The Oktyabrsky District Court of St. Petersburg refused to consider the lawsuit for a ban on the strategy game Last Train Home in Russia. The court cited a lack of evidence proving the game’s harm.

It will become easier for Russian developers to distribute their games in China, and for Chinese developers in Russia. The authorities of the two countries have agreed to strengthen cooperation in the gaming sector and “promote the advancement” of projects in their markets.

On August 16, 2024, Valve began charging Russian tax residents an additional 30% on sales in Steam within the United States. This is in addition to the standard store commission of the same 30%.

The St. Petersburg Prosecutor’s Office has filed an administrative lawsuit seeking to ban the distribution of the strategy game Last Train Home in Russia.

The AdSense advertising service will soon cease to operate in Russia completely. Google has sent emails to Russian AdSense account holders warning them about the upcoming deactivation of their accounts.

The mobile gaming market in Russia is stagnating in terms of downloads, reports “Vedomosti” citing data from the analytics platform data.ai. In the first half of 2024, game downloads from Google Play and the App Store in the country totaled 1.183 billion, 2.3% less than a year ago.

Last fall, a group of Russian deputies proposed defining at the state level which industries are considered creative and how to regulate them. Yesterday, on August 8, the relevant bill was signed by Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Russian gaming companies have become more active in hiring, writes the newspaper “Kommersant” citing data from HeadHunter. From January to July 2024, they published 5.5 thousand job vacancies on the platform—23% more than in the first seven months of 2023.

At the latest plenary session, members of the Federation Council of the Russian Federation approved a bill that regulates creative industries in the country. The gaming industry is also included among these industries.

The service “Yookassa” and the AGAVA studio (who assisted in the development of the games “Vasilisa and Baba Yaga,” BUKI, and Cocktail Island) analyzed the spending of Russian gamers in games from January to June 2024. Below are the findings from the study.

The M.Video-Eldorado Group shared data on console sales in Russia for the first half of the year. According to them, the demand for consoles in the country is growing at a tremendous pace.

The news agency “RIA Novosti” examined data from China’s statistical service. It has been revealed that last month Russia acquired various gaming devices, including consoles, from China totaling $20.2 million. This is a record amount.

At the end of May, sources from Izvestia reported that the Russian company “ROSA” is working on a portable gaming console similar to the Steam Deck. It has now become known that the company plans to spend a billion rubles on creating the device.

A representative of “Rostelecom” told the newspaper “Kommersant” that the company is interested in creating a Russian gaming console. They are considering its development “as a promising business direction.”

The draft law by Russia’s Ministry of Economic Development also mentions strengthening the regulation of the video game market. Among the initiatives is mandatory cooperation of foreign developers with the Unified Gambling Regulator (ЕРАИ).

The Ministry of Economic Development of the Russian Federation has prepared a draft law outlining measures to support the Russian gaming industry. This was reported by the Interfax agency, which has reviewed the document.

Smart Ranking published a list of 49 Russian gaming companies that earned the most in 2023. Lesta Games topped the ranking, earning revenue of 19.2 billion rubles.

Alexander Mikheev, CEO of the Association of Industry Professionals in Game Operation and Development (APRION), told the newspaper “Izvestia” that the start of a voluntary experiment to label games in the Russian market is planned for early fall. He did not specify an exact date but indicated that the initiative will begin no earlier than September 1.

All-Russian Center for the Study of Public Opinion (VTsIOM) surveyed 1,600 adult Russians about video games. Below are the main results of the study.