Who is Playing and How in Russia — A Lecture and Charts by RVI — KII Minsk 2026

We continue to publish videos of talks from the "Game Industry" conference, which took place this spring in Minsk. In light of yesterday's premium longread "Russian Game Development in 2026 — An Association's Perspective" (by the way, we recommend reading it), today we are publishing the talk "Close-Up: Sociology of Russian Game Development." Vasily Ovchinnikov, the head of the Organization for the Development of the Video Game Industry (RVI), presented it at the event.

The lecture is dedicated to who plays video games in Russia, what they play, and how actively they engage in gaming. Among the interesting points is that nearly half of the players in our country perceive games as alternatives to movies and books. Additionally, 83% of Russian gamers spend 13 hours a week on their hobby.

You can watch it here: https://youtu.be/pBscNCfAg-A

Slides here: /wp-content/uploads/2026/05/11-30-Vasilij-Ovchinnikov-RVI.pdf