The Russian gaming market has stopped growing. By the end of 2021, it will grow by 1% in rubles and fall in dollars

You can come to disappointing conclusions by reading the forecast of MY.GAMES for this year. According to him, Russians will spend 165.6 billion rubles on video games by the end of 2021. This is only 1% more than a year earlier (163.4 billion rubles).

Moreover, if converted into dollars, the market volume will even fall. According to the Central Bank of the Russian Federation, the average annual dollar exchange rate in 2020 was 72.1 rubles, and this year (from January to October) – 73.6 rubles. That is, last year the Russian video game market earned $2.26 billion, and this year — $2.25 billion, $100 million less.

The Russian video game market has not had such a low pace for a long time. For comparison, in 2019 the market grew by 14%, and in 2020 — by 35%. However, you should not worry. The current drop in growth rates can be explained by compensating for the high dynamics caused by widespread isolation last year. This is also discussed in MY.GAMES.

“Such indicators are primarily associated with the effect of a high base caused by strict lockdowns in 2020, when people spent more time playing games at home,” Vasily Maguryan, CEO of MY.GAMES, shares his assessment. He also notes that:

• this is the general dynamics for the market (according to Newzoo, the global video game market will earn 1.1% less this year than a year earlier);
• In 2022, the situation will stabilize and the growth rate of the Russian video game market will return to double digits.

As for the details, by the end of 2021:

• PC games market to earn 78.1 billion rubles (4.6% drop);
• the mobile games market will earn 73.8 billion rubles (10% growth);
• the console games market will amount to 13.6 billion (a drop of 5%);
• free-play games will account for 85% of all user spending (slightly more than years earlier).