"It was a time of burning in hell" — Malik Khatazhayev from Lesta Games on the business split with Wargaming
The owner of "Lesta Games," Malik Khatazhayev, gave an extensive interview to the Belarusian TV channel ONT. He discussed the split of business with Wargaming in 2022 and the current situation in the company. Here are the key points we picked out.
Malik Khatazhayev
- Khatazhayev recalls that when Wargaming decided to exit Russia and Belarus in the spring of 2022, handing over all regional business to "Lesta Games," he had many concerns about his company's future. He was unsure about what lay ahead for "Lesta Games." Nevertheless, he tried to hide his doubts because he understood that the employees were watching him.
- "Any company is a living organism with its internal organs responsible for narrow specialties. When everything is cut alive with a chainsaw, it brings joy to no one. It's quite painful. Moreover, part of the functionality ends up somewhere else in other severed parts, which is very complicated and painful," explained Khatazhayev.
- Specifically, after the business division, the core team of World of Warships remained with "Lesta Games," while the core team of World of Tanks stayed with Wargaming. During the transition period, both companies shared gaming developments with each other and attempted to enhance their competencies, but by its conclusion, collaboration was legally prohibited.
- According to Khatazhayev, the business division lasted a little over a year and was fully completed in August 2023. From that moment, "Lesta Games" and Wargaming are no longer connected.
- Currently, "Lesta Games" is doing well. Khatazhayev reminded that it was already making significant earnings before separating from Wargaming. Although World of Warships might have seemed secondary compared to World of Tanks, by spring 2022, its revenue had already exceeded a billion dollars significantly.
- "Lesta Games" does not pay any royalties to its former parent company for the games "World of Warships," "World of Tanks," and Tanks Blitz — it should be noted that these titles operate in Russia and Belarus under the names World of Warships, World of Tanks, and World of Tanks Blitz since the fall of 2022.
- The money earned by "Lesta Games" is invested in current and new projects, as well as in technology and infrastructure.
- Additionally, "Lesta Games" is gradually moving away from renting office spaces towards purchasing them. Khatazhayev believes this will help it "take root" in the locations. Currently, the company has two key offices: in Minsk and Saint Petersburg. Each of them houses about a thousand employees, with another 200 people working in Moscow.
- Speaking about work, Khatazhayev also mentioned that there is neither remote nor hybrid working modes at "Lesta Games." All employees must work from the office. In his opinion, this work format positively impacts game development.
- In the interview, Khatazhayev noted that the active audience of the company's games now averages 6.5 million people. He added that 600 thousand players are residents of Belarus. Primarily, the projects of "Lesta Games" are played by men. For instance, in "World of Warships," they constitute 95% of all users. Regarding age, Tanks Blitz players are typically 25-40 years old, while players of "World of Warships" are 35-55 years old. Khatazhayev did not disclose the average age of "World of Tanks" players.
It is worth mentioning that a month ago Khatazhayev stated that 2024 became the most successful year for "Lesta Games" in terms of revenue. Last year, his company achieved record earnings of 35 billion rubles with a net profit of 16 billion rubles.