The VERSUS.legal law firm continues a series of articles on jurisdictions for doing business. This time we will talk about the Kaliningrad region — a special economic zone (SEZ), where there are tax breaks for IT companies.

Russian officials have prepared a plan for the development of cloud gaming. According to their estimates, by 2030, the export of domestic services should grow to $160 million — 55 times more than it was in 2020. The Innovation Promotion Fund, which will allocate special grants, should help in this.

By the end of 2022, esports disciplines will appear in Russian universities. Rostelecom proposed the idea to the Government. The company is confident that video games will make students more creative and stress—resistant, as well as teach them how to work in a team and make quick decisions.

App Annie analysts told about the most popular and popular mobile games in Russia in the second quarter (April-June). Brawl Stars, released three years ago, became the leader at the box office, and the new Fidget Toys 3D was the best in downloads.

It is now possible to buy shares of large gaming companies on the Moscow Stock Exchange. Among them are Activision Blizzard, Sony, EA and others. Trading is carried out through an exchange-traded investment fund (ETF), and the commission will be 0.9% per annum.The auction began on July 14, the official website of the Moscow Stock Exchange reports.

Where in Russia you can get a state diploma in game development — in the material for App2Top.ru Maria Kochakova, founder and CEO of the Narratorika School of game Screenwriters, told us.

Publisher and developer of mobile games with Russian roots Green Grey has announced its second public deal over the summer. The company in partnership with game designer and producer Grigory Dorogov opens a studio for the development of casual games NPU Games.

The story around the Atomic Heart trailer and the song “Music Connected Us” used in it continues to unfold. The head of the Mundfish studio, Robert Bagratuni, responded to the public claims of the founder of the Mirage group, Andrei Lityagin.

With App2Top.ru representatives of the Mirage group contacted. They declared the legality of removing the Atomic Heart trailer from Mundfish and revealed how the situation with the trailer looks from their side.

Publisher and developer of mobile games Green Grey announced its first public deal. The company invested $ 4 million in the shooter studio Developers Unknown. The co-founder of the latter is Renat Yudinov, who previously worked on the Corsairs series.

Gaming sales continue to grow in Russia. In the first five months of 2021, the number of in-game purchases in app stores increased by 30%, according to the Yumopeu electronic payment service. We share the main thing from the report.

Igor Dyatlov, who founded XYZ School in 2017, announced on his VKontakte page that he was forced to leave his company a year and a half ago. According to his version, the partners, who are now business leaders, were forced to resign by threats.

In the final third reading, the State Duma of Russia adopted the so-called “landing” bill. As soon as it comes into force, all foreign IT companies whose daily audience in Russia is more than 500 thousand people will be required to have an official representative office in the country.

The Russian mobile games market earned almost a billion dollars last year. And this year he can earn even more. In January-March 2021 alone, Russian users spent $235 million on mobile games.

The government is preparing a new tax for foreign IT companies. It will amount to 3% of the income they receive from Russian users. The new law will also affect app stores.

Gaming companies in Russia may be subject to the “Spring law”, that is, oblige to store gamers’ data and the history of their correspondence. This initiative was taken by one of the centers controlled by Roskomnadzor. Experts also suggest regulating donation collection services and gaming loot boxes.This was reported by the Kommersant newspaper with reference to the study of the Main Radio Frequency Center (GRFC), which is part of the structure of Roskomnazdor.

On June 1, amendments to the law on education concerning educational activities began to take effect in Russia. Among other things, they may affect game development courses and presentations at conferences.

Yesterday, the Cabinet of Ministers supported the so-called “landing” law, which will oblige large foreign IT companies to open branches in the territory of the Russian Federation. Roman Lukyanov, Managing Partner of Semenov&Pevzner Law Firm, in the column for App2Top.ru I have sorted out the key issues to the law. In particular, about the seriousness of the Government’s intentions and the criteria for selecting legal entities and individuals who fall under its action.Roman Lukyanov

The Cabinet of Ministers “conceptually” supported a bill that obliges large foreign IT companies to open offices in Russia.