Video games in Russia

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Russia has the largest video games market in Europe, with an estimated 65.2 million players nationwide as of 2018.[1] Even though piracy has been a great issue in the Russian gaming industry,[2] the games market more than doubled in the past five years to over $2 billion in 2019.[3]

In 2001, Russia became the first country in the world to officially recognize competitive video gaming (eSports) as a sport.[4]

History[]

The history of mass videogaming in Russia (back then in the Soviet Union) takes its roots in the early 1980s when personal computers of different models (Atari 400/800, Commodore 64, ZX Spectrum 48/128) were brought to the country from United States, Europe, Japan and China.[5] At the same time, a local company, Electronica, released a series of portable game consoles which were mostly clones of Nintendo products. By the middle of the 80s Soviet programmers and enthusiasts began to try to develop their own games.[6][7] The most famous Russian game designer of that era is Alexey Pajitnov, who created the worldwide megahit Tetris.[8][9]

The Dendy, a Taiwanese hardware clone (Famiclone) of the Famicom (Nintendo Entertainment System), was released for the Russian market in 1992.[10] By 1994, over one million Dendy units were sold in Russia.[11] The Dendy went on to sell a total of 6 million units in Russia and other post-Soviet states.[10]

In 2010, Ministry of Communications and Mass Media of Russia encouraged local video game companies to make video games that were patriotic as it was felt foreign video game publishers made games that were anti-Russian.[12]

Arcades[]

The first Soviet arcade game machines did not contain digital graphics, and the games' interface had to be emulated with help of physical objects.[13][14][15]

Russian game developers[]

Company Location Founded
Ice-Pick Lodge Moscow 2002
1C Company Moscow 1991
Alawar Novosibirsk 2011
Nival Saint Petersburg 1996
Playrix Vologda 2004
Unigine Corp Tomsk 2005
World Forge Voronezh 2009
ZeptoLab Moscow 2009
Gaijin Entertainment 2002
Battlestate Games Saint Petersburg 2012

Demographics and popularity[]

One in 5 Russians self report that they play video games, according to the Moscow Times.[16] Video games enjoy mass appeal in Russia.[1][17][18] Males make up 58% and females 42% of gamers.[19] Russians tend to be impulse buyers.[20] According to Newzoo 60% of PC gamers are male and 46% of mobile gamers are female.[21][22]

According to J'son and Partners Consulting, the biggest growth in gaming in Russia was mobile and PC games in 2016.[23]

References[]

  1. ^ a b "Russia Games Market 2018".
  2. ^ "Welcome To Russia, Where Most Of Your Friends Are Video Game Pirates". Kotaku. Retrieved 2013-05-07.
  3. ^ "Yandex: Russian game market doubled in five years to $2 billion". January 22, 2020.
  4. ^ "Competitive video gaming now officially a sport in Russia". East-West Digital News. Retrieved 2016-07-26.
  5. ^ Goodfellow, Cat (18 December 2014). "Beyond Tetris: a brief history of patriotic video gaming in Russia". Retrieved 2 January 2017 – via The Guardian.
  6. ^ "Какими были первые советские персональные компьютеры". Российская газета.
  7. ^ "Советские компьютерные игры". Форум Альтернативной Истории (ФАИ).
  8. ^ "Автор «Тетриса» о простоте и гениальности своей игры". Look At Me. June 6, 2014.
  9. ^ Goodfellow, Cat (December 18, 2014). "Beyond Tetris: a brief history of patriotic video gaming in Russia" – via www.theguardian.com.
  10. ^ a b "Приставка Dendy: Как Виктор Савюк придумал первый в России поп-гаджет" [Dendy Prefix: How Viktor Savyuk Came Up With The First Pop-gadget In Russia]. The Firm's Secret (in Russian). 9 August 2016. Retrieved 9 October 2021.
  11. ^ "Полугодовые итоги по бизнесу Dendy — К "русскому Nintendo" добавилась японская Sega" [Talk of Japanese competitor Sega entering Russian market] (in Russian). Kommersant. July 19, 1994. Retrieved 2010-03-26.
  12. ^ "Russia attempts to turn the patriotic tide by funding new video games". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 2013-05-07.
  13. ^ "Музей советских игровых автоматов открылся на новом месте". The Village. August 11, 2011.
  14. ^ "Russians recall bygone era with Soviet game museum". June 14, 2007 – via www.reuters.com.
  15. ^ "Russian video arcade captures dying culture". Salon. Retrieved 2013-05-07.
  16. ^ Times, The Moscow (August 19, 2019). "1 in 5 Russians Are Gamers, Poll Says". The Moscow Times.
  17. ^ "Video Games Drive Media Market Growth". Moscow Times. Archived from the original on 2016-03-04. Retrieved 2013-05-07.
  18. ^ Goodfellow, Catherine (2015). "ONLINE GAMING IN POST-SOVIET RUSSIA: PRACTICES, CONTEXTS AND DISCOURSES" (PDF). www.research.manchester.ac.uk. Retrieved 2020-04-17.
  19. ^ "An Insider's Guide to the Russian Game Industry | ironSource". Ironsrc.com. Retrieved 2020-04-17.
  20. ^ "Game Insight: Shedding light on Russia's game trends". Russia Beyond the Headlines. Retrieved 2013-05-07.
  21. ^ "Russian Game Industry Survey 2019". russia-promo.com.
  22. ^ "White Paper: Guide to Online Games Promotion in the Russian Market". russia-promo.com.
  23. ^ "Research of the global and Russian gaming market, 2016 - Контент и мобильные приложения | RUSSIAN ANALYTICS". json.tv.
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