In the early 1990s, playing arcade games like Mustapha opened a whole new world for Bangladeshi kids. Fast-forward to now, technology has accelerated the growth of a new generation of gamers in our country. Yet, 20-25 years later, our country is yet to grasp the idea, let alone accept, the global gaming industry- an industry that is worth almost US $152 billion at present worldwide. To put this in perspective, this industry is worth more than both the movie and the music industry combined!
There are many ways game developers generate revenues- through the traditional sale of hard copies of video games, to online distribution of video games through third-party clients like Steam, Epic Store, etc., to microtransactions in-game with things like loot-boxes and sales of customized features; which allows free-to-play (F2P) games like Fortnite, and other Battle Royale games to thrive.
In 2018 alone, the gaming industry generated almost US $135 billion worldwide. It marked a steady 10% growth for two years and it is expected to reach US $180.1 billion by 2021. But Bangladesh's video game market is worth only US $63 million, a mere 0.04667% of the global market value. This is mostly because of the negligence and improper treatment of enthusiastic people who wish to delve into video game development. We are losing animators, developers, coders to the outside market.
Gaming enthusiasts and developers of Bangladesh started developing PC games in the early 2000s, starting with a racing game named Dhaka Racing set in the streets of Dhaka. It was the first 3D game developed by Bangladeshis. Then in 2004, a first-person shooter (FPS) game called ArunodoyerAgnishikha was developed by Trimatrik Interactive. Game development in Bangladesh was halted for the next 8 years, until in 2012, Team 71 delivered "Liberation 71".
Recently, the hype for local games reached a peak in gaming communities as some big titles were announced to get released, such as Agontuk & Annihilation. Developed by M7 Productions and Attrito, Agontuk will have an open-world setting. Annihilation will be the first-ever FPS online competitive game developed by Crisis Entertainment. They are slowly approaching the market, which could be the pathway for a successful future.
While PC game developers are facing some negligence in Bangladesh, the mobile gaming industry of Bangladesh is showing steady growth over the years, and some developers are even providing world-class games and applications. The Mascoteers established a dominance in the smart-phone gaming sector, TV games, VR Gear games, and in many other platforms in Bangladesh. Now they have over 25 games in the Google Play Store.
Tap-Tap Ants, downloaded 15 million times, is one of the most popular games developed by the Bangladeshi company Rise Up Labs. Despite slow but somewhat steady progress, we are still far behind. In contrast, India is flourishing in the industry at a very high rate. They are focusing more and more in their gaming sector and reaping the rewards, which is contributing to their economy as well.
Currently valued at US $890 Million, the Indian gaming industry is expected to grow at an annual growth rate of 14.3%. With the mobile gaming taking the lead at 71% share. Today, the number of game-developing companies in India today stands over 100 and is growing exponentially when this number was a mere 25 in the year 2010.
Although Bangladesh still lags in the game development industry when the number of gaming enthusiasts is still a lot, they consistently participate in various gaming events and compete nationally. But we also need to increase our global exposure. In 2018, some of the Indian companies invested in esports with prize pools of over INR 10 million. We are also doing our own gaming competitions but on a much smaller scale. AIUB Cyber Gaming Fest, AMD Gamers Fest Dhaka, Axiata Game hero, etc. are some of the gaming tournaments and e-sports events that are being held in Bangladesh.
Esports is contributing to the rapid growth of the video game industry, silently taking over the entertainment world. The opportunities and the scopes for growth in this sector are now as good as it ever was before. There are 2.6 billion video gaming enthusiasts around the world, and the numbers keep skyrocketing.
Today, a professional gaming career is a lucrative career as numerous competitions are organized around the globe and tens of thousands to millions of dollars are given away as prize money. Few of the highest-paid and the most prestigious esports competitions today are, Fortnite World Cup, DOTA 2 Championship, Call of Duty World League (CWL), League of Legends World Championship.
In the global arena, the salaries of game developers can range anywhere from US $50,000 to US $120,000 depending on seniority and experience, which can often take between one to three years of development. Bangladeshi MassiveStar studio in 2014 began a project to train 80,000 students as video game developers. Gaming is more than a hobby now and describing it as a "niche market" is an understatement. It is a booming industry as continuous innovation and the launching of more game offerings will only envision a very bright future for the gaming industry.
Observing the potential, Mr Mustafa Jabbar, the Minister of Post and Telecommunication, showed concern that the proliferating gaming market is generating revenue as the number of gamers is increasing every day but the local market will be occupied by international companies if local developers fail to grab it. The government of Bangladesh did undertake a project worth BDT 2.82 billion for "Skills Development for Mobile Game and Application Project".
However, this project focuses primarily on mobile applications and games. For now, we can only hope, one day our local developers will develop AAA games or one day, we will have an Assassin's Creed title set in our liberation war period designed and written by our local developers. Someday, we will reach that level. Indeed, someday.
The writers are students of
Jahangirnagar University
