During the 2014 rAge expo, I had the chance to sit down and chat with Kalvin Subbadu, of WD technologies, and Stephen Ellis, AKA Snoopeh and professional League of Legends Player. I got to ask them about the future of gaming in South Africa and how WD plays into that. In case you don’t know, WD is a computer hardware manufacturer that specializes in hard drives. Snoopeh on the other hand, is a Scottish-born gamer, who plays League of Legends for a living now.

So do you think South Africa has limitations as a developing country, like high bandwidth and import costs?

Kalvin

“Well South Africa is an emerging market so the limitations ARE there, but they’re definitely temporary, I think S.A has the potential to be a big part of the gaming world.”

What role do video game consoles have to play for you? Are they big competition?

Kalvin

“To be honest, consoles aren’t really a big factor. We manufacture upgrades for them anyway, plus we want to focus on PCs for now, and the barrier to entry in that market helps us streamline the demographic.”

Snoopeh, how did you get into gaming? 

Snoopeh

“”I started gaming casually as a child. I only discovered League of Legends much later on in life, I was good enough that I was noticed and sponsored quite quickly.”

And do you play any other games besides League of Legends?

“I used to, but with my career now, it’s hard to find the time to play anything else. It’s really only LOL for me”

And what genres did you play before LOL?

“I used to play all games. I liked first persons shooters a lot too. Like Battlefield.

And here’s some footage of Snoopeh showing he’s more than just an epic gamer, he’s quite the troll too