In an interview with "Cyber," VK Play's CEO Alexander Mikheev assessed the number of teams currently in Russia.
Alexander Mikheev
“There are currently around 200 teams in Russia working on games of various sizes and scales. Only 5-10 of them are guaranteed to see their projects through to the end. Out of these 5-10, possibly one game will become successful. This is the state of Russian game development right now,” Mikheev told the publication, additionally noting that this is “a small story that needs to be scaled and systematized.”
Additionally, Mikheev stated that:
- the first significant next-generation games aimed at the Russian local market will be released between 2025-2027;
- “the industry is young and quite marginal,” and it is not being systematically addressed in Russia;
- “almost 60% of IT specialists want to work specifically on games”;
- “'Smuta' is a celebration of Russian game development. It’s wonderful that the project happened. The fact that it happened with state support is doubly wonderful. Some were not afraid to provide funding, others were not afraid to accept it, and the product turned out great.”