"We have strengthened the team by 25% and launched new projects," said Ilya Vasilyev from "Fogame" about the key developments for 2024

Together with top managers and experts in the gaming industry (and related fields), we're continuing to summarize the outcomes of 2024. Next in line is an interview with Ilya Vasiliev, CEO of the gaming platform "4game."

How was the year for the company? What achievements would you like to highlight?

The year 2024 was firmly successful for our company: we grew in key business metrics, strengthened and increased our team by 25%, and launched new projects and promising directions in various types of publishing activities.

I would especially like to highlight the acquisition of licenses to publish four new games and the increase in the number of strategic partners, including Korean game development studios NPIXEL and Blackstorm.

Let me mention the main highlights among our new offerings.

In April, we introduced a new unique server complex, Project Eva, for the Lineage 2 Essence project, and in November, the first cross-platform MMORPG Gran Saga was launched on 4game.

This year, the 4game team also got a new home. We seriously focused on improving conditions for productive work and moved to a new, well-equipped office.

Despite external challenges, we intensively developed expertise in publishing cross-platform games. For us, this is a new direction with enormous potential, seamlessly aligning with our primary focus—PC game publishing.

How has the publisher market changed over the year? Has the practice of working with developers changed, or have the developers themselves changed in some way?

Our market continues to grow moderately and is becoming more understandable in terms of development prospects. I believe the three-year crisis is nearing its end, and the outlines of the future Russian gaming market landscape are beginning to emerge.

This year, we witnessed the emergence of a large number of indie games and new studios. The multiple growth in the number of industry events was pleasing, clearly fueling interest in our sector and positively impacting its development.

Publishers have begun launching and announcing strong new foreign and domestic projects for 2025-2026, and are more actively interacting with small local studios.

The increase in the number of indie developers influenced revamped approaches in working with domestic studios overall. We started sharing expertise more actively at specialized events and through direct communications, conveying our expectations from developers and actively supporting the emergence of new and successful projects.

I would also note that the government continued to give increased attention to the gaming industry, providing support in the form of grants, various direct support measures for game studios, and educational programs with subsequent integration of students into the IT industry. Initiatives for creating domestic engines and services are underway.

However, there are also complex challenges.

Competition for IT specialists has intensified. The personnel deficit arose due to increased needs for import substitution programs and the activity of large market players, primarily from the fintech sector. Software developers, DevOps engineers, cybersecurity specialists, data scientists, project managers, and product managers are particularly in short supply. Due to the personnel shortage, salary expectations of candidates and employees showed growth ranging from 10% to 30% in the market.

This year, we experienced significant growth in lead costs in the advertising market, which was around 30%, and in some areas, up to 40%. Inflation, inventory shortages, and the outpacing growth of major advertisers in e-commerce and retail media had a noticeable impact on the cost of game promotion. The heightened control over blogger activities and the slowdown of YouTube in Russia also ambiguously affected the development of publishing activities.

The dependence on foreign tools and technologies due to increasing sanction pressures continues to negatively impact both development speed and operating possibilities.

Additionally, limitations in access to international markets for our developers and copyright holders significantly narrow the window of opportunities for export and revenue from games developed in Russia. A vivid example this year is Valve's policy change, imposing an additional 30% tax on revenue earned from game sales in the U.S. by Russian developers and copyright holders on Steam. Furthermore, starting December 26, the Google Play app store is suspending service for sellers from Russia.

One notable issue is the lack of transparent industry statistics recognized by the entire industry. Over the past year, I've seen about five different reports on our market from various sources, yet the data collection methodology and presentation are not transparent. The emergence of industry statistics is crucial for market participants: having such statistics significantly influences investment attractiveness and the understanding of our market.

As a result, the numerous changes in the market over a short period have significantly impacted the requirements for companies' adaptation speed. For instance, we needed to quickly conduct targeted process optimizations, make adjustments to the organizational structure, and implement new working methods in different directions.

What strengthening or emergence of game publishing trends do you anticipate in 2025?

Here are some trends we deem noteworthy:

Game development for the domestic market and the CIS

We're seeing more projects targeting local audiences and tied to our mythology and folklore. We are keenly observing the fate of these games and are actively involved in their testing.

AI in games

AI is undoubtedly a leader among short-term and medium-term technological trends, with increased labor productivity being the hottest topic over the next 2-5 years. We are already actively using and developing AI work in design and analytics departments, targeted communications, and user support. Game developers have started leveraging AI to enhance gameplay, create realistic characters, and manage enemy behaviors. AI can also be utilized to improve graphics and physical modeling.

The spread of large language models (LLM)

The spread of large language models (LLM) is changing user behavior patterns. Over the next two years, this trend could radically transform search and recommendation systems, aggregators, storefronts (including app stores), and impact marketing approaches and technologies.

Monitoring and optimizing outputs from ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, Yandex.Nero, and other LLM players becomes a top priority for internet marketing.

The popularity of cross-platform games

In the near future, the trend of releasing cross-platform games will prevail, where users won't have to compromise between devices and can play their favorite game on their smartphone during their commute, on their PC at home in the evening, and on a console at a country house on weekends.

The rise of HTML5 and browser social projects

Unlike key industry markets worldwide, where the share of browser games diminishes yearly, in Russia, our estimates show that the growth of the browser and social project market was about 6% over the last year. However, we still consider this trend short-term since the growth capacity is limited.

Deficit of highly qualified specialists

The deficit of highly qualified IT specialists will continue to grow, with active development of IT-related education and the emergence of a large number of interns and juniors in the labor market. We see game development-based training as a solution to lower the entry threshold into the field for budding IT specialists.

What are the company's plans for 2025?

The main focus next year is launching new projects. We are also investing heavily in strengthening expertise in operating cross-platform projects and developing the operational infrastructure. We are currently working on localizing and preparing for the launch of the next cross-platform online RPG, Rememento: White Shadow, from the developer Blackstorm.

Additionally, we plan to significantly improve the user experience on 4game, striving to make the platform as comfortable and user-friendly for our players as possible. We will also continue acquiring new licenses and expanding the game portfolio on 4game.

Taking this opportunity, I wish my colleagues a Happy New Year and wish everyone success, growth across all fronts, and the strength to achieve all their goals.