"We are gradually and organically growing," Vasily Ovchinnikov from RVI on the results of 2023

We continue to summarize the results of 2023 with gaming (or related to the gaming sector) teams and organizations. This time we talked with Vasily Ovchinnikov, head of the Video Game Industry Development Organization (RVI).

What was the year like for the organization? What have you done that I would like to highlight in terms of achievements?

This year we turned one year old.

We have gathered more than 200 industry experts from different companies and studios — this is a lively and responsive community, and we are still working in partnership with some of the major Russian studios that are not yet ready to publicly declare this. The membership of the founders has grown to 10 people. They joined us:

• Vyacheslav Utochkin is the co—founder and general producer of Geeky House, the chief methodologist of the All-Russian competition "Start the Game" and in the past the founder of the educational program on game rendezvous at the HSE;
• Dmitry Lukin is the founder and ideological inspirer F5center.com and Langame.ru (Software for managing computer clubs), organizer of the meeting of owners of computer clubs and lan culture;
• Vitaly Starodubov is the co—founder of probably the last independent cloud gaming service in Russia, Loudplay.

We are gradually and organically growing.

We try to be useful to our community: a closed channel and chat have been created for communication (available only to members of the organization), we periodically hold meetups on various topics — from legal issues (for example, the use of assets by third parties, types of licenses, confirmation of transfer of rights, etc.) to organizing online conferences with developers and publishers from different countries We share the results of our business missions, business trips and important meetings.

In turn, many of our participants assist us in the field of highly specialized expertise on various issues, as well as share their experience and help each other. This is a scarce thing today, since many well-known experts in the industry have become unavailable to the industry in Russia for various reasons.

We automated the process of accepting new participants, launched a chatbot, its name is Pip Bot (a reference to Pip-boy from Fallout). Its main functions are: admission of new participants, collection of expert opinions, voting on the work of the organization, reminders of important messages. But there will be an opportunity — we will develop the functionality, there are a lot of ideas.

We have developed, adopted and published a public strategy of the organization, which was prepared in dialogue with our community. It is called "EPIC Strategies" (Expertise, Education, Investment, Community).

The fundamental description of the current situation and its development, so that all information is on one page, was the creation and maintenance of an up-to-date (with regular updates) "Live report on the state of the video game industry in Russia." Such a format was important for forming a unified view of the state of the industry. You can comment on the report and make changes to it after moderation.

We launched a support system for indie developers in Moscow (the IndieGO project) based on the city library in Ostankino, where it all started with joint meetings and training seminars, and now some video games developed by indie teams have found initial funding and publishing assistance there.

On May 30, 2023, the Zotov Center hosted an exhibition dedicated to the creative economy with the participation of Vladimir Putin, where I managed to tell the President about how to support the development of video games in Russia, from where a small meme came out that Putin plays on weekdays.

From a serious point of view: after the meeting, he promised to discuss with BRICS partners the promotion of Russian video games to the markets of China and other members of the association, as appropriate instructions were issued. Also at the meeting, Gaukhar Aldiyarova (Lesta Games studio) proposed to include games in the register of domestic software in order to be able to be exempt from VAT on an equal basis with other IT solutions.

The Ministry of Finance has made a number of adjustments. Now this opportunity is available to the entire industry, to any developer working in Russia and distributing their games domestically. This is certainly a temporary measure, but it was implemented very quickly. It provides a real opportunity to save 20% of revenue from the Russian market. Many people have already started using it.

In Moscow, following a tip from the Moscow Department of Entrepreneurship and Innovative Development, together with the Department of Information Technology and with the sponsorship of Sitronics, as part of the big hackathon "Leaders of Digital Transformation", we included our task to develop a prototype of a video game about Moscow. The task became one of the most popular in the competition, more than 100 teams took part in it. In addition to cash prizes, the first three winners were able to receive mentoring from the most experienced Russian studios — 1C, Lesta and Mensa VR (details about the results are here).

Also, the appearance of the "Hall of Fame" of the Russian video game industry was a kind of result of the year. A very important project that lasts almost the whole year. The goal is to perpetuate and make known to a wider range of people the games and personalities that have shaped today's video game industry. It is also a sign of appreciation and respect for those who are no longer with us today.

Direct international communications and partnerships were opened with the video game associations of China, Brazil, Indonesia, South Korea, Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Computer and Video Game Support Foundation of Iran. In China and Iran, the Russian game dev was represented at meetings of intergovernmental commissions. We visited our foreign colleagues with a delegation from Russia, hosted some of them in Moscow live and organized online negotiations. In particular, on October 10, the Situation Center of the Moscow Government held a face-to-face meeting of Russian developers with the Secretary General and executive director of the Guangdong Province Video Game Association. We held a two-day conference together with COSSA on the basis of the Korean Cultural Center in Moscow, representatives of studios and two industry associations of South Korea came to visit. A fairly large team traveled from Russia to South Korea for G-Star and a small additional program in Seoul. And at the end of the year, representatives of two associations and two developers from Indonesia visited us for a whole week, whom we met in one of the business missions and continued negotiations afterwards.

Little things like that, but very pleasant:

• we helped the Bombore publishing house with the translation and scientific editing of the book "The Player's Brain";
• We helped with the release of collectible editions of "Parkane" and Alien Shooter in VG Limited.

What didn't work out?

It was not possible to find "long money" and in a year it was not possible to return a single large investor or publisher who left, although we were ready to provide the necessary support. It was not possible to create a fund with one of the non-core investors, despite numerous negotiations, pitching and analysis of business models. Even about VK Investments, nothing was heard a year after their announcement. "Public money" also did not go into the industry — except for the Smuta project, none of the industrial players can boast of attracting comparable state support this year. We have not yet been able to create a system for financing the activities of the organization itself from sources independent of the founders.

And finally, it's probably a shame that it was not possible to resolve the issue of the quota for the Chinese market, but we will continue to try to look for a form of direct entry into the Chinese market.

How have the working conditions for the organization changed over the year?

Since the foundation of RVI, two more industrial associations have appeared — these are a PRIORI founded by VK, the Russian Esports Federation, Astrum and Innova, as well as R.A.D. And Video Games, which unites distributors of physical copies of games for consoles. We seem to recognize each other as associations and build partnerships, even join forces in difficult situations, but everyone has a slightly different understanding of both the ideal result in the future and the ways to achieve it.

Also, Lesta and 1C remained independent, did not join any of the associations and participate on an equal basis with us in the socio-political life of the domestic game developer.

From 2022, this year was distinguished by a large number of small and large conferences related to game development directly or with the large participation of video game studios, hackathons, meetups, etc. From the Kaliningrad PlayPort (which took place this year for the second time) to events in St. Petersburg, Kazan, Novosibirsk, Vologda, Yakutia and, of course, there were many events in Moscow.

Conditions are constantly changing and we have to react quickly. In this regard, we still have advantages over large corporations, since we are small and mobile. We have been noticed in the industry, we already represent the interests of a small but full-fledged community of developers. It has become easier to convey our meanings and values, as in the "big offices" they realized that the video game industry is not something marginal, but a serious market and a layer of culture. Of course, this has its drawbacks, such as "useful initiatives" of people who are not close to the industry (deputies or heads of sports movements), but we expect more pros than cons.

What are the organization's plans for next year?

The key will be the development of international relations, which began last year. We will also continue to search for and attract "long money" to the Russian industry. Perhaps, after all, some of the profile investors will return in some form. Non-core companies in Russia are also being looked at, but very carefully, I hope there will be investments next year. Perhaps it will be possible to attract someone specialized from Asia. We will make every effort to get the industry out of the state of financial exhaustion next year.

We want to try to create independent sources that do not compete with someone's current business to finance RVIs. Apparently, we will introduce the opportunity to donate, and membership fees, and also, I hope, collaborations will turn out, where, for example, we will offer to add additional value to the cost of FMCG consumer goods, the opportunity to choose something among the things of everyday use, where part of the cost will be directed to the development of the domestic video game industry.

We also plan to organize a group of top studios and go to study international business with colleagues from other countries. This is a kind of international module of the "video game MBA".

Personal plans?

Personally, I still plan to publish a book with a bomb "On the dangers and benefits of computer games" in the genre of science pop. Let's try to dispel all the basic stereotypes associated with this, to help everyone figure it out.