Creating a system for the production of game consoles in the Russian Federation can take up to ten years and require 5–10 billion rubles. investments

The President of the Russian Federation instructed the government to organize the production of game consoles and consoles in the country. Kommersant’s interlocutors in the video game industry believe that the project will be entrusted to VK, and the contract production of devices will be handled by GS Group. Market participants say that there is no competence to produce their own PlayStation and Xbox consoles, and creating such a system from scratch will take up to ten years.

The government must consider organizing the production of game consoles (stationary and portable) by June 15, according to what was published on the Kremlin website list of instructions President following a meeting on the socio-economic development of the Kaliningrad region, held in January. Russian President Vladimir Putin also instructed to study the creation of “an operating system and a cloud system for delivering games and programs to users.”

This is not the first time that the issue of creating and producing game consoles and set-top boxes in the Russian Federation has been raised. Thus, back in 2022, the government discussed measures to support the video game industry until 2030 (see “Kommersant” dated December 19, 2022). The talk was about the release of two game consoles (the most popular in the Russian Federation now are the American Microsoft’s Xbox and the Japanese Sony’s PlayStation).

Kommersant’s interlocutor on the market notes that the Fplus and GS Group holdings have the competence to produce game consoles. A Kommersant source among electronics manufacturers believes that the project as a whole could be entrusted to “a large holding company involved in the gaming industry, for example, VK.”

“You can collect on contract sites like GS Group, where Sber places orders for TV set-top boxes,” clarifies Kommersant’s interlocutor. GS Group did not respond, VK declined to comment.

In Russia, no one has the expertise that would allow them to produce their own PlayStation or Xbox-level console, says Anton Fomin, head of retail projects at Fplus: “We need to develop an OS and platform, games for it.” Such consoles are created “on modern hardware, are expensive, but are sold either at cost or at a minus,” since the main profit comes from content, he explains.

You can quickly develop portable consoles like SteamDeck, says Anton Fomin: “They are portable computers in a case convenient for games or controllers for Smart TV with simple games.” The release of such solutions can be established using OEM technology (custom development for sales under one’s own brand), running on them any games developed for such consoles, the expert notes.

At least two such consoles appeared in Russia: from Rostelecom (its creation became known in 2015) and VimpelCom (launched for sale in 2019), a Kommersant source in the industry clarifies. Kommersant did not find VimpelCom and Rostelecom set-top boxes for sale. The companies did not specify the fate of the projects. This is a generation of Android consoles that, in fact, support products from Google Play, and you can play them from the TV remote control. According to Kommersant’s source, their production can simply be restored.

Creating a “system from scratch” will take up to 10 years, requiring 5–10 billion rubles. investments, Kommersant’s interlocutor believes: “At the same time, the technologies will lag behind already existing foreign solutions in terms of parameters by 10–15 years.”

“The best thing that can be done is to carry out deep integration with friendly countries that have access to modern technologies,” says Andrey Lysak, product director of World of Tanks (Lesta Games). “You go to the Chinese market, assemble your model according to their drawings. This will take a year or two, and the investment will amount to 500 million rubles,” agrees a Kommersant source in the media market. In terms of software for future consoles, there are different options, says Vasily Ovchinnikov, head of the Video Game Industry Development Organization: “If we are talking about mobile portable devices, any Android Open Source Project firmware will do.” But there are other options, the expert clarifies, for example the Aurora OS and Linux, which, in his opinion, “look more secure.”

Yulia Yurasova, Timofey Kornev