74% of Russian gamers pirate games
Nearly three-quarters of Russian gamers are pirates, reports the newspaper "Izvestia" citing a survey by XYZ School.
Skull and Bones
According to XYZ School estimates, in the first quarter of 2024 alone, pirates downloaded illegal game copies worth 118 billion rubles. For comparison, legal game sales in Russia for the same period were previously estimated at 49 billion rubles.
Emma Yusova, the executive director of XYZ School, noted that 54% of the pirates downloaded no more than three game copies between January and March. According to her, gamers are currently resorting to pirated games due to sanctions. Many titles are not officially sold in Russia, and there are also difficulties accessing international payment systems.
Last year, XYZ School identified 69% of Russian gamers as pirates. The company reached this conclusion after surveying 1,500 people at the time. The number of participants in the latest XYZ School survey is not specified in the "Izvestia" article.
