Despite its growth, industry insiders believe Pakistan’s gaming sector has not yet reached its full potential.
Muhammad Zohaib Khan, Chairman of Pakistan Software Houses Association (P@SHA), forecasts that the gaming sector’s income would surpass $200 million in 2023 and expand at a 9.77% annual rate from 2023 to 2027.
He does think that Pakistan’s gaming sector is still not achieving its full potential.
“Mobile games alone have generated $171.30 million in 2022. As per the latest statistics, $21.34 million were generated by online games and $16.13 million through download games as well,” said the P@SHA chief.
Future of Gaming Industry of Pakistan
According to the CEO of Si Global, Noman Ahmed, “Despite the gaming industry being highly profitable, Pakistan is not benefiting from it as much as it could. Investing in the future is crucial, and the government’s support for the growth of technology in Pakistan is promising.”
“One initiative that could help Pakistan’s gaming industry is the establishment of training centers for aspiring game developers,” he said, adding that, “Although the gaming industry’s global volume is over $500 billion, Pakistan’s share is limited to $50 million, which could be increased significantly with initiatives like establishing a local gaming and animation industry.”
A strong ecosystem involving collaboration with tech partners, industry, investors, industry groups, and the government, according to Kapeel Kumar, an expert in startup investing, would revolutionize research and innovation in games, VFX, computer vision, and AI with this investment.
The goal, according to Kumar, is to promote domestic product creation while fostering the expansion of tech entrepreneurship in the nation, with an emphasis on the youth.
He thinks that by working with business partners, the model may be developed to realize the goal of creating global deep tech, animation, and game providers of the highest calibre.
The P@SHA chairman cited Statista Market Forecast and the International Trade Center (ITC) and stated that Pakistan has the potential to become the next regional hub for game development because 64% of its population is under the age of 25, and Pakistan can outperform its yearly projections through targeted skill development.
Nonetheless, he maintained his position that the federal government, SBP, and FBR must modify their policies and procedures to comply with global best practises with regard to foreign exchange management.
Let the IT & ITeS sector to freely manage their hard-earned foreign currency to fund their enterprises, reinvest in their entities, and invest in marketing, sales, and networking while also helping to bolster Pakistan’s foreign exchange reserves.
Zohaib Khan stressed that, “We can easily add 3000 gaming developers to the human resource (HR) pool every year, and in that fashion, Pakistan can comfortably attain a 30% year-on-year growth in the gaming industry’s foreign remittances, provided we can invest in HR & skills development for aspiring game developers.”
Over 8,500 game developers are currently employed by Pakistan’s gaming business, which has three main sub-sectors: gaming products, middleware, and gaming services.
Collaboration between business and government would guarantee that the model is based on a strong framework, enabling the development of top-tier deep tech, animation, and game providers.
In conclusion, investing in game developer training facilities is a crucial first step in helping Pakistan realize its full potential in the gaming and tech sectors, which will ultimately result in economic progress and prosperity.
It is important to note that the Pakistan Trade Development Authority, the Ministry of IT & Telecom, USAID, and the Pakistani Consulate in Los Angeles supported and participated in the Game Developers Conference 2023, which was hosted in California.
Because to its great portrayal of Pakistan’s potential for game creation, the Pakistan Pavilion drew the influential members of the international gaming community.
To read our blog on “These GDC 2022 Workshops highlight Storytelling and Game Design,” click here.
