We continue to summarize the results of 2021 together with top managers and experts of the gaming industry (and related ones). Next up is an interview with Maxim Fomichev, co-founder of the InGameDev project.
How did 2021 go for the project?The year went well, if not perfectly.
The inGameDev group has grown by 10% and has surpassed 3,000 people, which means that it’s time to carry out another purge of those who have already left the industry. In addition, Dima Byshonkov and Vlad Mishchenko and I launched a daily newsletter with inGameDev Daily news, which quickly overtook the group in terms of subscribers and continues to grow. Moreover, this is the first commercial project under the auspices of inGameDev and, in general, personally my first experience of “business” (if three guys with an IP can be called a business). I can say that receiving dividends from what you have done from scratch is an interesting and unusual feeling! Well, at the end of the year, we also launched the inGameDev Weekly Saturday newsletter for those who don’t want to read every day, but need to be aware of events.
In general, in terms of the development of the “brand” inGameDev, I am very pleased with this year!
What event or trend of 2021 do you consider central within your niche?If we consider inGameDev as a B2B media or thematic community, then no events and trends have been happening in this niche for probably 10 years. This makes it sad for the Russian-speaking industrial media landscape: the segment of classical industrial media has no alternative.
As Petya Salnikov correctly noted, our gaming journalism did not give birth to the domestic Jason Schreier. We don’t even have a game dev, although there are enough charismatic and intelligent people who can ask the right questions. In general, an amazing story that, I want to believe, will change someday.
What will be the stake in the development of the company in 2022?Considering that more has happened to inGameDev in 2021 than in the previous eight years of its existence (apart from the rebranding), it’s a little difficult for me to predict where this whole story will move next.
From what I would be interested in doing — a news podcast, a YouTube show and some kind of format for regular meetings of a closed Head+ level club. But it is not very clear where to take the time and effort for all this. In general, wait for announcements, but don’t wait much. Or maybe don’t wait at all. In these amazing times of covid and social instability, it is difficult to predict anything.