As Kommersant reports, despite various restrictions imposed by foreign services, the video game market in Russia continues to grow at a moderate pace. In 2025, Russians' total spending on games, subscriptions, and in-game content exceeded 175 billion rubles.
On average, one paying user spends about 5 thousand rubles per year. Moreover, high spending is recorded not only in the capital: in a number of regions, the average purchase amount is even higher than in Moscow. Residents of Krasnoyarsk spend an average of 7.2 thousand rubles on games, while players from the Russian capital spend 6.4 thousand.
Experts note that rising prices for new releases and intermediary commissions for topping up foreign wallets increase the final cost of purchases — additional costs can reach 15–25%.
The video game audience in Russia remains massive — it includes from 106 million to 110 million residents of the country (80% of the Russian Federation's population). Studies show that gamers more often belong to the audience with average and above-average income levels and often have completed or incomplete higher education. Experts speak of an established and solvent audience, which indicates the market's maturity.
At the same time, the industry still has structural problems. Russian digital stores are not yet capable of fully replacing foreign platforms: the selection of major international releases is limited. Many users continue to purchase activation keys and top-up codes for foreign services, and a significant share of players encounter difficulties when making payments. Piracy also remains a notable factor — part of the audience downloads games from illegal resources.