“We wanted to make West Africa a dominant force in global gaming"

Nigeria-based Goondu Interactive is a game company operating in Enugu with a mission of creating relatable games that are rooted in Nigerian culture. They have something few African studios can claim: an official PlayStation partnership.

We spoke to CEO and co-founder Leslie Osinachi about their upcoming title Beyond Service, what being a PlayStation Partner unlocks, and where the team goes from here.

IsaKaba: Could you tell us more about your studio? How did Goondu Interactive come about?

Leslie Osinachi: I've been in the industry for a while, co-founding Smart Olive Games back in 2015 and working as a designer and producer across several indie titles. Throughout that journey, I realized there was a massive gap in the market for quality titles that authentically represent African culture.

I co-founded Goondu Interactive with Goodness Ndukwe, Moses Omwe, and Sophia Ahuoyiza with a clear mission: to build a daring studio that tells bold African stories through world-class, engaging gameplay. We wanted to move beyond just participating in the industry to actually making West Africa a dominant force in global gaming.

How big is the team right now? And are all team members based in Enugu?

We've been steadily scaling our operations, especially after our recent funding milestones, to support the high-quality production pipeline that Beyond Service demands. We have a total of 5 core team members and a portfolio of contracted talents across Enugu, Port Harcourt and Lagos.

While our studio's roots and core operations are firmly grounded here in Enugu, where we are deeply invested in growing the local gaming ecosystem, game development today is inherently collaborative and borderless.

Talk to us about being a PlayStation Partner. What does that mean in practice? And are there specific requirements you had to meet?

Becoming a PlayStation Partner is a massive validation of the technical and visual standards we are pushing at Goondu. It gives us direct access to PlayStation development kits, specialized backend tools, and a publishing pipeline to bring our games to one of the largest console audiences in the world.

To get there, you have to prove that you are a serious, established corporate entity with a highly capable team. You must pass strict technical vetting and demonstrate that your project meets Sony's rigorous quality and security standards.

Beyond Service is your biggest and most ambitious project yet. When did development begin, and what stage is the game in right now?

We've been quietly laying the conceptual and technical groundwork for Beyond Service for some time, heavily iterating on our AfroModern Dark Fantasy aesthetic, character pipelines, and combat mechanics. The Hedera Hackathon win was the catalyst that shifted us into full-throttle production.

Right now, we are in the advanced stages of development for our multiplayer component, actively finalizing the balancing, level design, and progression systems as we gear up for our PvP Beta release later this year.

What platforms are you targeting for launch? And what is your plan for distribution and player acquisition?

Our primary launch targets are PC and Mobile, with PlayStation naturally becoming a major focus for us as official partners. From an acquisition standpoint, we are taking a multi-pronged approach. We are tapping into the highly engaged Web3 and Hedera communities, but we're also leaning heavily into transmedia and community building.

By launching our PvP Beta alongside an esports campaign and an original comic series, we are creating multiple entry points for players to discover and engage with our universe.

Many African studios struggle with discoverability on storefronts. Who is the primary audience for Beyond Service? And what part of the experience do you want players to enjoy the most?

While Beyond Service is unmistakably African in its cultural DNA, our primary audience is the global core gamer. We are building for fans of high-octane, narrative-driven action and competitive PvP. The part of the experience I want players to enjoy the most is the hero dynamic.

I want them to feel the weight of our combat, get lost in the rich Afromodern world we've built, and connect deeply with characters that offer a fresh, culturally grounded perspective rarely seen in mainstream gaming.

Tell us more about the Hedera Hackathon. And how is development for Beyond Service currently being funded?

Winning the $90,000 prize at the Hedera Africa Hackathon was a monumental turning point. That capital currently funds our primary development, allowing us to invest heavily in the quality of our animation, sound design, and engineering without compromising our creative vision. Navigating funding as an African game studio requires incredible resilience. The traditional venture capital ecosystem for gaming here is still maturing. We've largely had to rely on bootstrapping, strategic pivoting, and proving our value on the global stage.

What do you see as the opportunities and challenges of building a game studio in your current location?

Building in Enugu comes with the same challenges you would experience anywhere in Nigeria, but the opportunities vastly outweigh the hurdles. There is a staggering amount of raw, untapped creative and technical talent here.

Furthermore, being physically present allows us to actively shape the local creative ecosystem, which is why I'm so passionate about initiatives like the SEDC Vision 2050 and the Southeast Blockchain and Games Week (SEBGW). We have the unique opportunity to define the African gaming industry from the ground up, drawing directly from the cultural source.

What are your plans for the rest of 2026? Are there any specific initiatives or projects we should look forward to?

The remainder of 2026 is all about execution and community expansion. We are entirely focused on delivering the Beyond Service PvP Beta to give players their first hands-on experience with our combat.

Simultaneously, we are rolling out our esports campaign to ignite our competitive scene, and we will be dropping our first original comic series to deepen the lore. It is going to be an incredibly exciting close to the year.

Additional editing by Isa Muhammad