Russia is being looked at as another emerging market for gaming by developers and large companies. It certainly is true that they play a lot of computer games or to be more accurate, computer game.
The Unique Gaming Situation for Russians
After having had leaders that were mad, corrupt and vicious for years the infrastructure of Russia is not great. Many people still have problems with basic needs being met. As such they never emerged as gaming purchasers or developers in the modern era.
That situation is slowly changing although corruption holds them back from major progress.
The PC Gaming Addiction of Russians
Those of us who have played with them know two things: They love DOTA and play constantly over a day. Amusingly enough they have both the distinction of having had some of the best pro players ever while at the same time having huge numbers of terrible pub players who ruin games. It’s a very strange combination.
Vigoss, Гордость Москвы.
As you can see in the featured image all this constant play means that there is a big market for them in the PC arena. This will only grow as they repair the damage bad leaders have caused them in the past and grow as a country. As one study shows they have a higher percentage of gamers on PC than anywhere else.
These results have led to many marketing companies focusing some efforts on them. Especially mobile companies since they also have an appetite for those games.
The Effect of Russians on the Gaming Market
It will be some time before every developer can cater to them. While there are some wealthy areas they have a lot of repair to do since the days of the Iron Curtain. However if they ever fully develop it will mean a massive new market. With the sheer size of Russia and cold conditions there it will not likely ever be fully developed but even a good chunk of it would increase demand for games by a huge amount.
So what does all this add up to? If you are interested in where gaming is going keep an eye on Russia in addition to South America and other developers. They are just waiting for something big to happen.
