Pakistan’s first national e-sports tournament to take place in March: Fawad Chaudhry

Fawad Chaudhry, Federal Minister of Science and Technology, has announced that a national level esports will take place in March 2021 in Islamabad. The federal minister was being interviewed by Waqar Zaka for the latter’s YouTube channel when he made the announcement. The renowned TV Show host and media personality is a gamer himself and has previously advocated for government initiatives on gaming and recently urged the government to lift the ban on PUBG.

The federal minister asked Waqar Zaka to host the tournament himself, to which Zaka asked for assurance the bureaucracy wouldn’t interfere in the tournament taking place. Fawad Chaudhry then said the tournament would be conducted privately by gathering sponsors for funding. The federal minister has previously announced a video game design certification program for students who are less inclined towards traditional higher education. In the interview, he said that people should pursue a profession that interests them, and that video games are a very big industry.

“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 in the interview conducted in Urdu. “The companies working in Pakistan are telling me that we have more jobs available than people,” he continued.

When being asked whether the government would support gamers who qualify for international e-sports tournaments, the minister said that his ministry would surely support talented individuals who could earn a name for Pakistan.