Weekend Highlights (April 12-13)

Astrum Entertainment surveyed Russian gamers about their gaming preferences, consoles were not included in the exemption from new tariffs on electronics in the US, two published games by Owlcat Games were added to wishlists more than 100,000 times—here’s a roundup of the main events in the gaming industry from the past weekend.

Rue Valley—left, Shadow of the Road—right

54% of Russian gamers play on PCs with average specs, 38% on "high-performance" PCs, 11% on mobile devices, 9% on consoles, and 3% on VR headsets [gamers may play on multiple devices, so the total percentage exceeds 100%. — Ed. Note]. These findings were reached by Astrum Entertainment after surveying 2,865 people. The company also found that 19% of respondents prefer free-to-play games. Regarding paid projects, one in seven gamers buys a new game more than once a month. 85% of those surveyed told Astrum Entertainment they are willing to spend up to 4,000 rubles on a game. Gamers consider gameplay and mechanics (75%), story and characters (51%), visuals (46%), and the presence of multiplayer and competitive features (38%) to be the most important aspects.
President Donald Trump exempted certain types of electronics, including PCs and smartphones, from new tariffs. However, as noted by The Game Business, the relief did not extend to gaming consoles. This means imported PlayStation, Xbox, and Nintendo Switch consoles will still be subject to additional tariffs. Nonetheless, Eurogamer reports that at least cartridges for both Nintendo Switch consoles are exempt from the new tariffs due to the decree. What will happen to discs for PlayStation and Xbox is not specified.
Rebellion announced that the audience of Atomfall exceeded 2 million people. The game reached this milestone two weeks after its release. Let's recall that the developers of Atomfall reported 1.5 million users five days post-launch—making it the best start in the studio's history. Atomfall is available on PC, PlayStation, and Xbox, including through Game Pass.
Owlcat Games also boasted about the success of its games. It announced that two of its published projects gathered over 100,000 wishlists: the adventure RPG Rue Valley and the turn-based RPG set in feudal Japan, Shadow of the Road. Notably, Shadow of the Road slightly leads Rue Valley in the list of the most wished-for upcoming games on Steam. It ranks 275th versus 318th for Rue Valley. The release dates for these titles are still unknown.
The creators of Infinity Nikki also discussed wishlists. They revealed that their game was added to the wishlist by more than 200,000 Steam users. Infinity Nikki will launch on Steam on April 29, nearly five months after its release on the Epic Games Store, PlayStation 5, and mobile devices.
Blue Prince set a new record for concurrent players on Steam. On Sunday, April 13, there were simultaneously 15,749 people playing the Steam version of the game. During the same period, its rating dropped to "mostly positive" 78% based on 1,244 reviews.