Big game with the state – Newspaper Kommersant No. 242 (7443) of 12/28/2022

The growing interest of the state in the video game market in 2022 has led to a predictable result: the industry has begun a process that is far from high-tech, which many other markets have gone through a very long time – the emergence of specialized lobbying.

On the one hand, both the authorities and industry participants understand that they need each other. The former want in the future to master another instrument of ideological influence on their own and other citizens (remember the allocation of state support for the development of games about Russian PMCs in Africa and the adventures of Dmitry Pozharsky during the Time of Troubles), and the latter – to receive support measures that will allow them to survive in conditions when, due to sanctions, there are no longer guarantees of stable work in international markets. On the other hand, the parties still know each other very poorly. This is a drawback for the effectiveness of interaction, but for trying to get as much administrative influence as possible, it is a great opportunity.

According to my sources, several top managers of specialized Russian companies are planning to establish a new industry association, “which will protect the interests of the gaming industry.” A number of experts and market participants have already received invitations to join it. And this is the third association where they were called in a month.

In mid-December, ex-adviser to the head of the Russian Foundation for the Development of Information Technologies (RFRIT) Alexander Pavlov and the developer of the PvP.Tools platform Vasily Ovchinnikov registered the ANO Organization for the Development of the Video Game Industry. Almost at the same time, ANO Tsifrovaya ekonomika announced the creation of a new working group in the direction of the “Gaming Industry”, which will “develop and formulate proposals to stimulate the development of the gaming industry.” The rest of the players are watching all this with the curiosity of beginners, thinking, as one of them ironically, “whom to be with – smart or beautiful.”

Until now, even the largest participants in the video game market, with the possible exception of VK, had almost no specialists, and even more so special employees and departments to promote interests in the offices of officials. GR was simply not needed in the industry, explains a top manager of one of the Russian game developers: interaction with the state was at a minimum level, so these positions did not start.

But the situation is clearly changing. Next year, new non-core vacancies may appear at game studios, and competition and struggle between associations will begin, familiar to many other industries: from banks to fishermen. It is possible that at the same time officials will also have to renew their ranks: market participants are sure that in order to establish a common language with the state, those who, at least actively played games, should participate in the dialogue on its part.