--- title: "Two former Wits students taking SA gaming global, starting with taxis and spinning" description: "Eric Gardiner and Mamello Raboroko are bringing a South African flair to gaming. Now they want to empower other young people to do the same." type: "NewsArticle" publisher: "Daily Maverick" site: "https://www.dailymaverick.co.za" section: "CRÉATION AFRICA" author: "Naledi Mashishi" author_url: "https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/author/naledi-mashishi/" canonical_url: "https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2026-10-04-sa-gaming/" published: "2026-10-04T22:08:38" lang: "en-ZA" word_count: 807 --- # Two former Wits students taking SA gaming global, starting with taxis and spinning > Eric Gardiner and Mamello Raboroko are bringing a South African flair to gaming. Now they want to empower other young people to do the same. By Naledi Mashishi · Published 5 October 2026, 00:08 SAST ## Key points - Former Wits students Eric Gardiner and Mamello Raboroko have turned a taxi-themed prototype into Taxi Ranked, a South African game downloaded more than 500,000 times. - Their Vetkoek Studios brings local colour, slang and culture to gaming — with a new title based on the TV show Spinners set to take spinning global. - From coral-reef conservation on Roblox to corporate safety simulations, the studio is expanding beyond entertainment despite persistent funding challenges. - Now among the Création Africa programme’s top 15 finalists, the pair want to use their success to train, fund and empower South Africa’s next generation of game developers. ## Content In 2022, game developers and then final-year Wits University students Eric Gardiner and Mamello Raboroko knew they had something special when they, with two classmates, entered their prototype for a taxi-themed video game into a competition hosted by Wits Tshimologong – and won. Now their game Taxi Ranked has more than 500,000 downloads and their distinctively South African approach to gaming development has landed them a spot as top 15 finalists for the 2026 Création Africa seven-month incubation and immersion programme hosted by the French Institute of South Africa. Gardiner (26) and Raboroko (28) were able to kick-start their independent video game company, Vetkoek Studios, with the incubation support they received from the Tshimologong prize. This allowed them to produce and publicly release Taxi Ranked. It’s a South African taxi game that allows players to drive a customisable taxi while dodging potholes, picking up customers and escaping the police. The game features a distinctive bright art style as well as signature South African details like billboards advertising NikNaks and Ouma Rusks. [YouTube video: "YouTube video"](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vlaLORzDIrM) “I have specialised in visual effects, and so I like to create a unique atmosphere inside the video games and the theme of the video game, so bringing in a lot of rich and vibrant colours and making the games quite stylised and quite cheerful,” Gardiner explains. “And I think another thing about some of our games that makes them quite unique is the African theme. Some of our games are rooted here in South Africa and our characters and the things they say are colloquial, which is an offering that you don’t find very easily.” ### Taking spinning global Since its opening in 2023, the studio has branched out to include games with a message. Their second game, Aquabots, was launched on the online gaming platform Roblox in collaboration with a local wildlife nonprofit to teach younger players about fragile coral reef systems and marine conservation. Up next in the pipeline is a car game based on the South African TV show Spinners. “It’s a very exciting game that’s tapping into the spinning motorsport culture here in South Africa. And the idea is we want to bring this culture to a global audience, because there’s a lot of people out there who like cars and drifting and motorsports, but they don’t know that much about spinning, which we want to bring to a global audience and also provide some more content for those people who really enjoy the TV series,” Gardiner said. In addition to the video games, Vetkoek Studios has just launched a new corporate service offering that provides specialised training games for companies, with a particular focus on safety training. “If, for example, a company wants a simulation to train their employees before putting them into the real world and a more dangerous environment,” Gardiner explains. ![SA gaming](https://cdn.dailymaverick.co.za/i/061H98AQPwVXAJyOqhgSoO6dn7w=/200x100/smart/filters:strip_exif\(\)/file/attachments/orphans/DMXCREATIONAFRICAROLLOUT-POST10-BIO_656982.png) *(Graphic: Kevin Momberg)* However, developing games is not without its challenges, the main one being funding. Video development is a long process that requires more funds to be raised further down the line. They have also committed to hosting the Roblox Accelerator Programme, which is a multi-phase development programme training young unemployed or part-time game developers how to develop and publish their own Roblox games, with cash payments of R5,000 for six winners. This accelerator programme forms a key component of the company’s future goals. “We want to provide a sort of bridge between being a company that makes games for profit, but also being a structure in our community. We want to provide access and education and work towards empowering more youth and enabling young people to build their own independent careers, but also get incorporated in our business,” Gardiner says. ### Paying it forward Over the next few years, the pair would like to expand their catalogue of video games, collaborate more with their industry peers and collaborate formally with educational institutions such as Wits and the University of Cape Town to offer their students training in video game development. Gardiner says that being selected for the Création Africa programme is a “great honour” and a pivotal step in expanding their studio. “This is a huge opportunity for us to really take off from the ground and bring our studio into a revenue generation position where we can start reliably sustaining ourselves,” he says. “We’re honoured to have the faith of Création Africa backing us, and we are going to try and use this support to really bring in good talent from our community and support some programmes that also provide opportunities for young people in South Africa who don’t have jobs.” **DM** *Our writing about Création Africa is made possible in partnership with the French Institute of South Africa (Ifas).*[***Création Africa***](https://www.creationafrica.com/en/)*is an initiative of the French Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs, the Embassy of France in South Africa, Lesotho and Malawi, and Ifas.* ![SA gaming CreationAfrica logos](https://cdn.dailymaverick.co.za/i/aFtZcf5zdvYRHoMqv7WEoh5DLsQ=/200x100/smart/filters:strip_exif\(\)/file/attachments/orphans/DMXCREATIONAFRICAARTICLEBOTTOMTAGLOGOS_818284.png)