The Russian parliament advised the government to tighten control over video games and develop additional mechanisms for their examination. The parliamentarians believe that foreign states might use video games for propaganda among Russian gamers.

Russia may launch several experiments simultaneously on game labeling, writes “Kommersant.” The Organization for the Development of the Video Game Industry (ODVI) and the Ministry of Economic Development of Russia are preparing their own projects.

The Federal Service for Supervision of Communications, Information Technology and Mass Media (Roskomnadzor) has decided to restrict Russian gamers’ access to the visual novel “Romance Club.” It added the game’s pages on Google Play and the App Store to the list of sites with information prohibited for distribution in Russia.

The Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation has prepared a draft law on changes to the tax system. Among other things, it proposed to set a 5% profit tax rate for IT companies instead of the current zero rate.

Spending by Russians on consoles continues to grow, according to the retail network “M.Video-Eldorado.” In the first quarter of 2024, it increased by 104% year-on-year to 12.5 billion rubles.

In the first quarter of 2024, Android users from Russia encountered malware disguised as games twice as often as during the same period last year. These data were disclosed by “Kaspersky Lab” in an interview with the newspaper “Vedomosti”.

The company “ROSA” wants to create a domestic gaming console and software for it, sources from the newspaper “Izvestia” claim. According to their information, it is working on a portable console in the spirit of the Steam Deck.

Game developers from Russia have yet to present a worthy alternative to international gaming companies, stated Alexey Goreslavsky, General Director of the Internet Development Institute (IRI), at the “MediaSib-2024” forum.

Almost three-quarters of Russian gamers are pirates, reports the newspaper “Izvestia” citing a survey by XYZ School.

Representatives of the Ministry of Industry and Trade of the Russian Federation told the RBC newspaper that they are ready to study the proposal on labeling games supplied to Russia. This idea was proposed by the association “R.A.D.I. Video Games”.

On May 8, 2024, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree approving the foundations of state policy in the field of historical education. One of the points of the document concerns video games.

The Russian Association of Distributors and Importers of Video Games (aka R.A.D.I. Video Games) proposed to the government to create a registry of games that are shipped to Russia. This is reported by Kommersant with reference to sources close to the government.

The Open Mobile Platform company believes that the Aurora operating system it has created may be suitable for a future Russian console. According to the developers, Aurora already has the necessary tools to support console games.

Russia continues to explore ways to control the market for in-game items. First Deputy chairman of the Federation Council Committee on Constitutional Legislation and state Construction Irina Rukavishnikova told TASS that in May, Russian senators will hold a public discussion on this issue.

Sergey Trukhan, Commercial Director of the Fplus IT holding, spoke at an event for developers of applications for the Aurora mobile operating system. He announced that his company is ready to allocate money to ten teams that will port games to Aurora by the end of 2024.

Vladimir Putin instructed the government to “consider organizing” the production of portable gaming devices and consoles in Russia. The parliamentarians are optimistic. However, market participants believe that it is impossible to create a device that is competitive with Western ones.

This instruction was given by Russian President Vladimir Putin to the government following a meeting on the socio-economic development of the Kaliningrad region.

Hicham Nouhou, head of Tencent’s publishing division in Russia and the CIS, estimated the Russian gaming market at this amount. He announced his data at a meeting of the working group of the State Duma of the Russian Federation on esports.

Following Okko, VK’s internal structure released its documentary series about the domestic gaming industry.