In addition to being a Producer at Remedy, Wajhi Jafri is also the founder of IGDA (International Game Developer Association) Pakistan. In a new article for Dawn, he wrote about the state of Pakistan's growing gaming industry, its history, and what the future has in store.
In the piece, Wajhi writes that Pakistan's gaming industry started around the early 2000s, with developers growing up playing on platforms such as PC, NES, Sega, Atari and Commodore 64, with many of whom later starting out their dev careers as modders. Now, IGDA Pakistan estimates $25 million in revenue is locally earned annually, with almost 8000 professionals working in the industry.
With a number of international publishers including Sega, THQ, Zynga, Pocket Gems, Disney Interactive, and Eidos Interactive (now Square Enix Europe) outsourcing to developers in Pakistan, the financial income from those projects helped those studios also have money to fund into their own projects and strengthen the studios. The article also includes a breakdown of the major players in Pakistan's gaming industry and the influence of mobile. It’s a really interesting read!
Source: IGDA Pakistan Twitter
