On the development of the esports industry in Central Asia

Representatives of esports discussed the development of the esports industry in Central Asia in a live broadcast on our Telegram channel. We share the most interesting thoughts in text format.

Bauyrzhan Sadiev, CEO and founder of the esports startup Pinger.pro.

Artur Mukashev, organizer of esports events

Khilola Islambekova, Deputy Executive Director of the Esports Association of Uzbekistan.

About themselves

Bauyrzhan. 90% of those who consider themselves IT professionals have, one way or another, linked their leisure time and hobbies to computer games, and I am no exception. By education, I am an IT specialist, and I have worked in all IT roles. My hobbies also included games and esports. In Kazakhstan, in 2017-2018, a movement began to recognize esports as an official sport. At that time, I was approached as someone who understood the field and asked to provide consultation. This led to the launch of a startup that I had been planning. Currently, I am engaged with this startup — Pinger Pro. It is an infrastructure solution for esports: a platform, a content studio, and an influencer agency.

Artur. I started a long time ago, with the first version of Dota. Then, like everyone else, I switched to Dota 2 and participated in local city LAN tournaments in Bishkek. In 2015, I switched to the card game Hearthstone and participated in international tournaments in it. For example, at the Asian Esports Games in 2018 in Indonesia. Since 2020, I have been involved in near-esports activities: media, event organization, tournament refereeing, and so on.

Currently, I am also engaged in organizing esports events and tournaments.

Khilola. I ended up in esports thanks to my experience working in a marketing company. For a long time, I was interested in video games and gradually began to view this sphere professionally. I started studying everything that was happening in the world of esports on the international stage. Thus, I became involved in the commercial arena and, a few years ago, came to work for the Association. I started in an SMM position, and currently hold the position of Deputy Executive Director of the Esports Association of Uzbekistan.

About the development of esports

Bauyrzhan. In Kazakhstan, active development began slightly earlier than in our neighboring countries. However, I see that the pace of neighboring countries is now fast and everything is developing well. In Kazakhstan, during the pandemic, there was a surge in everything related to games and esports. Now the pace has slowed down a bit, but nevertheless remains high.

Last year, we participated in the process of localizing PUBG servers in Kazakhstan. In 2019, I was at the PUBG Mobile headquarters and tried to discuss this topic with them, but it turned out to be neither fast nor easy. Fortunately, we managed to find common ground with the Tencent corporation. Thanks to this, we became one of the first countries in our region where official local PUBG Mobile servers appeared.

Today, there is a lot of mobile activity. Stable professional teams have appeared that receive salaries and show good results.

In the past, we went to potential partners and spent a long time explaining what games and esports were. Now brands come to us and say: “We want to work with this audience. Let’s cooperate and create projects.” The market is going through stages of maturation. There are more influencers creating content, and they are getting more sponsors.

The feature of esports is that with just an internet connection and a phone, you can start your professional path and earn your first money. For example, if you play PUBG Mobile on TikTok and stream, you can already start earning.

Artur. Worldwide, there are more events, tournaments, and sponsors, which means more advertising integrations, passionate people, and professions in esports. The industry has undoubtedly rejuvenated over the last few years. Teenagers aged 15-16 are entering the professional scene. Organizations are looking at young talents, trying to either develop them or sign young players and coaches.

There are more tournaments for women, new formats, national tournaments, as well as the recently famous fit-games in Kazan. The format of fit-games itself, of course, raises questions. For example, do you need to play Mortal Kombat and then compete professionally in MMA, or pinball plus Counter-Strike? There is some stagnation in Tier-1 world tournaments, both in terms of prize pools and viewer numbers.

A new player has appeared in the form of the Arab region. They managed to secure an entire region from tournament operators, and now teams are emerging from it. That is, if you have Arabs on your team, you can participate through these qualifications. Arabs also hold national, club, and regional tournaments with prize pools of several million dollars. Perhaps soon Saudi Arabia will become a kind of Silicon Valley for esports.

It is also worth noting the Southeast Asian region, which has begun to develop actively. Here is a vast audience of players, including countries such as Indonesia, Thailand, and Malaysia. I think that soon India will also become an active participant. As for Kyrgyzstan, in the last two to three years, many computer clubs and game development companies based in Bishkek have opened. We can note the local Kyrgyz organization HYDRA, which has decent results.

Khilola. In the world, the number of large tournaments with large prize pools has increased. This has attracted the attention of the general public, and most importantly — sponsors.

One such example in Uzbekistan is the large tournament held among the “Korzinka” supermarket chain in January of this year. It is well known that currently, for the Dota 2 discipline, large viewership and team numbers are not gathered, but we were surprised because it was at this tournament that the largest number of teams registered in the entire republic.

In 2022, the President of Uzbekistan signed a decree on the widespread popularization of esports, and this gave a big boost to development. Many began to understand that esports is not limited to spending time playing games. Currently, fit-games are something new for us, but together with the Ministry of Digital Technologies of the Republic of Uzbekistan, we decided to introduce our republican tournament into this industry, which will take place in April of this year.

Also, starting this year, conditions for admission to the esports faculty will be announced at the Physical Culture Institute. The most interesting news that unites all our colleagues is the opening of the Central Asian Esports Federation. Thanks to the implementation of such a system, we will be able to obtain certain slots not for individual states, but for a unified region.

Which disciplines are the most popular in each region and why

Bauyrzhan. Recently, exact figures on game audiences have become a commercial secret, so developers are reluctant to share this information. We have to use indirect analytics systems to understand the approximate size of the audience. In Kazakhstan, there are three platforms: computers, mobile devices, and consoles. Undoubtedly, mobile platforms are leaders. Our number one games are PUBG Mobile, Free Fire, Mobile Legends: Bang Bang, Minecraft, and Roblox. As for PC classics, number one is CS:GO and Dota 2. A renaissance of PC PUBG is expected because, after seven years, a transition to a new engine has been announced. On consoles — football, followed by UFC and Mortal Kombat.

Artur. Mobile disciplines such as PUBG Mobile, Mobile Legends, and Standoff are gaining popularity. Among PC disciplines, I would note Dota 2 and Counter-Strike 2. In Kyrgyzstan, they also play PUBG on PC. Among PlayStation games: football, Fortnite, and Valorant.

In 2023, at the ESF World Championship among national teams, Kyrgyzstan took first place in PUBG Mobile, winning $40,000. In Dota 2, our team took third place. Also, last year the Asian Games took place, where esports was highlighted as a medal discipline. Unlike in 2018, they did not take prize places, but also participated in the demonstration Asian Games, where our country took first place in robotics. Currently, a Dota 2 tournament is underway in Kyrgyzstan. Inter-university tournaments are also taking place. Currently, there are three popular streaming platforms in the country: Twitch, TikTok, and YouTube.

Khilola. In the new update of the game PUBG Mobile, the Uzbek language was introduced — this shows the level of the game and the number of participants. In Uzbekistan, more than 900,000 players registered in one day who play this game. Also, I would like to note a new discipline for CIS countries — Owner of King. Recently, we conducted a survey among university students and noticed pleasant news that many became interested in it. Currently, we are working on the possibility of holding a small tournament to popularize this discipline because we received good results. If we talk about computer disciplines, then Dota 2 and Counter-Strike occupy the highest positions, but disciplines like Valorant, Fortnite, and the PC version of PUBG Mobile are not far behind.

Currently, we consistently hold three state tournaments, two international tournaments, specifically a national qualification, and no less than two large events organized by private individuals and firms. A big example is the series of tournaments for students in PUBG Mobile — the campus tournament, which we, among others, expect this autumn.

About esports from the inside. What specialists are required by the industry

Bauyrzhan. As an industry flagship, we faced a personnel issue because esports is a specific niche, and there are no ready-made specialists. Usually, there are two paths. The first is to take an esports player who knows well what esports is and try to develop them into another, professional part.
The other option is to take a good specialist and try to explain what esports is.
Practice shows that it is more reliable and logical to take good specialists from the market and then explain to them what esports is and how to work with it. It is clear that there are rare cases where qualities combine, but this is not very common.

For IT specialists, esports is mostly a hobby. But, observing over the long term, I understand that interest in esports is the first step into IT.

If before we played football in the yard, where our first experience of socialization exchange took place, now it is built around games. They, among other things, influence further career choices and so on.

It is great that faculties related to esports have already appeared at universities in Uzbekistan.

Artur. In esports, there is a black market for jobs. In Counter-Strike, cheats are popular. There are entire IT companies engaged in developing cheats with a staff of 15-20 people. They constantly adapt to developers, bypass these anti-cheats, update software, and bugs. In Dota 2, there are also auxiliary programs like Cover+. They collect closed and open statistics on players and quickly provide it at the beginning of the game. The next category is bookmakers. Here there are entire esports departments where you need to monitor statistics and lines. There are many such jobs where you need knowledge in esports and IT.

Khilola. In Uzbekistan, the game development structure has received significant publicity because currently, many different game developers have appeared who need employees for more than 15 directions. Specialists who are behind the scenes of esports are in demand: analysts, coaches, marketers, team managers.

Working in esports for a person who loves games — a dream or not

Bauyrzhan. There is a saying: “If you want to hate your hobby, make it your job.” For example, I play little and watch even less gaming content. Significantly less than when I was professionally engaged in esports.

Esports is good because achieving results requires discipline and training. Let a child participate in tournaments, let him learn in practice what a tournament, real competition, and rivalry are.

There is another nuance: often people have a biased attitude and the thought that we sit in an esports startup playing games and there is no work. But this is not so.

Artur. As in any other business, if your hobby is your job, you get incredible pleasure from it. Many whom I have met in the esports field love to play, but they do not do it well enough. Therefore, they work as commentators or content creators and enjoy it. For example, why is there such a boom in Saudi Arabia: an Arab prince plays Dota 2. Thanks to him, many events with state participation take place.

Khilola. Working in esports can be a dream, but at the same time, a serious challenge. It is a unique opportunity to turn a beloved hobby into a career, immerse yourself in a world that inspires, and at the same time influence its development. But passion for games alone is not enough, because a person needs professionalism, hard work, and the ability to cope with challenges. Therefore, success in this field depends on a person’s desire to grow and the ability to adapt to the rapidly changing world of esports.

Plans for the future

Bauyrzhan. All my activities are related to the Pinger.Pro platform, where events and tournaments regularly take place, in which citizens of Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan can participate.

Artur. I can connect with the right people, federations, or anyone regarding esports events in Kyrgyzstan.

Khilola. I want to invite everyone to participate in all upcoming competitions that will take place on the territory of Uzbekistan, because a large number of them are expected.

If you plan to enter esports and do not know where to start, the Esports Association of Uzbekistan will help pave that very path to esports goals. The most important thing — do not give up your business, love what you do, and it will surely bear fruit.