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Russia’s video games market had revenues nearly reaching $1.3bn (0.90bn) last year, surpassing its 2014 total of $1.1bn (0.76bn), according to Newzoo’s figures.
The growing importance of digital gaming has helped the industry to remain competitive these past few years.
According to research firm SuperData, which recently released an in-depth analysis of the Russian digital market, the country accounts for nine per cent of the European digital games industry revenues – and half of the Eastern European market.
In 2015, Russia’s revenues for digital games represented $1.4bn (0.96bn), a number that increased by 21 per cent compared to 2013. It is expected to reach $1.9bn (1.3bn) in 2016.
These figures are all the more impressive when you consider that the internet penetration rate in the country is only 60 per cent – as a comparison, the rate is 89.8 per cent in the UK.
The 59.5 million Russian gamers mostly enjoy free-to-play MMO games (32.6 per cent of players), mobile titles (29.7 per cent) and social games (15.6 per cent), SuperData reports.
As a result, publishers have to adapt their games to the MMO-focused Russian audience. For example, EA specifically created its free-to-play MMO title FIFA World for the Brazilian and Russian markets. It was released in both countries in 2013, before it finally launched worldwide the following year.
Population: 142,468,000
Capital City: Moscow
Currency: Russian Rouble
GDP (Per Capita): $14,679.8
KEY RETAILERS
Ulmart, Notik, Technopoint, Enter, Ultinet, Techport, Sotmarket, Svyazno, Eldorado, Holodilnik, Citilink, DNS, Steam, Softkey
TOP DISTRIBUTORS
1C Company, SoftClub, Akella, i-Jet Media, ND Games, Vellod, Alawar
TOP DEVELOPERS
ZeptoLab, Gaijin Entertainment, Dynamic Pixels, Aggro Studios, Ice-Pick Lodge, Nival, Lesta Studio, 1C Company, Eagle Dynamics, Nival, Nova Games
PUBLISHERS IN THE REGION
EA, Ubisoft, Microsoft, Sony, Nintendo, Activision, Wargaming, 1C Company, Mail.Ru, Crazy Panda, Plarium, Social Quantum, IT Territory
