Federal Minister for Science and Technology Fawad Chaudhry took to the microblogging site Twitter and announced that a memorandum of understanding (MoU) has been signed between Pakistan Sports Board (PSB) and Pakistan Science Foundation (PSF) according to which Esports will now be enlisted as a sport.
پاکستان سپورٹس بورڈ اور پاکستان سائنس فاونڈیشن کے درمیان یادادشت طے پا گئ ہے جس کے بعد E-Sports کو باقاعدہ کھیل کا درجہ حاصل ہو گا، اگر آپ کو ویڈیو گیمز سے دلچسپی ہے تو تیار ہو جائیے اور نئے مواقع آپ کے منتظر ہیں۔
— Ch Fawad Hussain (@fawadchaudhry) January 13, 2021
Encouraging video game players he further added,” If you are interested in playing video games then be ready as new avenues are awaiting you”.
Fawad had earlier announced that national level esports will take place in March 2021 in Islamabad.
He further added that the tournament would be conducted privately by gathering sponsors for funding.
The federal minister has also launched a video game design certification program for students who are less inclined towards traditional higher education.
He encouraged them to join the platform and earn foreign exchange for the country.
اگر آپ کو پڑھنے سےدلچسپی نہیں اور فون پر ویڈیو گیمز سےرغبت ہے تو تیاری رکھیں @MinistryofST ویڈیو گیمز پروگرامنگ کا خصوصی پروگرام لارہی ہے تا کہ ہم 90 ارب ڈالر کی اس انڈسٹری کاحصہ بن سکیں، Animation اور ویڈیو گیمز سرٹیفیکیشن پروگرام نوجوانوں کیلئے Game ہی نہیں Game Changer ہوں گے
— Ch Fawad Hussain (@fawadchaudhry) November 24, 2020
“The video game industry is worth 90 billion dollars. There is an annual growth of 20% [for the video game industry] in Pakistan,” said the federal minister.
Despite the continuous growth in the gaming industry worldwide, Pakistan falls short in terms of developing video games and providing opportunities to developers.
The initiative of enlisting the Esports category of sports in Pakistan comes timely as spending on digital video games hit a record-high $10 billion in March last year as people spent most of the time at homes during coronavirus lockdowns.
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