Results 2020: Alexey Savchenko on the main thing for the year

We continue to summarize the results of 2020 together with the heads of gaming companies and market experts. Next up is an interview with Alexey Savchenko, licensing manager at Epic Games and author of the book "Game as a Business: from Dream to release".

Alexey Savchenko

How did 2020 go for you in terms of work?

The quarantine made it possible to focus on work at home and do a lot of organizational work, as well as release two books and launch a YouTube channel about game development.

Speaking specifically about work, the main stories in 2020 are as follows.

• A Nationwide Developer Competition. It was ultra-successful. Here I must say a huge thank you to the team that dealt with him: Olesya Primakina, Petya Salnikov, Ilya Ovcharenko, Dasha Volkova and Andrey Dronin. We are already doing the European version now, and in 2021 we will repeat the competition in the Russian-speaking segment.
• Unreal Engine 5. It seems to me that for many, his announcement was one of the main software events in the gaming industry in 2020.
• Education. A lot of cool and high-quality work has been done in the field of education in the CIS: a program with Moscow State University, a cooperation project with the Don Technical University, work with the Higher School of Economics and other, other stories that have not yet been announced. The academic sphere, science, education, culture and philosophy are all wildly interesting, exciting and promising for the industry. So I was just wildly carried away and dragged into it.

From the point of view of growth and business, this is a good year: there are many new deals and relationships, both in the CIS and in Eastern European countries.

What new trends in your niche do you consider worth paying attention to?

There are many of them. I will highlight the five main ones that you should pay attention to first.

• Aggregation and an increase in the amount of money in the market. The main reason is that investments in other segments have decreased. Therefore, there is a redistribution of capital into games from other industries. A large number of purchases of companies are made under massive strategic funds and conglomerates. The demand for good products and established studios greatly exceeds the supply. This is likely to have a positive impact on market growth in the next couple of years.
• New generation consoles. The main event of the year, as players have new platforms. Their release means an increase in production capacity in the console segment, as well as an increase in game budgets and distribution opportunities for games.
• The synergy of different verticals. Today, game engines are used not only in our industry. For example, people from the cinema work with them. Due to this, there is an interpenetration of specialists. Some of those who make effects for paintings come to games, and game specialists can find themselves in movies and TV series.
• The growing number of high-quality indie products in niche development. Due to the fact that it is now possible to earn normally in niches, there are more and more interesting teams and projects.
• New technologies. New tools and widespread approaches provide more opportunities. This applies to technical aspects, graphics, and game design.

It was a very good year for the gaming industry. I think the next 2-3 will be no worse.

What are your plans for 2021?

• The European Game Developers Competition. It is to him that I am going to devote myself to a significant extent. I want to try to do something awesome together with Olesya Primakina, the guys from the WN Conference, Reboot and other partners. By the way, next year it will be Lesya who will do the "National Developer Contest 2021", I will just help. The fact that it went as cool as it did in 2020 is largely her merit.
• Interaction with Europe. A lot of work is planned to interact with publishers, foundations and developers from Europe. We continue to build industrial bridges and roads, to integrate and strengthen ties between the "henrile people" in different countries.
• Development of educational programs. For the second half of 2021, I have plans to launch a very cool program of a completely scientific plan.

In general, there will be a lot of stories related to UE5, but I can't really tell you anything about it yet.

Which third-party game releases are you interested in this year? Which ones did you pay attention to as a gamer?

I think I won't be very original, I have the following list:

• Final Fantasy VII Remake is the main game of the year for me (probably also for sentimental reasons);
• The Last of Us Part II is the most expensive author's indie game in the history of the industry with a plot that boldly expands the narrative discourse in games;
• Call of Duty: Black Ops is a very cool story campaign;
• Assassin's Creed Valhalla — I always play AC, it's a great series, and I'm very happy with the current series;
• Magic: The Gathering Arena — preferred the "hoe" to the Blizzard game (I'm talking about Hearthstone, of course).

Have a wonderful next year and great games!