As signatures dry on a new defence pact between Niger, Burkina Faso, and Mali, online gamers can play with these countries’ destinies in virtual reality. In July, a Russian gamer with associations to the Kremlin’s propaganda outlet Africa Initiative released the African Dawn game patch for the popular strategy game Hearts of Iron 4 (HOI4). The objective of the patch is the creation of an alliance of Sahel states online against the pressures of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and Western powers. Playing as the leaders of the countries in the Sahel, players also fight local separatist and terrorist networks. If successful, the virtual country receives military and economic support from Russia.
African Dawn sets out Russia’s agenda for Africa – to increase its influence and discredit Western partners. It feeds into a pan-African and anti-colonial narrative yet questions existing African multilateral bodies such as ECOWAS. While they are part of a booming market, African gamers make up less than a third of a per cent of global gaming market revenue. Therefore, the target audience of this propaganda effort more likely sits in front of screens in Russia and the West. And what better way to attract tech-savvy youth into its ranks than through the patriotic glorification of war, violence, and expansionism in the form of a computer game.
Gaming and military recruitment
With Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine dragging on beyond Russian expectations, Russia continuously needs to mobilise fighters for its front lines. The use of war games for propaganda and military recruitment is not new. It started in the 1990s when the US used gaming to recruit soldiers for their campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan. Gaming provides an extremely immersive experience that can easily engage audiences with ideologies and real-world scenarios.
African Dawn is not the first video game launched to promote Russia’s war of violence. Earlier this year, Russian gaming company NoName promoted a game trailer for Best in Hell, set during the invasion of Ukraine. According to the company, they developed the game without any government or other financial assistance. The plot of the game though is linked closely to the propaganda movie Best in Hell, released in 2022 by Wagner Group associates, including Yevgeny Prigozhin.
Russia’s new Africa Corps
Following the death of businessman-turned-mercenary Yevgeny Prigozhin and the collapse of the Wagner Group in 2023, which until recently represented the Russian state’s interests on the African continent, Russia’s Ministry of Defence restructured its military involvement in Africa. Much of the Wagner Group’s Africa assets have been placed under the command of the Russian Ministry of Defence. They now operate as the Africa Corps. This new arrangement has allowed Russia to take a much more strategic and coherent approach to its operations in Africa and to ‘more openly … displace Western (especially French and U.S.) political influence from Africa’, according to a report from the Polish Institute of International Affairs (PISM) on the Africa Corps.
Russia in Africa
Russia’s ambitions in Africa focus on resources and political influence on the continent. In exchange for resource concessions and political backing, it promises military and economic support to willing governments. This often means pushing out other international, especially European and Western support and even working against established regional economic communities such as ECOWAS. While operations in Africa can be lucrative, Russia still needs to fill the ranks of the Africa Corps to deliver on its promises to assist military regimes to fight insurgencies as well as to protect its own commercial interests in the region.
Russia’s operations take place in the same Sahel countries that gamers can choose to play in the African Dawn patch. The promotional videos for HoI4 African Dawn on social media mix actual news footage from the region with game visuals, blurring the lines between reality and the game. Many Russian soldiers and would-be recruits consider the Africa Corps a safer deployment than the Ukrainian front line. It makes sense therefore to promote Russia’s ambitions in Africa as part of its recruitment strategy. But given that the Africa Corps is under the command of the Russian Ministry of Defence, visions of ‘liberating Africa’ in line with this game patch may still end up being shattered in the trenches of Ukraine.
Game promotion
Russian state and individual patriotic pro-Kremlin sources promote the plug-in by cross-posting video content on social media platforms in multiple languages or with subtitles. In a coordinated effort, state and non-state accounts use search engine optimisation, conducting fundraising campaigns, creating an interest-based network, and redirecting them to alternative private social platforms while degrading the adversary. The plug-in creator, while not officially employed or hired by the Russian state, takes an active part in the propaganda effort. He uses online communities to raise funds in support of Russian troops on the frontline in Ukraine and openly shares his efforts with international media outlets in interviews on the US outlet NBC and the German outlet ZDF. His efforts blur the lines between online and offline realities.
Gaming community response
The Swedish gaming company Paradox Development Studio is the original developer of HoI4 and opposed the plug in. But with the right technical expertise, third parties can develop and promote game patches, such as the Russian propaganda Africa Dawn patch, independently of the original game developer and can bypass their restrictions. The Africa Dawn patch targets a niche gaming community within and outside of Russia. The translation of promotional videos into English and French aims to promote Russia’s Africa agenda beyond its borders.
The response from the English-speaking gaming community on Reddit on the new plug-in is mixed. One player reports that the game made him ‘curious about politics in Africa’, while another finds ‘it ridiculous how they present Russia (and China) as almost like a liberator of Africa’. An unlikely candidate for recruitment loves ‘the fact people are arguing their political believes [sic] here. Instead of appreciating the fact someone made a mod like this that is so cool.’ Another gamer sums it up by noting, ‘No one is winning just the people are suffering. Weird to see hoi4 being used to push some bs propaganda.’
It remains to be seen what African audiences think of Russia playing games with their destiny.
Article and pictures first time published on the EUvsDisinfo web page. Prepared for publication by volunteers from the Res Publica - The Center for Civil Resistance.
