Alexandre Bozio
To counter the import restrictions which concern the video games market, and in particular the end of the activities on Russian territory of giants such as Nintendo or Sony, Vladimir Putin asked his Prime Minister to consider the manufacture of a console 100% made in Russia.
Vladimir Putin has undoubtedly found the miracle solution to the economic sanctions put in place by the European Union and the United States. While many companies have left Russia since the invasion of Ukraine that began a little over two years ago, the head of the Kremlin has decided to relaunch a vital sector for his economy: that of video games. The state news site RT, whose French version was suspended at the beginning of 2023, indicated that Vladimir Putin had personally requested that a 100% Russian games console be manufactured, accompanied by a system of own operation and a “cloud gaming” service.
Develop the national gaming sector
It is in 2022 that local gamers have seen Sony and Nintendo products such as the Playstation or the Switch disappear from their official sales channels. But as with the departure of the giants Google or Facebook, replaced respectively by Yandex and the social network VKontakte (VK), Russians will soon be able to benefit from a national product. It was to Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin that the Kremlin entrusted the mission of reviving and developing the gaming sector. While a first roadmap should be proposed in the coming months, this future console is expected for 2026-2027.
It now remains to be seen how powerful this console will be and what its technical skills will be. As a reminder, Russia had already tried to launch the production of a computer equipped with an operating system made in Russia in 2022, but the embargoes put in place prevented the supply of ultra-modern chips.
The situation is likely to be similar for this new project which is starting from scratch and the performance of this future console could be limited. Note that before the start of the war in Ukraine, the Russian video game market was worth more than $3.4 billion.