The head of VK Play, Alexander Mikheev, admitted at the "RED EXPO" conference that at the dawn of the platform's creation, his team approached positioning incorrectly. As a result, players thought that VK Play was aiming to become a fully-fledged domestic alternative to Steam, but VK planned to create an auxiliary service for convenient game purchases.
Alexander Mikheev. Photo source: VK Play
Mikheev has repeatedly pointed out that VK Play does not intend to compete with Steam. In July, the manager declared that he doesn't care where gamers get their games. The main thing is for them to spend a lot of time on VK Play, which, in addition to a store, also offers a platform for streaming, a cloud gaming service, and other features.
However, Mikheev believes that it might be more convenient for Russian developers to publish games on VK Play rather than on Steam. He added that VK Play actively collaborates with aspiring developers through the VK Education and VK Play Indie programs.
Currently, VK Play is preparing a number of new features for developers. Specifically, the platform plans to:
- improve the developer's personal account;
- simplify the placement of games and marketing materials;
- update the community section;
- provide a new tool for audience engagement;
- enhance analytics, adding new data and visualization tools;
- improve the service for uploading distributions.
Players can also expect innovations. According to Mikheev, among other things, an option to link accounts from other platforms and a unified library will appear on VK Play in 2025.