2022 Russian Gaming Market Trends

The boom of the gaming industry in 2020, when not only the number of gamers in Russia but also their gaming expenses increased, gave way to a significant reduction of its growth rates in 2021. Experts of the RMAA Games marketing agency will tell what is in store for the Russian gaming market in 2022.

Trend 1. Back down to stable growth rates

According to forecasts of MY.GAMES*, in 2021 Russian gaming market growth rates will fall 35 times, as compared to the previous year. The company's forecast is showing that in 2021 the video game market will increase by 1% only, and its value will be $2.24 billion. In 2020, the market growth was far more notable (+35%). In 2022, experts expect that the gaming market growth rates will be much higher than in 2021.

'According to our projections, in 2021 the Russian gaming market will increase by 1% as compared to 14% and 35% in 2019 and 2020 respectively. Much the same dynamics is observed in the global market where the industry value, according to NewZoo, will drop by 1.1% in 2021. Such figures are primarily related to high base effect caused by the 2020 strict lockdown when people devoted more time to games at home. In spite of the growth rates slowing down, the game industry has increased 1.6 times for the last four years (from 106.5 billion rubles). In 2022, we expect that the situation will stabilize and the growth rates of the Russian gaming market will come back to two-digit', commented Vasily Maguryan, СЕО of MY.GAMES.

Such dynamics is also observed in the global market. The industry value, according to NewZoo, will drop by 1.1% in 2021, reaching $175.5 billion.

Trend 2. Mobile games will outrun PC

In 2021, PC games are still the largest segment in Russia, but it fell by 4.6% within the year, while mobile games, as forecast by experts, will demonstrate a 10% growth at year-end 2021 and will run a close second to PC games. However, if the growth in the mobile game segment retains like this, mobile games will give the palm to PC as early as next year.

According to the results of 2021, the forecasts are as follows:

• revenue reduction from PC games played by Russian gamers to $1.06 billion ($1.11 billion in 2020),

• revenue growth in the mobile game segment up to $1 billion ($0.91 billion in 2020),

• revenue reduction in the console game segment by 5% to $0.18 billion ($0.2 billion in 2020).

Trend 3. Dominance of FTP games

The free-to-play segment is still prevailing in the Russian video game market. At year-end 2021, the share of FTP games will make 85% of the market, with the revenue equal to $1.96 billion. Taking into account that this game segment remains a stable leader in the market (in 2020 and 2019, its share was 83.3% and 83.1% of the whole market respectively), no surprises are expected in 2022, and FTP games will continue to build up their superiority.

Trend 4. Focus on esports development

Russian esportsmen are some of the most successful ones in the world. As of December 1, 2021, Russian esportsmen earned almost $20 billion and ranked third in the country rating. The number of gamers in Russia has grown dramatically since 2020.

In this regard, the decision of the Russian Government to launch esports educational programs in a number of local universities by the end of 2022 became quite logical. This is about both introduction of courses for development of special skills and preparation of game developers. This will give an extra push to growth and development of not only esports in Russia but also the entire game industry.

Trend 5. Games as a platform for hybrid events

Events that went online inspired active development of non-standard platforms to conduct them. One of such out-of-the-box solutions was execution of events in games: a performance of the rapper Lil Nas X in the online game Roblox for children gained 33 million views; an online concert of Travis Scott in Fortnite set an absolute record of the 'platform'—12.3 million gamers gathered to watch his show.

In Russia, Minecraft is very popular for online events. It hosted a game conference of HSE University in a virtual copy of its campus, and productions of The Cherry Orchard and The Minor were mounted on the stage of the virtual Tovstonogov Bolshoi Drama Theater.

In 2022, this trend will go on gaining ground in Russia, and we will see even more interesting collaborations and events in games.

* The estimate includes revenue from Russian gamers within the territory of Russia on all platforms but advertising revenue.

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