Esports in Pakistan – Rise of Gamers
GameUtha April 16, 2022
The video game industry is one of the most lucrative industries in the world right now, turning in over $155 billion in revenue in 2020 and slated to pass the $200 billion mark by 2025. The gaming industry is always evolving whether it’s the advent of new hardware, new ideas like game streaming, or subscription services, the industry has moved beyond the general confines of traditional console or PC gaming. Esports is one of the areas where the industry has shown tremendous growth over the past two decades
Esports are video games that are played in highly competitive and organized environments. Esports has been around for as long as the medium has existed but began to gain traction in the late 90s and early 2000s with titles like Quake and Halo. The establishment of Major League Gaming (MLG) in 2002 pushed the idea of esports to new heights and relevancy. Today’s Esports scene consists of games like Call of Duty, Fortnite, Apex Legends, Overwatch, DOTA, and Tekken.
Until recently, Esports in Pakistan has remained fairly stagnant, mostly as a result of hardware unavailability, overpriced PC parts and consoles, and the general stigma surrounding gaming. Sumail Hassan, a Pakistan based professional DOTA player made waves around the country and the world by bagging the title of being the youngest player ever to win $1 million in the sport in 2015, soon after Arsalan Ash, a Tekken player from Lahore won the EVO tournaments in the United States and Japan back to back in 2019.
Esports began gaining relevancy in Pakistan as the prospects of making a lucrative career out of the medium seemed more and more likely. The Advent of cheap smartphones and with-it games like PUBG mobile, Free Fire, and Fortnite mobile saw the gaming scene blow up in Pakistan, what once considered by many as a blatant waste of time quickly turned into a multi-million-rupee business in just a few short years.
Fawad Chaudry, the Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting has been particularly vocal about the need to support this industry, signing multiple deals with global partners
allowing Pakistani players to participate in a number of international competitions as well as encouraging the youth to take part in esports tournaments.
The rise in the number of gamers has given way to many tournaments being organized throughout the country. Mountain Dew organized Gamers Galaxy in Islamabad which ran for two days and offered a prize pool of 20 million PKR (over $100,000), the event covered games including Tekken, PUBG, Valorant, and FIFA and featured the presence of Pakistan’s President, Arif Alvi. While the prize pool was lower than what most international tournaments offer, the turnover of over 5,000 participants certainly shows the number of individuals willing to put their time, talent, and energy into esports gaming and the potential for a future for this medium.
Most recently, The Free Fire Pakistan League (FPPL) held its grand final in Lahore on the 28th of March. The tournament had a prize pool of 1 crore which was divided amongst the top 12 teams with the champion team winning 35 lakhs. The event featured live broadcasting, celebrity appearances, and some sizeable giveaways by the sponsor INFINIX. This international caliber event decided which team will go on to represent Pakistan in the Free Fire world series. Over 2000 teams registered for the FPPL.
Events like these have set the standard for what can be achieved for esports while also showing the growing trend of esports in Pakistan. The FPPL and Gamers Galaxy have paved the way for future growth and engagement of esports in Pakistan. FPPL’s third season will include a prize pool totalling a whopping 10 million, with more tournaments planned in the future including a Gameutha.com esports collaboration it’s clear that the medium is here to stay.
Despite an onslaught of new games every year, the Pakistan gaming community has gravitated toward games like Tekken, Free Fire, DOTA, and CSGO.
The FPPL shows the gaming community’s response toward third-person battle royale games which is also evident in the popularity of PUBG and Fortnite. Tekken is another game that Pakistani gamers greatly gravitate towards. Last year, Arslan Ash launched a Tekken Bootcamp aimed at sharpening the skills of Tekken players while also helping those who wish to learn more develop their skills.
The tremendous response certainly goes to show the eagerness of Pakistani players toward the game. The game’s popularity is boosted by Ash’s continued domination of the game and has given rise to several new international competitors including Awais Iftikhar who defeated Knee, one of the most revered Tekken players at the FV cup in Malaysia.
Esports in Pakistan have gradually seen a growth in popularity over the years, with pioneers like Sumail and Arsalan, more and more players are eager to reach an international level of recognition with their skills. The Pakistan gaming community’s immense passion and drive will continue to drive esports in Pakistan to new heights.