Bangladesh Gaming and Esports Summit 2025 Highlights Industry Growth and Youth Opportunities

The Bangladesh Gaming and Esports Summit 2025 concluded with a strong focus on the future potential of gaming and esports in the country, highlighting their growing role in Bangladesh’s digital economy. More than 25 speakers, including academics, technology professionals, game developers, and esports leaders, took part in the summit.

Speakers discussed how gaming and esports could contribute to youth employment, entrepreneurship, and global engagement, noting that the rapid expansion of digital entertainment and interactive media presents Bangladesh with opportunities to establish a strong international presence through game development, production, management, and competitive esports.

One of the summit’s major attractions was the Inter-University Esports Club Championship (IUECC 2025) Grand Final, which featured participation from esports clubs of 16 universities across the country. Competitions were held in five titles—Valorant, Mobile Legends, PUBG Mobile, EA Sports FC, and eFootball. After a day-long contest, BRAC University Esports Club claimed the national championship title for the first time, while Independent University Bangladesh (IUB) Esports Club finished as runners-up. Organisers said the championship has the potential to evolve into a nationally recognised collegiate esports tradition.

The summit also hosted the BGES Game Developer Awards, organised in collaboration with the International Game Developers Association (IGDA) Bangladesh Chapter. The award winners were:

• Gold Award: Compress Space – B-Deshi Interactive

• Silver Award: Null – SS Studio

• Bronze Award: MotorShooter – Indie developer Imtiaz Ahmed Dipto

Organisers said the awards reflected the creativity, innovation, and growing interest of young developers in Bangladesh’s game development sector.

At the closing ceremony, Manzur Mohammad Shahriar, Project Director of the Bangladesh Hi-Tech Park Authority, attended as the chief guest. He encouraged participants to embrace innovation across all areas and said that with proper guidance and support, the gaming and esports sector could unlock significant opportunities for Bangladesh.

The day-long summit was organised by Youth Upskill Network (UNET) and held on December 12 at the IDEB Auditorium in Dhaka, bringing together students, game developers, technology experts, industry leaders, and members of the gaming community from across the country.

Summit Convener Mahir Asaf said that such events and university-based esports initiatives would help challenge long-standing social misconceptions about gaming. He added that competitive gaming and its broader ecosystem could emerge as a viable career pathway for young people.

Event Director and UNET CEO Muhammad Altamish Nabil noted that gaming and esports help develop essential soft skills among youth, including critical thinking, problem-solving, and teamwork. He emphasised the importance of building skills not only for players, but also for roles such as production, analysis, casting, and content creation, which would enable Bangladeshi youth to engage with the global esports market.

UNET stated that the summit aimed to create opportunities for learning, networking, and collaboration by bringing together key industry stakeholders, students, and professionals. The organisation plans to continue such initiatives to support youth skill development, exposure, and participation in emerging digital sectors, with plans to take the summit to an international level next year.

The event’s title sponsor was Airtel (a brand of Robi Axiata PLC), while Xcube Studio served as the powered-by sponsor. Organisers said the summit marked the beginning of a national-level dialogue to establish gaming and esports as a legitimate platform for creativity, income generation, and global engagement, positioning it as a positive step toward Bangladesh’s digital future.

DBTech / AN / EK / OR