"The Russian gaming market is stabilizing," says Alexander Mikheev from VK Play on the results of 2024

We continue to summarize the results of 2024 with gaming (or gaming-related) teams and experts. This time, we spoke with Alexander Mikheev, the head of VK Play.

How did 2024 turn out for the platform? What achievements would you like to highlight?

2024 was a year of achievements and growth for VK Play. We not only increased our audience but also strengthened our ecosystem for developers and players. Below, I will highlight the most significant achievements.

Comprehensive Redesign of the Platform

VK Play is becoming a centralized hub for game management and related gaming content — a user-friendly environment tailored to gamers' needs. One of the most important updates is the unified game page. Now it is a full-fledged landing page, containing comprehensive game information, purchase options, access to cloud gaming services, as well as articles and news.

Changes also impacted the navigation system: it has become more seamless and logical compared to the previous version.

The update also affected the Game Center (GC); it received a new design and navigation highlighting VK Play’s unified ecosystem.

This was the first step towards VK Play 2.0. In 2025, we will present even more new features.

Selling Steam Keys and Wallet Top-Ups through VK Play

We conducted extensive research on hardcore and midcore audiences. It showed that players specifically wanted Steam keys from our platform.

Initially, we launched an experiment selling a single key — for Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree. The experiment confirmed the study's findings. As a result, our catalog today includes more than 3,000 keys, featuring legendary games like Dark Souls III, Death Stranding, No Man’s Sky, among others.

VK Play Live has Expanded, Becoming a Separate Service within "VK Video" — "VK Video Live"

Thanks to this integration, streamers and content creators gained access to a multi-million audience on Russia’s largest video platform. In turn, users obtained the opportunity to follow and interact with their favorite streamers at an unprecedented level of comfort and speed. The VK Play Live team successfully created a service from scratch that is beloved in the industry because it was developed by streamers for streamers. It is crucial for us to advance functionality and attract a new audience. I am confident that streamers and users will appreciate "VK Video Live"!

Participation in Events

In 2024, numerous events took place where VK Play acted as a partner, with its staff delivering lectures and participating as jury members at pitches — in about 30 events in total. Highlights include Prototype Indie in Moscow, Gamedev CityFest in Novosibirsk, PlayPort in Kaliningrad, IgroDev in Nizhny Novgorod, and the grand “RED EXPO” in Moscow, attended by 45,000 people (VK Play was one of the general partners). For VK Play, it was the biggest and most beautiful stand in the platform’s history, so we are very proud of it as well.

How, in your opinion, has the situation in the Russian market changed?

In 2024, several new domestic games successfully launched and resonated widely with players: “Smut”, “Saturn”, Pine Harbor, “Song of Spears”, “Frontline”, CarX Street, and others. Many games were released with the support of IRI, clearly demonstrating that the grant system is working, and its recipients are delivering projects that interest players.

There is a sense that the Russian gaming market is stabilizing. Players have become more focused on locally produced projects, which is stimulating the development of the local game development industry. We see the market returning to 2021 levels, when it was valued by experts at 177 billion rubles, as confirmed by our internal data: the turnover of premium games more than doubled in the second half of 2024 compared to the same period in 2023.

What shifts or changes have you observed in Russian game development?

2024 demonstrated increased professionalism among Russian studios. The rise in the quality of indie projects is very evident: at the “RED EXPO,” 60 indie games were presented. All unique in their own way, they showcased a high level of execution.

Incidentally, VK Play supports developers with traffic and marketing. We have a separate division, VK Play Indie, and a joint project with Astrum Entertainment called Prototype.Indie, launched in 2024 to work with independent developers. These projects have over 500 indie games in various stages of development on their radar. We eagerly anticipate their release and seeing them come to life.

What trends do you foresee strengthening or emerging in the Russian gaming industry in 2025?

I believe we will see even more games with national color, reflecting Russian culture and history. Additionally, I expect the strengthening of the Russian game development sector's position.

What are the platform's plans for the upcoming year?

For 2025, VK Play has ambitious goals. We have already prepared many updates as part of the transition to VK Play 2.0. Stay tuned for updates!