«The departure of Western companies became a starting point»: experts assessed the Russian video game market and audience
There are many gamers in Russia, but some developers believe that it is necessary to enter other markets as well.
After the departure of various companies from Russia, the domestic game development industry began to transform. Publishers received an incentive to develop local incorporation, and the state's attention to the industry increased.
Large companies "began to strategically take interest in the game as a medium and a tool for communication," which VK Play CEO Alexander Mikheev confirmed.
RBC also quotes Sergey Russkikh, creative director of the Siberia Nova studio. He believes that "perhaps the most significant shift was the rapid localization of all key components of the industry: platforms (VK Play and RuStore), technologies, education, personnel. The departure of Western companies became a starting point, and the Russian industry's response was a transition to independence."
Albert Zhiltsov, creative producer of the World War: Siberia project, noted a change in attitude towards games:
"Public figures no longer want to promote themselves by aggressively blaming games for all troubles. This is very positive. I hope this reasonableness will continue."
VK Play decided to study the Russian video game market and presented the results.
The share of the Russian Federation in the global market is about 2-3%; the entire Russian market is estimated at 200 billion rubles.
- PC and consoles — 115 billion rubles.
- Mobile games — 60 billion rubles.
- Browser and web games — 25 billion rubles.
VK Play also provides an audience estimate; there are 60 - 90 million gamers and they are divided into several groups:
- Hardcore gamers — 13%
- Midcore gamers — 34%
- Casuals — 53%
Although there are tens of millions of players in the Russian Federation, "it is almost impossible to consider the domestic market as the only source of income for the studio" - RBC quoted the opinion of a representative of the WATT studio, which is currently developing the ballet slasher "Tsarevna."
It is noted that "a limited audience and high competition for attention with large global studios do not allow most projects to even break even, let alone make a serious profit."
VK Play also presented the ARPPU metric (average revenue per paying user).
It turned out that female players in the midcore-hardcore segment bring in 8% more revenue than men.
Player receipts were compared: minors (under 17 years old) pay more on average than users from the age groups 18-24, 25-34 and 65+..
