In 2026, we continue to reflect on the past year together with teams from the gaming industry (or related to it). Up next is an interview with Ilya Ulyanov, Director of Business Development at RuStore.
How did 2025 turn out for your gaming platform from a business perspective?
Ilya Ulyanov, RuStore: 2025 was a breakthrough year for RuStore. The store's monthly audience reached 65.5 million users — that's half of the entire Runet. Especially important is the 23% growth in our exclusive audience since the start of the year: users are choosing us not as an additional, but as a primary platform for downloading apps.
Our catalog has doubled since the beginning of the year. For the first time this year, developers from Vietnam, Japan, India, and South Korea uploaded their applications to us.
Can you tell us how the platform changed product-wise over the year? And why were specific changes implemented?
Ilya: We focused on creating a comprehensive ecosystem for developers. For instance, we launched our own payment solution, Pay SDK, which operates across all app stores, including Google Play, AppGallery, GetApps, and we plan soon to support a solution for the App Store as well.
In the "RuStore Console", 17 tools and services are available for the full cycle: from development to monetization. More than 7,000 companies are already actively using this infrastructure. This year, we integrated the largest repositories, GitVerse and GitFlick, which significantly sped up the publication process.
Another novelty for developers is public beta testing. Publishers can test their applications on a real audience before the full release. The process is greatly simplified: upload the build in "RuStore Console", set up the card, and receive a link to invite testers.
For game publishers, we are developing new promotion formats. For games, we are creating new promotion formats to help publishers communicate updates and in-game news to their current and new audience more easily.
A small hack developers use to attract an audience is launching time-limited offers. For example, RuStore features in-game events — temporary promotions from developers highlighted with special banners in the catalog. Our new formats also include the ability to pre-order games not yet released.
What key changes have occurred on the platform in terms of the products presented/market trends/genres?
Ilya: An interesting shift in user preferences occurred. For the first time in three years, the "useful tools" category in RuStore surpassed financial apps, accounting for 21% of all downloads compared to 18% for finance. Following are shopping (10%), entertainment (8%), and transport (7%).
In the gaming segment, simulators lead with 13% of the market, followed by action games (11%), puzzles (10%), casual games (8%), RPGs (7%), and shooters (6%). For instance, in November, RuStore awarded Tanks Blitz, BLACK RUSSIA, CarX Drift Racing 2, Athena: Blood Twins as leaders in their categories. This reflects the diversity of interests among our audience — from thoughtful strategies to dynamic gameplay.
How has the situation with developers changed over the reporting period? Are there fewer/more developers, are they earning more, and are they releasing products on the platform less/more often?
Ilya: The year was very successful for our partners too. Developer incomes increased fourfold. We provided publishers with quality promotion tools: ad placements received more than 10 billion impressions, opening significant opportunities for attracting new audiences.
This year, RuStore truly became an international platform — we have registered developers from 70 countries. Partnerships with the Asia-Pacific region are especially active. We see great interest from Chinese, Japanese, Vietnamese, and South Korean studios. The number of Chinese publishers increased by 2.5 times, and the number of their applications and games grew by 40%.
Has the behavior of the player changed in 2025, such as how much they spend, how much time they spend in games, and possibly the user profile?
Ilya: Our user profile matches the overall Runet audience, making us a universal platform for all developer categories.
According to our research, there are several key types of users:
- millennial hedonists — high income, pay for premium and exclusivity;
- young gamers — the most engaged segment with a maximum average check of 711 rubles, motivated by progress and ratings;
- practical homebodies — play often but rarely pay, they only need functionality;
- quiet observers — the largest but least engaged segment with minimal activity.
The average transaction in RuStore was 650 rubles over the past 12 months with a total volume of about 7 million transactions. This indicates the audience's readiness to pay for quality content.
This year, a trend for Asian games began to emerge — demand for such games grew by 15% since the start of the year, accounting for over 50% of all payments from foreign publishers.
Which trend enhancements or appearances within the platform do you anticipate in 2026?
Ilya: The main trend we are observing not only on our platform but also in the market as a whole is the shift from one-time purchases to subscriptions. This allows developers to build a more predictable monetization model and increase user LTV.
Another direction, already mentioned above, is the growth of Asian content. We are recording a significant increase in projects from China and other Asian markets. We plan to expand the RuStore catalog in this direction and strengthen partnerships with Asian partners.
The third significant trend is simplifying cross-platform distribution. Competition in the market is intensifying, and it is becoming increasingly challenging for developers to maintain a presence across multiple platforms. In response to this demand, we launched Pay SDK — a solution that allows content to be monetized across multiple stores, reducing the burden on developers.
What can we expect from the platform in 2026?
Ilya: The main priority is developing the gaming catalog. We already have over 40,000 games published. This year, popular games like Doomsday, Warpath, and others were added. We will continue to attract exclusive titles, especially from foreign developers who see great potential in the Russian market.
We plan to develop opportunities for partners and advertisers. Next year, RuStore will feature new promo formats on the storefront, and the Console service set will be supplemented with new ad tools and services.