We continue to wrap up the year 2024 with gaming (or gaming industry-related) teams and experts. Up next is an interview with Gauhar Aldiyarova, the Business Development Director at the group of companies "Lesta Games."
How was the year for the company? What achievements would you like to highlight?
It has become a tradition for each following year to be livelier and more eventful than the last. Every December, we think: just a little more, we'll get to the end of the year and take a breath. And each new year brings new challenges.
So, here are the results of 2024! Our projects are developing and showing growth, especially Tanks Blitz, which confidently crossed the mark of 1 million DAU.
Tanks Blitz
"World of Tanks" was actively preparing all year for the launch of tier 11 – players will see a completely new game in January 2025.
"World of Warships" delighted with collaborations throughout the year – top highlights include "Endless Summer" and "Russians vs. Lizards." An important milestone for the project was the "Breakthrough. From Kaliningrad to Kamchatka" tournament series: over a month, "World of Warships" effectively toured with tournaments across our country, from the westernmost to the easternmost points.
"World of Warships"
And I must mention "RED EXPO" – "Lesta Games" put maximum effort into reviving the industry's largest gaming event. This is, of course, not all the events, but if we were to tell everything, it would take a couple of hours.
How has the situation in the gaming market changed from your perspective?
I think sanctions and events have set the gaming market back a decade. This sounds somewhat negative at first. But it was precisely this large-scale challenge that everyone had to respond to. And, of course, we've become more experienced and professional. The market lives and is recovering – even from our experience with "RED EXPO," we see many small developers emerging: 150 projects applied, from which organizers selected over 60 games for the showcase zone. Games from "Start the Game," VSHBI, and "Our Games" by IXBT were also featured.
A new unifying entity, the Game Industry Association (AII), has emerged, which we hope will become the right bridge for communication between the industry and the state. We are working to ensure games can defend their right to light regulation, and apparently, the state supports us and is open to dialogue – we see this, among other things, with the new bill. The experiment with labeling game content has been ongoing since October 2024, and all our games now have the appropriate descriptors. Isn't it strange that Russia did not have a national labeling system until now? After all, it exists in other countries and regions.
How was the year for the genre in which you work?
Online games were, are, and will always be, as they represent the most successful blend of gameplay and communication. 2024 was challenging but productive for MMO games in Russia and Belarus.
What trends in your niche do you anticipate will strengthen or emerge in 2025?
As a major gaming company, we set many trends ourselves, and it’s hard to call our market share a "niche." For example, the trend of reviving grand offline events is already established. The trend for collaborations will continue – each of our projects already has numerous plans in this area. The state will be increasingly interested in our industry, which is also quite evident. And players — as always, will choose the best games and services. If no new unforeseen events occur, I would suggest that in 2025 and beyond, we will see a boom in the indie sector: more and more young developers are seeking and finding funding — both private and state-sponsored — so we expect the emergence of new rising stars in our gaming sky. Now even small indie studios can try their hand in co-op games and even MMOs.
Personally, I hope that new mechanics, deep plots, and combinations of mechanics, genres, and settings will emerge that were previously unimaginable.
What are the company's plans for the coming year?
We usually don't shout about our plans, preferring to first implement them and then talk about them. I can say one thing: at Lesta Games, we know and love how to work, so we hope to pleasantly surprise everyone!