Video games in Russia

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Russia has the largest video games player base 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 as a sport.[4]

History[edit]

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 the United States, Europe, Japan, and China.[5] At the same time, a local brand, Electronika, released a series of portable game consoles which were mostly clones of Nintendo products. By the mid 80s, Soviet programmers and enthusiasts began trying 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 that foreign video game publishers made games that were anti-Russian.[12]

Arcades[edit]

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[edit]

Company Location Founded
1C Company Moscow 1991
Eagle Dynamics Moscow (Founded)
Switzerland (Current)
1991
GFI Russia Zelenograd 1996
Nival Saint Petersburg (Founded)
3 offices (RU & Europe)
1996
Saber Interactive Saint Petersburg (Founded),
Fort Lauderdale, FL (HQ)
Multiple offices (Worldwide)
2001
Ice-Pick Lodge Moscow 2002
Nevosoft Saint Petersburg (Founded)
Moscow (Other offices)
2002
Targem Games Yekaterinburg 2002
Unigine Corp Tomsk (Founded)
Clemency, Luxembourg (HQ)
Multiple offices (Worldwide)
2005
Allods Team Moscow, Voronezh, Bishkek 2006
ZeptoLab Moscow
Barcelona (HQ)
2008
Pixonic Moscow (Founded)
Limassol (HQ)
Multiple offices (RU & Europe)
2009
Lazy Bear Games
(Ex-GameJam. Renamed in 2015.)
Saint Petersburg (Founded) 2010
Alawar Novosibirsk 2011
Brainy Studio Perm 2013
Hungry Couch Games Moscow 2019
Moon Moose Saint Petersburg 2019
SoftLab-NSK Ltd.
(See RU wiki) [a]
Novosibirsk 1988
G5 Entertainment AB Russia (Founded)
Stockholm (HQ)
Multiple offices (RU, UA & worldwide)
2001
Deus Craft Novosibirsk 2003
Game Factory Interactive Ltd.
(Founder & as developer)
Moscow (Founded)
Multiple offices (Worldwide)
2003
Sigma Team
(See Simple wiki)
Novosibirsk 2003
Katauri Interactive
(See RU wiki)
Vladivostok (Founded)
Kaliningrad (Current)
2004
KranX Productions
(See RU wiki)
Kaliningrad 2004
Haggard Games Rostov-on-Dov 2005
Trickster Games Russia 2005
CarX Technologies Moscow (Founded)
Multiple offices (Worldwide)
2006
Destiny.Games Moscow 2008
101XP.com
(Also online games)
Moscow (Founded)
Nicosia (HQ)
Multiple offices (RU, Europe & CN)
2009
Game Garden Moscow (Founded)
San Francisco (HQ)
2009
Colibri Games [b] Russia (Founded)[16][17][18]
Stavanger (Current)[19]
2010
Flashback Games Saint Petersburg [20][21][22][23] 2010
8floor Ltd Russia
London (HQ)
2011
NeoDinamika Kaliningrad 2011
Clarus Victoria Moscow (Founded)
Multiple RU areas
2013
Four Quarters Russia 2013
LLC Blini Games Saint Petersburg 2013
Tequilabyte Studio Tomsk 2013
Tortuga Team Kaliningrad 2013
Do My Best Games Moscow 2014
Fair Games Studio
(Also GD Forge)
Kazan 2014
Glyph Worlds Krasnoyarsk (Founded)
UA (Another office)
2014
Nearga Team Moscow (Founded)
Multiple offices (Worldwide)
2014
Morteshka Perm 2015
SK Team Moscow (Founded)
Multiple RU, UA & BY areas
2015
Ktulhu Solutions Moscow 2016
Owlcat Games
(See RU wiki)
Moscow
Nicosia (HQ)
2016
RtsDimon Chelyabinsk 2016
Rumata Lab Nizhny Novgorod 2016
Unfrozen Studio Saint Petersburg
Limassol (HQ)
2016
Alter Games Moscow 2017
Dark Crystal Games Saint Petersburg (Founded)
Varna (HQ)
Multiple RU areas
2017
Mighty Morgan Saint Petersburg 2017
Mundfish Moscow
Rockville, Maryland (Corporate)
2017
RedRuins Softworks Moscow 2017
Tiamat Games Moscow 2017
Wild Forest Studio Nizhny Novgorod (Founded)
Multiple offices (Europe)
2017
Mono Studio Samara (Founded)
Brooklyn (Office)
2018
Zelart Volgograd 2018[24]
BitLight Games Russia 2019
Black Caviar Games Krasnodar 2019
Rummy Games studio
(Ex-MV Games. Renamed in 2020.)
Moscow 2019
Different Sense Games Saint Petersburg 2020
Door 407 game studio Zelenograd (Founded),
UK (HQ)
2020
Frozen Line N/A 2020
Kinderril Games Russia 2020
MadRock Games Moscow 2020
Magic Hazard Kyiv & Russia 2020
Mihanikus Games Moscow 2020
Mr. Pink Russia 2020
uglycoal Russia 2020
Game Art Pioneers Moscow 2021
Online-only games
Company Location Founded
Nikita Online Moscow (Founded)
Rostov-on-Don (Another office)
1991
MY.GAMES
(Also casual dev)
Moscow (Founded),
Mountain View, CA (2nd main branch)
Amsterdam (HQ)
Multiple offices (Worldwide)
2009
Battlestate Games Saint Petersburg 2012
GFA Games Moscow 2016
Primarily mobile / Casual games
Company Location Founded
HeroCraft Kaliningrad (Founded)
Nikosia (HQ)
Multiple RU & UA areas
2002
Elephant Games Yoshkar-Ola (Founded)
Yerevan (HQ)
Multiple RU areas
2003
Ciliz Co. Ltd. Saint Petersburg 2006
DominiGames (Smolyanskiy O.V) Voronezh 2006
Daily Magic Productions Seattle (HQ, Founded)
Kaliningrad (Regional)
Extra office (UA)
2009
Game Insight Moscow (Founded)
Vilnius (HQ)
Multiple RU, Europe & ID areas
2009
Red Brix Wall Saint Petersburg
Nicosia (HQ)
2017
Co-development services
Company Location Founded Notes
Gameplay First LLC Russia (Maybe Moscow) 2018 Co-development

Defunct video game developers in Russia[edit]

Company Location Founded Closure
Creat Studios Saint Petersburg (Founded)
Canton, Massachusetts (HQ in 2005)
United States (Another office)
1990 2012-2013 (Stopped making games. Started making websites.)
2021 (Closed)
Lesta Studio (Till buyout by Wargaming) Saint Petersburg 1991 2011 (Buyout)
Russian Soft N/A 1991? 1991?
DOCA Studios Zelenograd 1992? 1997?
Akella Moscow 1993 2012
StepGames Inc. Moscow 1994 2012
K-D Lab Game Development
(See RU wiki)
Kaliningrad 1995 2012 (President also setup KranX)
New Media Generation Moscow 1995 2015 (Game distribution ceased in 2010)
S.K.I.F. (Ex-SBG Studio) Moscow 1996 2001 (Former staff setup Primal Software)
ITEM Multimedia, Ltd. Moscow 1997 2014 (Inactive afterwards. Studio was 1st closed in 2004, reopened in 2010.)[25]
Saturn Plus Voronezh 1997 2011 (Closed. Liquidated in 2016.)
Apeiron Saint Petersburg 1999 2010 (Inactive afterwards)[26][27]
Burut Creative Team Voronezh 1999 2013
Elemental Games Vladivostok 1999 2015 (Some staff members moved to Katauri Interactive)
Russobit-M (Founder & as developer) Moscow 1999 2013
Avalon Style Entertainment (Till buyout by 1C Company) Moscow 2000 2011
Quazar Studio Timashevsk 2000 2009
IgorLab Software Russia 2001 2012 (Inactive afterwards)
Primal Software Moscow 2001 2008 (Inactive afterwards. Studio was setup by former staff of S.K.I.F.)[28]
Revolt Games Moscow 2001 2014 (Inactive afterwards)
SkyRiver Studios
(See RU wiki, FR wiki)
Samara 2001 2008 (Studio lead disappeared)
VZ.lab Saint Petersburg 2002 2010
Alawar DreamDale Irkutsk 2002 2015?
SkyFallen Entertainment
(See RU wiki), (See UA wiki)
Voronezh 2002 2012
TrashMasters Studios (Also 'TM Studios') Moscow 2002 2012
.dat media LLC Russia 2003 2011
СНК-Games (Also 'SNK-Games') Moscow (Founded)
Multiple RU areas
2003 2016
DTF Games
(See RU wiki)
Saint Petersburg 2003 2004 (Ceased game development after 2004. Reverted to parent company's web publication.)
Orion Software Russia 2003 2015
SPLine Inc. N/A 2003 2012
DayTerium Kaliningrad 2004 2015 (Changed to movie distribution)
Dynamic Pixels Moscow 2004 2019 (Team moved to Eerie Guest Studios in 2020)
EleFun Games Novosibirsk 2004 (Est.) 2017 (Inactive afterwards)
IceHill Entertainment Yekaterinburg 2004 2010
Litera Laboratories Voronezh 2004 2017 (Inactive afterwards)
World Forge Voronezh 2004 2009
4Reign Studios Kursk 2005 2009
I-Jet Media (Founder & as developer) Yekaterinburg 2005 2007
Phantomery Interactive
(See RU wiki)
Saint Petersburg 2005 2010 (Inactive afterwards)
Yard Team Russia 2005 2014[29]
Quant Games LLC Moscow 2007 2010 (Inactive afterwards. Studio was setup by former staff of S.K.I.F. & Primal Software)[30]
Uroboros Games Saint Petersburg 2016 2020 (Former staff setup Different Sense Games)
Cracked Heads Games Yakutsk 2017 2019 (Inactive afterwards)

Video game publishers in Russia[edit]

Company Location Founded Notes
Art Vostok Omsk (Founded)
Limassol (HQ)
2019 Publisher & dev. Co dev (2d/3d).
AtomTeam
(aka. Atent Games, Ltd)
Tomsk (Founded)[31]
Riga (HQ)
Multiple offices (Europe)
2014 Publisher & dev
Cats who play CJSC Moscow 2006 Publisher & dev
Efril Temryuk 2016 Publisher & dev
Flox Studios Ltd
(Ex-Snow Arc Studio Ltd in 2012 to 2015)
Moscow (Founded)
London (Another office)
2012 Publisher & dev
HypeTrain Digital Russia (Founded)
Nicosia (HQ)
Multiple offices (Armenia, CA)
2015 Publisher
Innova Moscow (Founded)
Luxembourg (HQ)
2006 Publisher
Konfa Games Saint Petersburg 2017 Publisher & dev
Kremlingames Russia 2014 Publisher & dev
LLC Noostyche Samara 2014 Publisher & dev
META Publishing Moscow (Founded)
Nicosia (HQ)
2019 Publisher
Moregames Entertainment Moscow 2005 Publisher & dev
Motorsport Games Miami (HQ)
Moscow (Dev office)
Multiple offices (Worldwide)
2018 Publisher, dev & eSports organizer
Playkot Saint Petersburg (Founded)
Limassol (HQ)
2009 Publisher & dev. Mobile games.
RainStyle Games Limited Voronezh (Founded)
Limassol (Game dev's HQ)
2019 Publisher & dev. Offshoot from defunct RainStyle production (2010-2022).[32]
Snowbird Games Moscow 2008 Publisher & dev. Firm was set up by former staff of Snowball Interactive/Studios.
Solarsuit Games Tomsk (Founded)
Königsberg (HQ)
Multiple offices (Europe)
2018 Publisher & dev
Soviet Games N/A 2014 Publisher & dev (Core & mobile games)
Synthetic Domain Sakhalin (Founded)
GE (HQ)
2018 Publisher & dev (Turn-based Tactics)
WallRus Group Moscow 2017 Publisher & dev
Yandex.Games Moscow (Founded & HQ) 1997 (Company) Publisher

Defunct game publishers from Russia[edit]

Company Location Founded Defunct Notes
DOKA Studios
(Ex-Doka in 1987 to 1997. Ex-DOKA Media in 1997 to 2005)
Moscow 1987 2001 Publisher & former dev. Ceased publishing games in 2001.
IDDK Group Moscow 1995 2012 Ceased publishing games.
Snowball Studios Moscow 1996 2010 Old 1996 name: "Snowball Interactive". Publisher, dev & localizer. Merged with 1C-SoftClub.
Discus Games Russia 2000 2008 Publisher, distribution & dev. Inactive afterwards.[33]
Media-Service 2000 Moscow 2000 2009 Ceased games publishing in 2006 & game sales in 2008.
Gaijin Entertainment Moscow & Belarus (Founded),
Other RU places (Till early 2010's)
Hungary (HQ)[34]
Offices in Europe & worldwide (Current)
2002 2015 Moved HQ and development staff to Hungary & other EU countries.
Playrix Vologda (Founded)
Dublin (HQ)
Multiple offices (Europe)
2004 2022 Closed down offices in RU & BY.
LLC Intenzibne Magas 2012 2020 Publisher & dev. Inactive afterwards.
Azur Games Moscow (Founded)
Larnaca (HQ)
Multiple offices (Caucuses, Dubai)
2016 2022 Closed down offices in RU.

Demographics and popularity[edit]

One in 5 Russians self report that they play video games, according to the Moscow Times.[35] Video games enjoy mass appeal in Russia.[1][36][37] Males make up 58% and females 42% of gamers.[38] Russians tend to be impulse buyers.[39] According to Newzoo 60% of PC gamers are male and 46% of mobile gamers are female.[40][41]

According to J'son and Partners Consulting, the biggest growth in gaming in Russia was mobile and PC games in 2016.[42]

Notes[edit]

  1. ^ SoftLab-Nsk Ltd. is a graphics studio formed by a scientific institute. It has two functions - one for making hardware/software for multimedia & TV broadcasting; the other one for VR systems, imaging systems for training simulators and computer games. They released 4 trucking sims on Windows in 1998 to 2009, but no more new commercial game.
  2. ^ Not the same as the German developer Kolibri Games

References[edit]

  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". The Guardian. Retrieved 2 January 2017.
  6. ^ "Какими были первые советские персональные компьютеры". Российская газета. 4 December 2019.
  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". The Guardian – 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". Reuters. June 14, 2007 – via www.reuters.com.
  15. ^ "Russian video arcade captures dying culture". Salon. Retrieved 2013-05-07.
  16. ^ "Colibri's dev". Indie DB. Retrieved 30 March 2022.
  17. ^ "Colibri's dev". Mod DB. Retrieved 30 March 2022.
  18. ^ "Colibri's FILE Festival page". Electronic Language International Festival. 21 January 2016. Retrieved 30 March 2022.
  19. ^ "Colibri dev's Twitter". Twitter. Retrieved 30 March 2022.
  20. ^ "Flashback Games' About Us". Flashback Games' official website. Archived from the original on January 9, 2022. Retrieved 9 June 2022.
  21. ^ "Flashback Games founder's Steam bio". Steam. Valve. Retrieved June 9, 2022.
  22. ^ "Flashback Games' OGDB page". Online Games-Datenbank (in German). Archived from the original on January 27, 2021. Retrieved 9 June 2022.
  23. ^ "Flashback's Panzer Corps 2 review". 4Players (in German). Funke Digital GmbH. Archived from the original on October 26, 2021. Retrieved 9 June 2022.
  24. ^ Ellie Harisova (21 December 2020). "(Zelart) "There Is No Light: Environment Design in a Dark 2D Action-Adventure"". 80 Level. Archived from the original on October 23, 2021. Retrieved 22 September 2022.
  25. ^ "ITEM Multimedia's official website". www.item2m.com. Archived from the original on December 17, 2014. Retrieved 30 November 2022.
  26. ^ "Apeiron's MobyGames bio". MobyGames. Atari SA. Retrieved 12 September 2022.
  27. ^ "Apeiron's official website". apeiron-games.ru. Archived from the original on March 17, 2010. Retrieved 12 September 2022.
  28. ^ "Primal Software's official website". www.primal-soft.com. Archived from the original on March 10, 2008. Retrieved 30 November 2022.
  29. ^ "Yard Team' official website". www.yardteam.org. Archived from the original on January 28, 2022. Retrieved 24 December 2022.
  30. ^ "Quant Games' official website". www.quantgames.com. Archived from the original on July 20, 2022. Retrieved 30 November 2022.
  31. ^ Kompanets, Alexander. "AtomTeam founder's LinkedIn bio". LinkedIn. Microsoft. Retrieved 23 November 2022.
  32. ^ "RainStyle production's official website". rainstyle.ru. Archived from the original on December 4, 2022. Retrieved 16 January 2023.
  33. ^ "Discus Games' official website". www.dgames.ru. Archived from the original on March 19, 2018. Retrieved 7 November 2022.
  34. ^ "Hungarian translation: Gamers have always been the soul of video game development". 24.hu (in Hungarian). September 18, 2022. Retrieved 26 December 2022.
  35. ^ Times, The Moscow (August 19, 2019). "1 in 5 Russians Are Gamers, Poll Says". The Moscow Times.
  36. ^ "Video Games Drive Media Market Growth". Moscow Times. Archived from the original on 2016-03-04. Retrieved 2013-05-07.
  37. ^ Goodfellow, Catherine (2015). "ONLINE GAMING IN POST-SOVIET RUSSIA: PRACTICES, CONTEXTS AND DISCOURSES" (PDF). www.research.manchester.ac.uk. Retrieved 2020-04-17.
  38. ^ "An Insider's Guide to the Russian Game Industry | ironSource". Ironsrc.com. 22 August 2018. Retrieved 2020-04-17.
  39. ^ "Game Insight: Shedding light on Russia's game trends". Russia Beyond the Headlines. Retrieved 2013-05-07.
  40. ^ "Russian Game Industry Survey 2019". russia-promo.com.
  41. ^ "White Paper: Guide to Online Games Promotion in the Russian Market". russia-promo.com.
  42. ^ "Research of the global and Russian gaming market, 2016 - Контент и мобильные приложения | RUSSIAN ANALYTICS". json.tv.