Demand for game developers in Russia has fallen
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According to the results of the first half of the year in the Russian Federation, the number of vacancies for game developers decreased by almost 40%, calculated in hh.ru. At the same time, the number of vacancies published by foreign companies slightly increased. The industry has not yet fully recovered from the consequences of 2022, when a significant part of game development studios left the country, experts say, and it is those who relocated who still need specialists.
Kommersant got acquainted with hh.ru data for the first half of the year on the number of vacancies for video game developers. It follows from them that the number of vacancies published on the portal as a whole decreased year-on-year by 38%, to 4.3 thousand. Of these, vacancies published by Russian companies accounted for 3.1 thousand ads, international – 1.2 thousand, the number of the latter increased by 1% year on year. According to hh.ru’s analysis of the labor market in the country’s IT industry, in Russia at the moment, in general, there is the “most stressful” situation with the job search among game designers. Thus, according to the portal, there are more than 46 resumes per vacancy.
After 2022, the game development industry “is more or less stabilizing, but has not yet recovered from the shocks,” explains Vasily Ovchinnikov, head of the Video Game Industry Development Organization: “This will take several years, subject to additional investment and state support.”
After the outbreak of hostilities by the Russian Federation in Ukraine in February 2022, game designers began to lose foreign partners, developers had difficulties accessing distribution sites for mobile (AppStore, GooglePlay) and computer games (Steam). Large players consistently left the Russian games market: Plarium and Game Insight decided close studios operating in the Russian Federation, where almost 1 thousand people worked. The SberGames division was closed by Sberbank.
The reduction in the number of vacancies is due to the unstable position in the market of companies that have not previously taken part in the development of large projects, says Anna Posazhennikova, HR Director of the Lesta Games group of companies (World of Ships, World of Tanks projects). She claims that due to large projects that allow the company to work on the territory of the Russian Federation and Belarus, Lesta Games, on the contrary, is actively hiring new specialists.
Vyacheslav Makarov, an independent expert in the gaming market, believes that the reduction in the number of vacancies for game developers in Russia is due to a lack of money and content in the industry: “There is nothing to fill the vacated niche, and since there are no new projects, then there will be no funding for hiring developers.” As foreign companies that publish vacancies, in his opinion, are developers with “Russian roots” who left the country. In connection with the relocation, Mr. Makarov explains, companies may not have enough specialists and they are “looking for personnel in the familiar market.”
The amount of funding necessary for development and the need for specialists “are available only for former Russian studios that have left the market,” agrees Alexander Gorbachenko, director of the Intercontinental Esports League: “But there are talented game designers in Russia.”
“We have a strong school of IT and game development, and many specialists were involved in outsourcing in international projects,” adds Vasily Ovchinnikov. According to him, due to the closure of studios and projects, many employees and specialists have been released, who can either go to large IT companies or open independent studios. He notes that in Russia there is a large audience that needs video game content, so in the future the number of vacancies in the industry “should not be greatly reduced.”
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