Mobile Game Created By Young IT Experts Received Over 20m Downloads

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Peshawar: A mobile game titled ‘Ryuko, Legend of Shadow Hunter’, prepared by a group of IT-educated youth from Peshawar, breaks all previous records globally by receiving more than 20 million downloads and a 4.9 rating from users on the Google Play Store app in just one year. The young IT experts from Peshawar submitted a startup in the name of ‘Horizon Games’ to the National Incubation Centre (NIC).

According to NIC Peshawar Digital Media Strategist Adnanud Din, this is a combat game reflecting Japanese culture wherein a girl fights to rescue her grandfather and has to fight with different monsters to reach him.

The team members of Horizon Games consist of around 12 members who are all IT educated, belong to different cities in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, and reside in Peshawar, Strategist Adnan informed.

Adnan-ud-Din added that Ryuko’s promotion and favourable response have drawn attention to the gaming industry’s potential as an export business and distracted IT specialists’ focus from taking advantage of this sector’s opportunities.

Digital Media Strategist stated that the majority of IT professionals and young people in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa concentrate on e-commerce, but the launch of Ryuko by Horizon Games and its popularity on a global scale has created new opportunities for students and trainers alike.

NIC Peshawar will now focus more on the promotion of the gaming sector in the startup ecosystem, opening new opportunities for youngsters to explore, learn, and earn. The Ryuko, Legend of Shadow Hunter, has also made very handsome earnings for its founders by selling it to a US-based IT firm, Monstermob.

“It took several years to gain success in the gaming field, and we are very satisfied with the outcome of our consistent efforts,” shared the founders of Ryuko, who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

They disclosed that the Horizon team members are working on remaking its game ‘Takashi’ which was prepared a couple of years earlier. It will take around one year to complete the re-make of Takashi and will also give the same feedback as was received from Ryuko, as they hoped.

Team members of Horizon Games said their success in the mobile gaming field helped in the creation of 13 jobs within their startup at NIC Peshawar and has imparted training to countless youth.

They said in Pakistan, IT universities are not giving due consideration to the gaming industry, and only Air University in Islamabad is offering courses for bachelor. They indicated that now that the government and the IT sector are aware of the potential of the mobile or video game industries on the global market, it is time to concentrate on programs for training youth to profit from this potential sector.