TERRITORY REPORT: RUSSIA
Russia on the rise
Following a difficult few years, Russia’s games market is back on track. However, the challenges of piracy and the grey market remain, industry experts tell Dominic Sacco
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RUSSIA is on the rebound. Its overall video games market grew slightly last year thanks to strong console and software sales for PS3, Xbox 360 and PSP. Sales of games in Russia had declined in 2009 but showed some signs of recovery in 2010. Considering it’s the biggest country in the world, this is great news for the games industry. “The games market in Russia is definitely growing,” says Chris Stanton-Jones from Catapult
The gaming landscape is changing. Packaged PC games are
declining and online is taking its share.
Sergey Amirdjanov, 1C-SoftClub
Business Solutions. “On the boxed side, it is being fuelled by the high level of success of Move and Kinect, and the continued active presence of both Microsoft and Sony. “There is still some way to go as PS2 and PSP – the most successful consoles to date – are still only present in less than 2.5 per cent of all households each. Meanwhile, online gaming growth is relentless with increasing penetration of PCs, internet, mobile devices and the fact that casual games are able to offer cheaper entertainment to the masses.” But not all the current trends are positive.
The boxed PC games sector has been hit hard by the rise of online, downloadable and browser titles. Insider reports even suggest online
May 4th 2012
games revenues are 50 per cent larger than the boxed software sector. 1C-SoftClub’s marketing director Sergey Amirdjanov adds: “The Russian gaming landscape is changing dynamically, with the decline of packaged PC games and online, free-to-play, social and mobile gaming taking its share.” This has also had a knock-on effect across the rest of the Russian games industry. Local developers are focusing more on mobile platforms and MMO games. And some specialist retailers have been forced to sell off stores. Soyuz and Mir have shut up shop entirely, while others are struggling to cope with the rapid decline of boxed PC games. But electronic retailers and smaller independents are more stable. “Share between retailers continues to be very fragmented with no single group dominating,” comments Stanton-Jones. “The independents still represent a large chunk of the business and these chains are vital in the servicing of the growing regional business.”
FIGHTING PIRACY
The illegal duplication, distributing and importing of video games is still a big problem in Russia. Boris Romanov, CEO of distributor Gametec, says: “In the rush for market share, some publishers are unresponsive to the fate of not only Russian retail but also to distribution. As a result, we have seen a huge growth of illegal import from 10 per cent to 50 per cent. “We must continue to lower prices,
be competitive and improve games’ quality. Otherwise the illegal importing will increase.” Stanton-Jones adds that a lot of product is sourced from the UK,
THE FACTS
Population: 143,030,106 Currency: Ruble GDP (Per Capita): $12,993 Capital City: Moscow Language: Russian
KEY RETAILERS 1C Retail, Eldorado, Euroset, Game Park, GameZone, Game Republic, Hitzone, MediaMarkt, MVideo
BEST DISTRIBUTORS 1C-SoftClub, Akella, Buka, Bureaucrat, Gametec, NoviyDisk
TOP DEVELOPERS 101XP, Crazy Bit, DiscusGames, Eagle Dynamics, Gaijin
Entertainment, Herocraft, KranX Productions, MADia Entertainment, NevoSoft, Next Media, Nikita, Nival Interactive, SkyRiver Studios, Targem Games, Vogster Entertainment
PUBLISHERS IN THE REGION 1C Company, Disney, Electronic Arts, Microsoft, Nintendo, Sony
www.mcvuk.com “
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