84% of Russian developers create games at their own expense, according to an "Innopolis" study
The Innopolis University attempted to find out the current state of game developers in Russia. To achieve this, they surveyed a hundred representatives of the domestic game development industry.
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- The vast majority of Russian developers do not have a legal entity. 34% of respondents stated they either have not registered one at all or are still in the process of registration. Slightly more—36% of respondents—work as individual entrepreneurs or have obtained a self-employed status.
- Only 5% of Russian teams have over 100 employees. In 53% of them, there are a maximum of five people on staff, in 25%—from five to 15 employees, and in 14%—from 15 to 50 employees.
- Most of the respondents opened their studios recently: 36% reported they did so no more than three years ago, and 28% appeared on the market within the past year.
- 67% of respondents have a monthly turnover of less than 500,000 rubles. 9% earn between 500,000 and 1 million rubles per month, 10%—1-5 million rubles, 4%—5-10 million rubles, and another 10%—over 10 million rubles.
- The most popular platform among Russian developers is the PC, with 77% of teams creating games for it. Many also work with mobile devices (45%) and browsers (29%). Games for Xbox and PlayStation consoles are developed by 11% of teams. Another 8% each focus on games for Nintendo Switch and Telegram. Note: in this question and the following ones, developers could choose multiple answers.
- Regarding game monetization, 52% of Russian developers use the premium model. The free-to-play model is also popular. For example, 41% of teams earn money from in-game purchases, and 35% from in-game advertising.
- The most popular methods of promoting games are posts in the official community of the game on VK (49%), word of mouth (40%), posts in the official account of the game on Telegram (38%), and partnerships with streamers and bloggers (38%).
- Respondents identified their main markets as Russia and other Russian-speaking countries (75%), North America (57%), Western Europe (54%), Eastern Europe (53%), and China (19%).
- One of the key issues in Russian game development is the lack of funding, with 61% of developers complaining about this. In addition, many pointed to difficulties with game promotion (48%), a shortage of qualified specialists (35%), and high competition (25%). Only 2% of respondents considered sanctions a problem.
- The overwhelming majority of respondents develop games entirely or partly with their own money—such teams make up 84%. Only 21% have received private investments. Those with government support total just 10%.
