“We increased the team by 25% and launched new projects,” Ilya Vasilyev from “Fogame” on the key achievements of 2024

How did the year turn out for the company? What achievements would you like to highlight?

The year 2024 was firmly successful for our company: we grew in key business metrics, strengthened and expanded our team by 25%, and launched new projects and promising directions in various types of publishing activities.

I want to particularly highlight the acquisition of licenses for publishing four new games and the increase in strategic partners, including Korean game development studios NPIXEL and Blackstorm.

Let me highlight the main novelties we've introduced.

In April, we unveiled a new unique server complex, Project Eva, for the Lineage 2 Essence project, and in November, we released the first cross-platform MMORPG on Fogeam, Gran Saga.

This year, the Fogeam team also got a new home. We took seriously the improvement of working conditions for productive work and moved into a new, well-equipped office.

Despite external challenges, we have been intensively developing expertise in publishing cross-platform games. For us, this is a new direction in which we see enormous potential and an organic combination of development goals with our main focus — publishing PC games.

How has the market for publishers changed over the year? Have practices in working with developers changed, and have the developers themselves changed somehow?

Our market continues to grow moderately and becomes more understandable in terms of development prospects. I believe the three-year crisis is nearing its end, and the outlines of the future landscape of the Russian gaming market are beginning to emerge.

This year we witnessed the emergence of many indie games and new studios. The significant increase in the number of industry events has been encouraging, clearly fueling interest in our industry and positively impacting its development.

Publishers have started launching and announcing new strong international and domestic projects scheduled for 2025-2026 and are actively interacting with smaller local studios.

The growing number of indie developers has influenced a rethinking of our approaches when working with domestic studios overall. We started actively sharing our expertise at profile events and through direct communications, conveying our expectations to developers and actively promoting the emergence of new and successful projects.

Also noteworthy is that the government continued to pay increased attention to the gaming industry, providing support in the form of grants, various direct support measures for game studios, and educational programs with further integration of students into the IT industry. Initiatives to create domestic engines and services are underway.

However, there are also challenging moments.

Competition for IT specialists has intensified. A shortage of personnel has emerged due to increased demands for import substitution programs and the activities of major market players, particularly those in fintech. Currently, there is a significant shortage of software developers, DevOps engineers, cybersecurity specialists, data scientists, project and product managers. Due to the personnel shortage, salary expectations of candidates and employees have shown an increase of 10-30% across the market.

This year, we experienced significant growth in lead costs in the advertising market, which amounted to approximately 30%, and in some areas, even up to 40%. Inflation, the inventory shortage, and the leading growth of the largest advertisers in e-commerce and retail media have noticeably influenced the rising cost of game promotion. The intensified control over bloggers' activities and the slowing down of YouTube in Russia also ambiguously affected the progress of publishing activities.

The dependence on foreign tools and technologies due to increasing sanctions pressure continues to negatively impact the pace of development and the potential for both development and operations.

Moreover, restrictions on access for our developers and rights holders to international markets significantly narrow the window of opportunities for exporting and generating revenue from games developed in Russia. A striking example from this year is Valve's policy change, which imposed an additional 30% tax for Russian developers and rights holders on revenue from game sales in the US via Steam. Meanwhile, the Google Play Store has suspended services for sellers from Russia starting December 26.

A particular issue is the lack of transparent industry statistics recognized by the entire industry. Over the past year, I've seen about five different reports on our market from various sources, yet the data collection and presentation methodology remain unclear. The emergence of industry statistics is vital for market participants: having it greatly influences investment attractiveness and understanding of our market.

In the end, a large number of changes in the market over a short period significantly influenced the requirements for companies' adaptation speed. For instance, we had to promptly conduct targeted process optimizations, adjust our organizational structure, and implement new work methods in various areas.

What strengthening or emergence of trends in game publishing do you expect in 2025?

I'll list some trends we highlight as deserving attention:

Game Development for the Domestic Market and CIS

We're seeing more projects aimed at a local audience and inspired by our mythology and fairy tales. We're keenly observing the fate of these games and are actively involved in their testing.

AI in Games

AI is undeniably leading in short-term and medium-term technological trends, with improved labor productivity being the "hottest" topic on the 2-5 year horizon. We are already actively using and developing AI work in design and analytics departments, targeted communications, and customer support. Game developers have started using AI to enhance gameplay, create realistic characters, and manage enemy behavior. AI can also be used to improve graphics and physical modeling.

The Spread of Large Language Models (LLM)

The spread of large language models (LLM) is changing user behavior patterns. Within a two-year horizon, this trend could radically alter search and recommendation systems, aggregators, storefronts (including app stores), and influence marketing approaches and technologies.

Monitoring and optimizing the output of ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, Yandex.Neyro, and other LLM players becomes a top priority for internet marketing.

Relevance of Cross-Platform Games

In the near future, the trend of releasing cross-platform games will prevail, where users won't need to compromise between devices and will be able to play their favorite game on the way to work on a smartphone, in the evening at home on a PC, and on weekends at a countryside house on a console.

Growing Popularity of HTML5 and Browser-Based Social Projects

Unlike key industry markets worldwide, where the share of browser games is declining yearly, in Russia, we estimate that the market growth for browser and social projects was about 6% over the past year. However, we still consider this trend short-term as the capacity for growth is limited.

Shortage of Highly Qualified Specialists

The shortage of highly qualified IT specialists will continue to grow, with active development in IT-related training, resulting in a large number of interns and junior-level candidates entering the labor market. We see game development-based training as a solution to lower the entry barrier for beginners in IT specialties.

What are the company's plans for 2025?

The main focus for next year is launching new projects. We are also investing heavily in strengthening expertise in operating cross-platform projects and developing operational infrastructure. We are already working on localizing and preparing for the launch of the next cross-platform online RPG, Rememento: White Shadow, from the developer Blackstorm.

Additionally, we plan to significantly enhance the user experience on Fogeam, striving to make the platform as comfortable and convenient as possible for our players. We will also continue acquiring new licenses and expanding the game portfolio on Fogeam.

Taking this opportunity, I wish my colleagues a Happy New Year, success, growth in all areas, and strength to accomplish all planned goals.