Video games in Bangladesh

Apple Soft IT is one of the first video game companies in Bangladesh, and was established in 2011. It is a game developing company in Bangladesh. Red Cloud 71 was its first product of Applesoft IT. Video gaming was introduced in the country through arcade gaming through a significant growth during the late 1990s because of the availability of personal computers at lower prices. However, the local video game development only started in the early 2000s.[2] Dhaka Racing, a racing video game set in the streets of Dhaka, is the first 3D video game to be developed in the country.[3] The game was designed by two undergraduate students of computer science and was launched independently by eSophers in 2002.[3][4] Getting a huge response from the gamers across the country, the game eventually paved the way for the local video game development sector. A year later, inspired by the success of Dhaka Racing, a group of computer science students from Chittagong developed Chittagong Racing.[5]

In 2004, a first-person shooter game titled Arunodoyer Agnishikha was developed by Trimatrik Interactive, which was based on the events of Bangladesh Liberation War. Being the first Bangladeshi game of its genre, it received widespread acclaim and started a new chapter of video game development in the country.[6] In 2012, a group of students from BRAC University developed Aerial Multi-Player Dogfight which they claimed to be the first massively multi-player online (MMO) game for PCs in the world that responds to body movements and voice command.[7]

On 16 December 2012, the first professional game development team after 2004 was formed, named "Team 71". They started their journey by announcing a first person shooter game named Liberation 71 based on the Bangladesh Liberation war and inspired by the game Arunodoyer Agnishikha. Liberation 71 will contain the actual history and events of the liberation war of 1971. The game is a big project using the Unreal 4 game engine, so it is still under development. Team 71 is called the "pioneer of the computer game development" era of Bangladesh after 2010.

In 2014, Hatirjheel: Dream Begins, an open world action-adventure game, was developed and published by MassiveStar Studio. It was the first commercially published video game in Bangladesh.[8]

In 2015, a new game titled The Reels:Welcome to Bangladesh was being developed by another development team named LAI MASSIVE, which was a story based, linear racing game that lets the players drive through from Dhaka to Chittagong. The developers were very young and few in numbers, but made a game of next-generation quality. They also made other games like The Division Sa World At War, The Run, and Night Time Bed. In June 2016, Dream World Studio released a new third person shooter game called Durjoy.[9] Also, a first person shooter game called Hound6: The Escape is being developed by the team as a sequel to Hound6: Strike,[10] which was also released in 2016.

In 2015, Bangladeshi game developer team "The Mascoteers" hit the top chart with their game 360 Degree. The game was downloaded more than a million times in both the Google Play Store and iTunes App Store.Google Play Store featured 360 Degree.[11][12]

In 2016, Swiperoo and Dropple by The Mascoteers were downloaded more than a million times in both the Google Play Store and iTunes App Store. Google Play Store featured Swiperoo and Dropple. Many of The Mascoteers' games, including MineBoom, Drumheads, JetFly, Boo Wee, Pogo Jump, Carpenter, Nail It, Mad Head, and Smatch were featured in iTunes' "New Games We Love" section.[13]

On 25 December 2015, a game named Heroes of 71 based Bangladesh Liberation War was released by Mindfisher Games INC. Later on 25 March 2016 a second installment titled Heroes of 71:Retaliation was released. Both the installments were downloaded more than 1 million on play store. Again on 15 December 2017 third installment of this series titled Mukti Camp was released.[14]

• The Mascoteers are a Bangladeshi game developer hub known for the worldwide arcade games 360 Degree, Swiperoo, Dropple and many more. They are a pioneer of Apple Watch Games, Apple TV Games and VR Gear games in Bangladesh.[15]
• Rise Up Labs or RUL is a successful mobile game developing company who created the worldwide famous mobile game Tap Tap Ants. They also created some other Android and iOS games. Rooftop Frenzy and Highway Chase are two mobile games by RUL.
• Massive Star Studio (MSS) is the developer of the first open world racing game of Bangladesh Hatirjheel: Dream Begins.
• Dream World Studio (DWS) is a new developing team of young developers and the first multinational developing team in Bangladesh. The Hound6 series, Durjoy, and Crimact are the creations of the team.
• 143Play.com is a gaming and entertainment company which works with popular card games and MMORPGs along with augmented reality. This gaming house also provides gamification aspects in various domains.[16]
• GHOST Interactive is currently working on WAR71 and IGI: GHOST Fighter (Project IGI-3).
• Mindfisher Co INC (Previous Portbliss and GameOver Studio) : Developed Heroes 71 Game series, which includes Heroes of 71, Heroes of 71 : Retaliation, Mukti Camp. Another game is Lost Ronin, which is not based on Liberation war.[17]
• Alpha Potato : Alpha Potato is another game studio. It has been founded by the developers of Mindfisher co Inc. Mindfisher stacked with the shortage of money. So they closed the studio and some of the developers shifted into another studio. And those who remained, founded Alpha Potato. Their first two games standed at the top chart of Apple Store. They are I peel good and Icing On The Cake.
• Ulka Game Studio : The developers who left Mindfisher, founded Ulka. They have many games. The studio have talented developers of many teams. It's under "Moonfrog labs" of India.
• Durdanto Studio : A studio by Bony Yousuf. Developed Android Game Almost There : The Platformer and Guerilla Brothers.
• Hamba Studio : A great Android game studio from Bangladesh with 10M+ downloads on Google Play. Developed PICK ME UP!, TUMBLE RANGER, FLAPPY FIRE and SPILL IT.
• M7 Production : Meheraj Maruf is the CEO of M7 Production. They are developing Agontuk, the first ever open world game of Bangladesh. It has a very strong story. But the game is under development.
• Firefly Studio : Monirul Islam Sumon is the founder of Firefly Studio. He is developing 2170, an AAA Sci-fi game of Bangladesh. The game is with high graphics and a very strong fluent story. He is developing the game alone. The game's under development still now.
• Crisis Entertainment Ltd. : Crisis is a very good studio. Siam Hasan Udoy is the Co-founder of the studio. They developed Dream Runner, an endless runner game of Android platform. They are working with another project named Annihilation. It's another Sci-fi fantasy AAA game of Bangladesh. It's generic is Multiplayer FPS. Before this, they developed a racing game. But the game never released due to some problems. The "Annihilation" game will release at Summer 2020.
• ShadoWhite Animators : Developed FFF : Fight for Freedom and another is under development.

Here is the list of several games developed by Bangladeshi developers:

• Sobjanta[18] First real-time online quiz competition.
• 360 Degree Game[19]
• Volkan[20] - first VR Gear Game in the history of Bangladesh (available on Samsung Oculus Store)
• Dropple[21]
• Swiperoo[22]
• Games by The Mascoteers[23]
• Hatirjheel Dream Begins
• Tap Tap Ants[24]
• The Division Dhaka
• Tap Tap Ants: Battlefield
• 29 Card Game[25]
• Rooftop Freenzy
• Hound6: Strike[10]
• Stickman Crossfire[26]
• Crimact[27]
• RUN N RUN (coming soon)
• WAR71
• Planet RED
• GHOST Fighter
• Heroes of 71
• Heroes of 71:Retaliation
• Mukti Camp
• Almost There : The Platformer
• Battle Rage
• Detective - The game
• Fly
• PICK ME UP!
• TUMBLE RANGER
• FLAPPY FIRE
• SPILL IT
• Dream Runner
• FFF : Fight for Freedom
• Agontuk
• 2170 (under development)
• Annihilation (under development)

Lately, there has been some research and development carried out on video games. In 2014, Microsoft Bangladesh organized a game development workshop titled "Imagine Cup Bangladesh 2014 - Game Camp" for the participants of the games category of the Imagine Cup Bangladesh 2014.[28] It followed two other game camps.[29] In the same year, MassiveStar studio began a project to train 80,000 students as video game developers.[30]

The mobile game industry of Bangladesh is also rising rapidly,[31] and some companies provide world class games. The Mascoteers are a pioneer of Apple Watch games,[32] TV games,[33] VR Gear games, and many popular arcade games in Bangladesh. They are taking the level of Bangladeshi video game industry to a new level. Now they have 25 games in the Google Play Store and Apple iTunes, along with their games for Apple Watch and TV, and VR Gear powered by Oculus Store. Tap Tap Ants, downloaded 15 million times, is one of the most popular games developed by the Bangladeshi company Rise Up Labs.

Some big games are going to lunch in 2020, Agontuk & Annihilation. Agontuk will be an open world game developed by M7 Productions [34] and Attrito.[35] Annihilation will be the first ever FPS online competitive game developed byCrisis Entertainment.