The attention on esports in Bangladesh is rapidly increasing as recently the Ministry of Youth and Sports of the country recognized esports as an official sport and has many future plans to improve esports in all over the country by raising the investment, improving frameworks and other overall developments. Just couple of months ago the government began focusing on root challenges and by solving them, it can bring many opportunities that directly help to grow esports space in the country. By all these info, we can assume a great turning point for esports is arriving soon in Bangladesh.
Investments, Market signals and Expansion:-
The global esports market, which supports with local opportunities — was estimated in multiple industry reports to be worth roughly $2–4 billion in the mid-2020s. These projections increase the investor appetite for regional markets including Bangladesh too.
Bangladesh has been highlighted in the national investment forums e.g., the '2025 Bangladesh Investment Summit' as part of the broader digital economy, that raises the investor awareness which is a necessary precondition for future funding into the gaming and esports startups, event production and proper infrastructure for all these as well.
The local indicators of growth in esports include more frequent national-level tournaments, growth of gaming cafés and esports centres, increasing the participation in international qualifiers, a good rise in local content creators and some small studios targeting the mobile games.
Industry analysts and local reporters rises demand for dedicated training spaces and professional setups as an opportunity. Even though more players are competing at national and international levels, but still this country lacks proper support for the growth of gaming and esports. Many Experts say that this country needs more gaming setups, training centers, and more esports platforms for better growth, but only few of this demand has fulfilled.
Official Future Plans of Government:-
Currently, the government has started taking several steps to integrate esports into the formal sports framework: that includes formation of committees to design governance and regulatory guidelines, plans to align esports with the National Sports Council Act (2018) and many discussions are on going about how to provide institutional support similar to traditional sports. Local press also reports that the national guidelines and an oversight committee are in development to manage the tournaments, player welfare and standards.
Practical government expected actions includes, Drafting and publishing national esports guidelines such as - governance, age limits, anti-doping / fair play rules and other necessary rules. Creating a national committee to register clubs/teams and sanction tournaments.
Government spending on Esports:-
So far, Bangladesh’s government has not disclosed any exact figures on how much money has been spent directly on esports. A four-member committee was been formed to determine governance and policies for the esports sector, including formulating national guidelines and evaluating international standards as well. The "Ministry of Youth and Sports" has also received a draft policy that addresses various aspects, including social stigma and addiction prevention that is associated with esports. Currently, there are no immediate plans made by government or higher authorities to establish an esports federation under the National Sports Council, but if this happens, then it would lead to formal budgets, training centers, and many national-level tournaments, receiving funding allocations like other sports in the country.
But, the proposed budget for the Ministry of Youth and Sports for the fiscal year 2025-26 is Tk 2,423 crore. This represents an increase of Tk 842.21 crore from the previous year's revised budget and in this amount - Tk 983 crore is for "Operating Cost" and Tk 1,440 crore is for "Development Expenditure".
By all these information, we can say that the government of Bangladesh is highly focusing on esports sector this year and has made many decisions and plans to improve it from year to year.
If Bangladesh invests in the infrastructure of gaming and esports and in public-private partnerships, it can become a significant esports hub which will be nurturing talent, creating jobs in event production and content creation, and also helping local teams compete regionally and internationally as well. These government actions could even unlock the public funding, make it easier for private sponsors to participate, and provide legitimacy that helps parents, schools and institutions accept esports as a career path. What do you guys think of these decisions made by Bangladesh and their future plans related to it? Let us know your opinion in the Comments.