Video games in Russia

History of mass videogaming in Russia (back then USSR) takes its roots in the early 1980s when personal computers of different models (Atari 400/800, Commodore 64, ZX Spectrum 48/128) were brought to the country from United States, Europe, Japan and China.[9] At the same time, a local company, Electronica, released a series of portable game consoles which were mostly clones of Nintendo products. By the middle of the 80s Soviet programmers and enthusiasts began to try to develop their own games.[10][11] The most famous Russian game designer of that era is Alexey Pajitnov who created the worldwide megahit Tetris.[12][13]

In 2010 Ministry of Communications and Mass Media of Russia encourage local video game companies to make video games that were patriotic as it was felt foreign video game publishers made games that were anti-Russian.[14]

The first Soviet arcade game machines did not contain digital graphics, and the games' interface had to be emulated with help of physical objects.[15][16][17]

There were many video game magazines in Russia from the early 90s to the mid 2000s. Their quantity significantly decreased due to the massive spread of the Internet and the following boom of illegal content downloading. As a result, most of the existing magazines were discontinued due to a massive commercial loss. The most known Russian video game magazine is currently Igromania.

1 in 5 Russians self identify as playing video games according to the Moscow Times.[18] Although, according to VTSIOM, 58% of Russians expressed the view that videogames are harmful.[19] Video games enjoy mass appeal in Russia.[7][20][21] Males make up 58% and females 42% of gamers.[22] Russians tend to be impluse buyers.[23] According to Newzoo 60% of PC gamers are male and 46% of mobile gamers are female.[24][25]

According to Json the biggest growth in gaming in Russia was mobile and PC games in 2016.[26]