Pakistan’s gaming industry grows, shifts focus to global play

KARACHI: Pakistan’s gaming industry is on track towards growth, with locally developed games witnessing a slight uptick after a four-year decline. However, Pakistani-developed games remain unpopular in the country. Experts suggest that developers target the global market intentionally for better returns.

According to the State of Apps 2023 report published in April by IT consultancy firm Data Darbar, after at least five years, games published by local developers in Pakistan finally bounced back to 1,100 in 2023, up from just 868 in 2022, signalling that the industry has not lost steam yet.

This increase can be attributed to a rise in demand. In 2023, Pakistanis downloaded a total of 3.5 billion apps. Over a third (36 per cent) of all the downloads were games. Regarding the scope of the gaming industry in Pakistan, Khurram Samad, who runs a gaming agency in the country, says: “We have to look at it from the lens of both consumers and developers. As of now, we are not focused on developing games specifically for the Pakistani market; though a couple of games such as Run Sheeda Run or Run Imran Run were tested out, these games failed to meet their monetization goals.”

Khurram adds that a reason for this stagnant revenue is Pakistani’s spending patterns. Not only is in-app purchasing dismal in the country, but advertising revenues are also low, he explains. India, however, has managed to monetize its gaming industry. This, according to Khurram, is largely due to the rise of gambling games in the country. Here in Pakistan, due to cultural restrictions, certain revenue-generating games could not work out.

Pakistan’s animations, games and graphics sector is a $300 million industry, contributing $157.9 million to IT exports, according to the Pakistan Animation, Graphics & Games Ecosystem Report 2022-2023 released by P@SHA in the first half of 2024. It says that, while companies part of the AGG sector work in various combinations, “the games sector and subsectors are highest in proportion (53 per cent) compared to other variations.”

Co-founder of Data Darbar Mutaher Khan provides his analysis: “From a demand perspective, gaming has seen growth, especially on mobile platforms given the accessibility. Around a third of downloads across the two storefronts is from games with a large chunk coming from hyper-casual. Role-playing games are also quite popular.”

“That leaves the supply side, where the picture is more mixed, and the possibilities fare more endless. Because the size of the industry is not dependent on the Pakistani economy or purchasing power, and globally gaming continues to get an increasing share of individuals’ wallets.”

Khurram agrees and says that game developers in Pakistan “are largely focused on regions outside of the country. They largely focus on the US’s tier-1 market or in emerging markets like India, Brazil, Indonesia, and the Philippines.

According to the State of Apps report, the five most downloaded developed-in-Pakistan games globally do not feature in the list of most downloaded games in Pakistan. Khurram explains why games developed here have more consumers outside the borders: “Narrative-based games that require script or a storyline that we develop here are inspired from Bollywood or Hollywood. This is because we have grown up watching their content. So, when we produce games, we are naturally inclined towards topics relevant to that audience. For example, games involving money heists are more common in the US than here.”

For Mutaher, there is still scope for Pakistani developers. He adds: “Pakistani publishers have barely managed to scratch that surface, though there are a few success stories like Mindstorm and Gamestorm. Unfortunately, most tech companies have not really explored gaming as a proper revenue stream - the mismatch between IT companies (20,000 plus) and gaming studios (over 200) is huge. This needs to change.”