Domestic video game developers have established a new association

In Russia, a new industry association of video game market participants has been established. In the SPARK-Interfax database, Kommersant found that on April 12, the Association of Professionals in the Game Operation and Development Industry (APRIORI) was established. The CEO of the organization is Alexander Mikheev, who also holds the position of Product Director at VK.Play. The composition of the founders of APRIORI is not disclosed in the database.

According to Kommersant’s interlocutor in the gaming industry, its founders are VK, Astrum Entertainment, United Games and a number of other commercial organizations.

“The idea to establish an industry association appeared at the end of 2022. The fact is that the experience of 2022 has shown that government agencies need a qualified expert center that will advise them in the development of relevant regulations, measures to support the gaming industry and other initiatives. Already existing centers of expertise have shown low efficiency when it comes to the gaming industry,” says the source.

“The activities of the association will be aimed at building a dialogue between all participants in the gaming industry. The association will coordinate initiatives to support the computer games industry, as well as act as an expert platform,” Alexander Mikheev, VK Play product director, told Kommersant after the news was released.

Over the past six months, APRIORI is the second established industry association that unites Russian video game developers. In December, the ANO “Organization for the Development of the Video Game Industry” was established. Vasily Ovchinnikov, the developer of the PvP.Tools platform, is listed as the CEO of ANO.

Last year, the government, together with market participants, discussed the development of a number of initiatives related to the video game development and distribution industry. In particular, the Ministry of Economic Development from 2022 develops amendments to the requirement to launch in Russia its own video game age marking system. In addition, the Ministry of Digital Development, on behalf of Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Chernyshenko is working on the idea to develop a separate federal project to support the video game development industry.

“It will be very important for the state to support the emergence of games. We have a successful film practice, where the state participates financially in making interesting projects appear. Obviously, this will also become a priority for the next three to five years, and the state will financially support the release of new games. At the same time, I think that the main task will not be to popularize culture, but to make sure that these games are in demand and get an audience, ”said Maksut Shadayev, head of the Ministry of Digital Development, on February 15 at a presentation dedicated to the start of the development of the VK game engine (TASS quote).

Nikita Korolev