Pyotr Tolstoy: "No one will be banning anything"
The Deputy Speaker of the State Duma, Pyotr Tolstoy, announced that today, January 21, the first meeting of the Duma's working group on video games took place.
He announced this on his Telegram channel. The post contains little specific information. It's unclear in what format the meeting took place, who the participants were, or what topics were discussed.
The text, however, makes clear that the group's aim will be to "develop understandable rules to protect citizens' rights, especially the interests of children, from destructive content."
The discussion is about revising the bill "On the Activity of Developing and Distributing Video Games on the Territory of the Russian Federation," which has stirred significant reaction within the industry.
One of its key criticisms has been its prohibitive nature, specifically the requirement for Russian gamers to authenticate through the state services portal Gosuslugi.
In his post, Tolstoy urges not to fear such scrutiny of the industry: "I want to reassure everyone: no bans will be imposed."
He also noted that "The problem needs to be examined with players, game distributors, parents, psychologists, and other specialists. And, of course, with representatives of the gaming industry."
Interestingly, the beginning of the post is dedicated to analytics. Tolstoy states that:
- 30 million people in Russia play video games;
- the country's gaming market is valued at 187 billion.
Where he obtained the first figure is unclear, but the second indicates that the group is familiar with the report "Analysis of the Video Game Market in the World and Russia" by Strategy Partners and RVI, where such an assessment was presented.