ABM - Nepal Commerce and Economic Podcast

Beyond Outsourcing: Is There a Future for Nepal's Game, Animation and Other Creative Software Development Industry, and What Steps Are Needed to Make It a Global Player?


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Nepal’s technology sector is a tale of two contrasting realities. The first is a bright and widely publicized success story. The country’s IT services exports reached an impressive US$515 million in 2022, becoming the leading export, growing by more than 20% at the end of 2024. This is the face of Nepali technology that the world knows: a reliable and cost-effective business process outsourcing (BPO) hub that attracts international clients with its skilled and English-speaking workforce.

But behind this success story lies another, lesser-known but potentially more valuable reality. It is the story of Pokhara-based Yarsa Games, whose mobile game Ludo has been downloaded more than 200 million times on Android devices alone – an audience larger than the populations of Germany and France combined. This is the story of Incessant Rain Animation Studios, a Kathmandu-based studio that has created visual effects (VFX) and animation for global hits such as Mr. Robot, Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events, and LEGO and Angry Birds projects.

These “hidden champions” prove that Nepal has world-class creative and tech talent. But are they anomalies or the first signs of a nascent industry? This article explores whether Nepal can move beyond its reputation as an outsourcer to become a global creator of its own intellectual property (IP) in gaming, animation, and creative software. We examine systemic issues and, drawing on international success stories, offer a clear and actionable roadmap for building a globally competitive creative tech sector. The core tension lies in the contrast between a successful but less valuable model services and a struggling but more valuable model of creation products/IP The success of the first proves the potential of the workforce, making the difficulties of the second a mystery to be solved.

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ABM - Nepal Commerce and Economic PodcastBy Alpha Business Media