t want the next one to simply be bigger.
We want it to be more connected to the people who actually make Ghana’s gaming community what it is.
Because gaming isn’t only an industry.
It isn’t only investment.
It isn’t only esports.
It isn’t only developers.
It isn’t only telecommunications.
It’s a community.
And if MTN wants to build Africa’s gaming future, that community needs to be part of the future being built.
We got the conference.
Now let’s build the community around it.
And hopefully, we won’t have to wait another seven years to do this again.
The Conversation Doesn’t End Here
The MTN Gaming Conference may be over, but the conversation about Ghana’s gaming industry is only getting started.
There will be more conferences,conventions
More developers.
More games.
More esports events.
More investors.
More opportunities.
And, hopefully, more conversations about the people who make this ecosystem what it is.
At Gasbros Gaming Network, we believe gaming in Ghana deserves to be covered seriously — not just when something exciting happens, but when something needs to be questioned too.
We will celebrate the wins.
We will highlight the developers.
We will cover the communities.
We will tell the stories that deserve attention.
And when something doesn’t add up, we’ll talk about that too.
Because covering gaming isn’t just about publishing press releases or repeating what companies tell us. It’s about being there, asking questions, listening to the community and telling the story as honestly as we can.
That’s GGN.
If you’re a developer, gamer, esports organiser, content creator, journalist, studio, publisher, community leader or simply someone who cares about the future of gaming in Ghana and Africa, join the conversation.
Follow Gasbros Gaming Network, share your stories with us, and let us know what is happening in your corner of the gaming community.
We’re here to cover the games.
We’re here to cover the people.
We’re here to cover the industry.
And yes — we’re here to tell the hard truths when they need to be told.
The future of Ghanaian gaming is being built right now.
GGN will be here to document it.
