LAHORE:
It's a city better known for its history and culture, but a new
generation of mobile game developers is bringing a slice of Silicon
Valley to Pakistan's Lahore.
With open plan offices, mixed gender
teams, gourmet catering and an emphasis on a fun atmosphere, the small
but growing IT industry worth an estimated $2.8 billion is being led by
young entrepreneurs like Babar Ahmed.
Ahmed, 33, left a career as a
circuit engineer in Austin, Texas to found Mindstorm Studios in the
eastern Pakistani city in 2006 with his brother Faraz.
Today their
studio employs 47 people thanks to hits like 2010's "Whacksy Taxi",
which shot to number one on Apple's AppStore in over 25 countries;
"Mafia Farm" in 2012 and "Cricket Power", the official game of the 2011
World Cup.
"The idea was to put Pakistan on the gaming world,"
said Ahmed, explaining he was tired of "drawing room talk" among
expatriates in the US about how something should be done for their
homeland.
- Smartphone revolution -
Mindstorm is one of
several games development studios in Pakistan -- mainly based in Lahore
but also in the capital Islamabad and Karachi -- to have prospered with
the spread of the smartphone.
"After the iPhone was launched, the
definition of what a game is changed overnight. The definition of what a
gamer is changed overnight," said Ahmed.
While traditional
"hardcore" games -- typically played on home console systems or PCs --
need multi-million dollar budgets and teams of dozens of developers,
games designed for smartphones need far less start-up capital.
That
has allowed countries in eastern Europe, Pakistan, and the Philippines
to become prime destinations for software outsourcing, said Jazib Zahir,
chief operations officer at Tintash, another Lahore-based studio that
provided the back-office for "Fishing Frenzy", another top-ten hit.
According
to the government, some 24,000 people are now employed in software
exports - though the figure also includes more traditional areas like
financial software and healthcare.
"One of the advantages that
Pakistan brings is we do have a critical mass of people with training
and aptitude, an interest in developing software and art and combining
them," adds Zahir, who is also a part-time tech journalist.
- Breaking boundaries -
At
We R Play, an Islamabad-based studio based in a converted warehouse on
the outskirts of the city, rows of twentysomethings busy themselves on
their computers surrounded by colourful posters, plush toys and action
figures.
The company was founded in 2010 by Mohsin Ali Afzal and Waqar Azim, with a major emphasis placed on a modern office space.
"We
were sure from when we started that we didn't want cubicles and I
wouldn't have a big office," said Afzal, who returned from UC Berkeley
in 2010.
"We wanted to make sure we're sitting with everyone. We
encouraged everyone to take ownership of their spaces and gave them
(money) to get stuff for their tables."
Workspace and play is
also seen as key at CaramelTech, a Lahore studio founded in 2011 by
brothers Saad and Ammar Zaeem which is responsible for coding global
2011 mega-hit Fruit Ninja (which had over 500 million downloads) on some
platforms for an Australian studio.
The office has a designated play room complete with pool table, table football, and X-box.
Also
notable in the games studios is near gender-parity, a striking fact in a
country where female participation in the workforce has lagged behind
for decades.
People are dressed in everything from Western jeans
and t-shirts to hijabs. For some, convincing their family they are
working in a "real job" wasn't easy.
"Basically my parents think I
play all day and don't work," joked Saadia Zia, We R Play's 24-year-old
head of quality assurance department which is tasked with teasing out
bugs.
In addition to gaining the trust of employees' families,
the game studios have to contend with a host of issues ranging from
frequent power outages to insecurity and civil unrest.
"Electricity
does not work. You have to come to terms with that," said Ahmed of
Mindstorm, who plans to move his studio off-the-grid using solar panels.
They also have to contend with faulty telephone lines, security
threats and the ubiquitous corruption that dogs life in Pakistan.
"Right outside our gate we had a car being gunned down. That affects you."
However, the rewards outweigh the risks, he said.
"It's
somewhat like the Wild West. It's not for everybody. If you expect a
level of service from the environment around you, that's not going to
happen. If you can fend for yourself, it's great."
