Denis Davydov and PMC – Newspaper Kommersant No. 194 (7395) dated 10/19/2022

As Kommersant found out, ANO Internet Development Institute approved the allocation of a grant of 90 million rubles to Lipsar Studio. for the development of the computer game “Sparta”. The plot of the game, whose budget is estimated at 200 million rubles, will be based on the story of the eponymous private military company (PMC), whose mercenaries are fighting in a fictional African country. The adventure game “Trains” and the real-time strategy “Denis Davydov” will also receive funds, its heroes will be partisans who took part in the war of 1812. Projects will be of interest to the audience in the absence of straightforward propaganda and the study of “difficult life situations”, experts say.

ANO “Institute for the Development of the Internet” (IRI) approved the allocation of grants for 14 video game development projects as part of a competition for the creation of national content in the gaming environment. In total, 177 projects of different genres and formats will be supported. Sources of “Kommersant”, close to the IRI, specify that there are three large-scale computer games among the winners. This is an adventure game “Trains” with a budget of 180 million rubles, a real-time strategy game “Denis Davydov”, the budget of the game will be about 50 million rubles. (about the partisans of the war of 1812), and the tactical game “Sparta”.

The plot of the latest game developed by Lipsar Studio, clarifies the source of Kommersant, will be devoted to the activities of Russian mercenaries working for the company of the same name abroad in the interests of the Russian Federation.

IRI is interested in the project, because it will allow “creating a positive image of the Russian military,” clarifies the interlocutor of Kommersant, the release is scheduled for the end of 2024.

In IRI, Kommersant confirmed that “the products meet current realities.” “Games about mercenaries are not our invention, let’s remember at least the “Soldier of Fortune” trilogy and the “Jagged Alliance” series (developed by the American Sir-Tech.— “b”),” they noted. At the same time, they assured the IRI, the institute is not engaged in the popularization of PMCs and the ideology of mercenarism – “there will be no paraphernalia and reference to reality, this is a game about brave guys from Russia who are fighting evil in this case in an African country.”

According to the producer of Lipsar Studio Gleb Durnovo, the first stage of development of Sparta will cost 130 million rubles, and in general, the creation of the game will cost about 200 million rubles. excluding marketing costs. According to the plot, it will be an adventure story about mercenaries from Russia and the CIS countries who perform “certain tasks in a fictional African country,” says the producer. “There will be no direct references or references to real-life Russian private military companies, including Wagner PMCs. But several of our writers who are working on the game participated in military operations in Syria,” he said.

Gleb Durnovo clarified that the name “Sparta” is due to the fact that the call signs of the heroes will be associated with ancient mythology. The scenes will be closer to the realities of modern warfare with artillery, drones and “Boston Dynamics-style robops”.

Lipsar Studio plans to develop the game on the American Unity engine and sell it through Russian and foreign platforms. “If Steam or the Epic Games Store restrict the sale for political reasons, we will look for alternative channels,” they say.

A Kommersant source in one of the Russian video game developers believes that a budget of 200 million rubles. enough to create a single-player tactical game, “the question is whether the company can officially run on a foreign game engine.” You can use pirated software, but then you can sell the game only in the Russian Federation, says the interlocutor of Kommersant. The head of the Organization for the Development of the Video Game Industry, Vasily Ovchinnikov, believes that the state is interested in such projects, because with their help “it is possible to distribute in the Russian Federation and abroad the ideas and plot narratives that the authorities need.” But, the expert emphasizes, the projects will be of interest to the audience only in the absence of “straightforward jingoistic content” and analysis of difficult life situations – ethical choice, betrayal, and so on.

Nikita Korolev