The narrative of Pakistan esports is one of promise, and though the market is still quite new, many believe it has the potential to be a powerhouse of talent with the right support and investment.
Majid Hameed, Founder at Esports Marketing Pakistan, has been an industry leader for quite some time now. He has been very vocal about the innate potential of the Pakistan esports scene. He also talks about the type of boost it needs right now that will help grassroots talent to be more involved in growing the market.
In an interaction with Abhishek Mallick of Sportskeeda Esports, Majid opens up about his journey in the industry so far, the vision behind Esports Marketing Pakistan, and the expectations he has from the nation’s video games industry in the next five years.
Here is an excerpt of the conversation.
- Majid, I would love to hear about your journey in the esports industry and how your time in the field has been until now. As the Founder of Esports Marketing Pakistan, talk to us about some of your experiences and what inspired you to be who you are today.
Majid: Well, Esports Marketing Pakistan was established in 2019, seeking to be the nation’s first esports advertising and marketing agency. Before this, however, we were providing consultancy services to teams and organizations.
I am proud to state that we have some of the best esports organizations, teams, players, athletes, and streamers on our platform. The teams and players that we’ve had the privilege of representing have participated and won in multiple local and international tournaments across a variety of competitive titles.
We try to provide a one-window solution for everything from marketing, advertising and research, to hosting tournaments, leagues and creating competitive rosters under salaried contracts. We even went as far as trying to set up gaming “bootcamp” houses where players can live, train, eat and sleep under one roof so as to boost the feeling of camaraderie and create an atmosphere where every player helps the other to grow.
We are driven to take professional gaming to new heights and help put Pakistan esports on the map when it comes to international events.
Another thing that we take pride in is our partnerships. We were recently able to tie up with Pakistan’s top Music Channel 8xm and leading national news channel Abbtakk News, both having full-fledged in-house studios in the nation that we can leverage to produce unique content.
It’s no mystery that South Asian countries like South Korea, Japan, and India have a more mature esports market, and given its current trends, we take a lot of inspiration from these nations. This will help us grow with the domestic scene, as esports in Pakistan is ever-growing and has unlimited potential.
- What, according to you, are some of the pros and cons of Pakistan’s esports scene as it stands today? On what aspects do you feel industry leads in the nation need to work on to help develop its domestic market?
Majid: I feel that we will soon see a lot of enthusiastic amateurs rise up from various walks of life and make their mark on Pakistan’s esports scene.
Esports is a growing area in Pakistan that will offer several viable career options, though it may not yet be common knowledge to everyone.
There is still a misconception held by some that playing video games is a waste of time and not constructive or valuable to a person’s development or career. But esports actually presents job seekers with genuine opportunities, and this is the form of awareness that I want to spread.
The Pakistan esports industry has not been explored on an official level as it should have been, but soon we will be having support and involvement from the government, which is sure to help the ecosystem a lot.
As investments are mostly made by local individual owners for organizations and teams, few international events surface, making the market a very domestic affair.
This is precisely why we at Esports Marketing Pakistan took the initiative to present innovative and interesting investment/branding opportunities. While getting direct exposure to the esports scene is fairly limited, investors/brands can target countries or companies that generate significant revenue from video games and esports.
Not many of the dedicated advertising agencies and brands have been paying attention to the available opportunities in esports for a long time, but luckily the current situation is showing promise as Pakistan is coming into the limelight after some amazing international showings. Mainstream games are finally investing in competitions, marketing, and advertising campaigns which has now attracted the current audience, as well as brands and investors.
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