Deputy head of the State Duma Committee on Information Policy Anton Gorelkin commented on the initiative of the Internet Development Institute, which called for the creation of a Steam analogue for BRICS.
The deputy supports the idea and believes that there can be no question of developing the gaming industry in Russia if it focuses solely on the domestic market. A shared platform will help boost the export potential of Russian developers’ projects.
“I agree with IRI experts that the BRICS format is ideal for forming unified positions on the rules of gaming content distribution [...] As for the "Steam analogue," I do not think it is about creating a platform from scratch, and certainly not at the expense of the Russian budget. Many countries in BRICS are developing their own platforms for digital video game distribution: in Russia, this is done by VK and Lesta Games, in China – Perfect Games and NetEase, in Brazil – Nuuvem. Each of them feels serious competition from Steam, and joining forces would be the right step. Whether this topic will make it onto the agenda of the next BRICS summit is still unknown.”
The IRI initiative is still at the idea stage. The member countries have not even discussed it yet.
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Image source: Steam