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.

A bill has been submitted to the State Duma that prohibits the sale of smartphones and tablets in Russia without access to RuStore, the Russian app store. The primary target is Apple devices.

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.