Russia had one of the highest gaming penetration rates in Europe. In the third quarter of 2021, nearly 79 percent of
on any device. The market faced an exodus of game publishers in response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Companies like Activision Blizzard, Electronic Arts, Epic Games, CD Project, Game Insight, and Rovio suspended their operations in the country. As a result, the Russian video games
Key segments of the Russian video games market
PC games led the market with over 85 billion Russian rubles in revenue in 2021. At the same time, mobile games' earnings grew at a 14 percent rate,
faster than any other device segment. The domestic game development industry was mostly represented in the mobile segment, with major
publishers including My.Games, Pixonic, MyTona, and Kefir!. My.Games, previously owned by VK, was sold to Alexander Chachava, Leta Capital's managing partner, in 2022. Also in that year, Sberbank closed its gaming unit SberGames reportedly because of the sanctions.
Which video games are popular in Russia?
In 2021, the
best-selling video games by physical unit sales in Russia were GTA 5, Cyberpunk 2077, and Marvel's Spider-Man: Miles Morales. A role-playing fantasy game Hero Wars, published by Nexters, was the
highest-earning mobile game based on in-app revenue in 2021. Other popular mobile games were Gardenscapes and Homescapes developed by Playrix, a company headquartered in Ireland and founded by Russian brothers Igor and Dmitry Bukhman. In the
console segment, Russians preferred to play racing games.
Russian game purchasing behavior
Most Russians
purchased video games once every six months or more rarely, while the share of those who spent money on new games once a month was below 20 percent, according to data from 2022. In total, players across the country
spent over one billion U.S. dollars on mobile games in 2021, having increased their expenditure continuously in recent years. Some of this amount went on additional game items, such as in-game currency and boosters. In 2022, 16 percent of Russians
made in-game purchases, while 14 percent downloaded paid games.
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