For convenience, gaming can be divided into two categories. One is e-sports and the other is streaming. Globally, the market for e-sports is bigger than streaming. E-Sports is a large competition-oriented industry consisting of competitive players, coaches, and management groups.

Streaming is a genre focused on entertainment, game play education and audience engagement. Both of these are being developed in Nepal .  

In Nepal, E-Sports is currently considered to be a major professional gaming sector . It has the opportunity to win international awards, sponsorship and the possibility of a professional career. Streaming is also doing well. Nepali streamers are working as content creators on platforms like YouTube, Tik Tok. Only after 2010, the e-sports sector in Nepal started moving slowly to the left. 

Before that, gaming in Nepal was limited only as a means of playing for entertainment . In the gaming sector, earlier computer games like Dota, Counter Strike or PC games were in trend, but now mobile games are occupying the market .

Not only in Nepal, PUBG Mobile is the most popular game in South Asia gaming. After that, games like Mobile Legends: Bang Bang, E-Football, Valorant, Dota 2 have been running in Nepal. Nepali players, game streamers, production organizations have got many opportunities in the local and international competitions of these games. At the local level, online gaming and e-sports have started to be active. Recently, there is an increasing trend of including e-sports in the anniversary or sports programs of various schools and colleges. The inter-college e-sports competition has also expanded beyond the Kathmandu Valley.  

E-Sports National Championship is being held in Kathmandu from February 8 to 10. Since the formation of E-Sports Association of Nepal (ISAN) only some time ago, activities have increased in this field as the annual calendar has been prepared. ISAN is asking college clubs that host e-sports to subscribe. Like legacy games like basketball and volleyball, e-sports are also in the process of being established in Nepal. In Nepal, most of the age group of 14 to 35 years are interested in online games. However, when we streamed live, the audience group above 60 years of age also watched the game . 

In the national championship that is going to be held by Isaan, there is competition in categories like e-football, mobile legends, pubg mobile, dota 2, valorant, cos play. Such activities are creating new players, management groups, streamers. In the international competitions, in the past, only the winning groups were given priority, now the selection methods and genres have been started to encourage new players. This has encouraged new players and new manpower in e-sports. 

gaming doesn't have to be selected from anywhere like in football, which can participate from anywhere. You can gather your friends and participate in the competition by playing the game, increasing your experience and skills. Due to this, there is no barrier to enter the e-sports sector as a player. There is not a good market in Nepal to enter as a streamer. The number of viewers has decreased . Many people used to watch during covid. The challenge is that newcomers have to present 'extra ordinary' or something different. There is an empty space to attract viewers who are fed up with the same nature of live streaming.  

In the year 2079, Nepali team DRS Gaming became the runner-up in the PUBG Mobile World Championship and won 292,000 US dollars. Before that, playing PUBG or online games was criticized. From parents to some MPs, games like PUBG should be banned in the House. However, awareness about the gaming sector gradually increased. Criticism has decreased after seeing many people progress by playing the game. Now the government is conducting regular programs by establishing ISAAN under the National Sports Council as a regulator of online gaming.  

Before this, the involvement of corporate houses in e-sports was not much . Today it has increased . This will help make the online gaming sector commercially strong and sustainable . Abroad, brands like PepsiCo, Coca-Cola, Nike, Sony, Intel have collaborated with e-sports. In Nepal, corporate organizations like Red Bull, Honda, Khalti Digital Wallet are sponsoring and partnering in e-sports. It has a very high viewership, 10/12 thousand people always watch it even on the third party live that we do regularly. Such a view is no small thing for a brand .  Lack of stable and fast internet service is the biggest challenge for online gaming in Nepal. Despite the expansion of internet access across the country, the minimum latency and stable bandwidth required for gaming is not available in many places . Another problem is in-game ping . If the ping is high, the game will be delayed, the commands given by the player will be executed slowly . This has a huge impact on competitive and real-time strategy games.

latency is another serious problem . Most of the internet service providers in Nepal rely on servers outside of data traffic. Especially when the gaming server is in India, Singapore or other countries and Nepali gamers play on global servers, the data transfer distance becomes longer . This makes the latency high . Due to this, playing the game will be delayed and the game experience will be spoiled . There is no problem in this because Worldlink Communications has placed a caching server in Nepal two years ago for PUBG Mobile and Mobile Legend. All other games have latency issues . 

There are no problems like latency or ping diff in international competitions abroad. However, there is a situation where our players have to lag behind because of the device . There, the organizer decides which device or mobile to play on, often new model phones. Outside players and game managers buy these phones in advance for their teams to practice with. In some cases, these phones have not arrived in the market, even if they are in the market, we are not in a position to invest in new and expensive phones after the competition. Due to this, the player's hand does not sit on the phone while going to the tournament at once.  

Why is the device a problem for new players, and for games like PUBG Mobile, you need a mobile phone that costs more than 1 lakh rupees. After playing, it comes to sponsorships, that is also challenging. But it is not possible for some people to start the game because of the device . There are still some financial difficulties in making the

gaming industry a full-time profession. It can be made full-time only if there is a possibility to develop it as a side-job by doing something that gives regular income. It is possible to survive by doing this work, but for that there is a challenge to show a little different talent or amazing ability .

We are all playing foreign made games now . Nepali-made mobile games like Lundo and Taas have reached the top charts of app stores worldwide. However, FPS (First-Person Shooter) gamers like Counter Strike, Call of Duty, Battlefield have not been made . We are yet to develop games that are truly competitive or that have a sense of e-sports. Gaonle game made by Asim Shakya gives a feeling of GTA . This is the most famous game made by Nepali that can be played on computer.

If you look at it from the outside, it may seem like you have to become a streamer or a player in gaming, and there is no other option. There is room for many skills in here . At least 10/15 categories have an opportunity to earn money or do something fun . For example, in the field of gaming, one can become not only a player but also a coach, one can become a manager of an e-sports team, one can go into production by taking broadcasting rights. Even within streaming, you can start content creation by making gaming courses and gaming tutorials.

The concept of e-sports coaching in Nepal is still in its infancy. So far, competitive game players have practiced by themselves, watched online tutorials or learned from foreign coaches. But the possibility of becoming a skilled trainer in Nepal and being established professionally is immense. A new dimension can be added in Nepal if e-sports coaching can be systematically promoted. This will help produce players who will compete in major international tournaments in the future.