Everyone has their own Warface – Newspaper Kommersant No. 66 (7511) of 04/17/2023
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The game publisher My.Games, which announced its exit from the Russian market at the end of last year, agreed with Astrum Entertainment to split the most profitable project – the online shooter Warface, which brought the company $ 700 million over 11 years. Under the terms of the deal, Astrum retains the current version of the game, its Russian audience and brand, undertaking to make a profit only on the local market. My.Games, on the other hand, receives the game code, on the basis of which it will launch a new project abroad. Astrum will be able to claim state support for the development of the game if it adds “relevant political stories” to it, experts say.
Astrum Entertainment told Kommersant that the company shares the online shooter Warface with My.Games into Russian and international versions. The Warface brand, as well as the rights to this game, will remain with Astrum. The distribution of the game will go through VK.Play, and in the future Astrum plans to develop Warface on its own, “taking into account the current interests of the players.”
My.Games receives the code for the current version of the game in order to use it to launch a new product, a company representative explained to Kommersant. He added that the distribution of the new game will go through its own launcher, Steam and the Epic Games Store.
A Kommersant source close to a major Russian game studio suggests that, under the terms of the deal, getting the Warface code could cost My.Games $100–150 million: “The company will also have to recruit a development team, rebuild the product, and, taking into account the name change, invest in marketing “. My.Games, however, claims that the deal was cashless: “At the time of the split of the project, none of the companies receive any benefits. Going forward, each will independently generate revenue from its product versions.”
Warface has been one of the most profitable projects in the My.Games portfolio. The game has a global audience of 120 million, “more than half” of which, Astrum says, are Russian gamers. The total revenue of the project over the 11 years of its existence, according to the company, amounted to about $700 million. Astrum refused to disclose data on revenue for 2022. According to Kommersant’s interlocutor in the Russian gaming market, Warface’s revenue in 2022 “was about $100 million, with 50% coming from the Russian market and 50% from the global one.”
In September 2022, VK sold My.Games for $642 million to Leta Capital managing partner Alexander Chachava. In December, the company announced its withdrawal from the Russian market and the transfer of gaming assets that generate revenue in the country to Astrum Entertainment (LLC Astrum, part of Multiplier Group). A large gaming holding is already being formed on the basis of the Multiplier Group: on March 27, in addition to existing assets, including the mobile developer Pixonik and a joint venture with the game distributor Innova, JSC bought three video game developer companies (in the portfolio of the Battle Teams 2 group, ArcheAge , Lost Ark, Perfect World, Allods Online, etc.). The company will work in partnership with VK.Play. The beneficiaries of Multiplier Groups are unknown (see Kommersant dated April 6).
The relaunch of Warface may involve both the usual repackaging of a product worth several million dollars, and a global reworking of the game mechanics, investments in which can amount to tens of millions of dollars, says Pavel Moseikin, co-founder of XYZ School and CEO of Ultimate Education. A Kommersant source in the industry adds that “now My.Games is recruiting employees for this project”, according to him, the development of a new game based on the Warface code may take up to a year and a half.
The interlocutor of “Kommersant” believes that the division of Warface will allow Astrum to cooperate with the state in the future in terms of promoting “meanings necessary for the authorities” in the shooter. “When the game belonged to the international My.Games, there was no talk of cooperating with the state and integrating some kind of propaganda into the shooter because of possible sanctions,” the Kommersant source explains. After splitting the game, he adds, Astrum could, for example, add “special forces symbols and relevant political stories in exchange for state support” to it.
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