Game Firms Moving Into Russian Market

An increasing number of Korean game companies are knocking on the door of the Russian market in a bid to open up new sales channels amid continuous difficulties in exporting their products to China, company officials said Monday.

Russia is the No. 4 online PC game market in the world, valued at $831.1 million as of 2017, according to market researcher Euromonitor International. As for mobile games, Russia is ranked 17th at $347.7 million.

The country's online PC game market is expected to grow to $980 million in 2022, while the mobile game market is projected to grow to $650 million, according to Euromonitor.

Exports of Korean games to China, the world's No. 1 market, have been blocked since March 2017 when the Chinese government suspended issuing service permits necessary for game firms to offer services in the country. Beijing has "resumed work" to issue the service permits recently, but no Korean games have been included in the recipients.

Gamevil, a mid-sized game developer and publisher, released its mobile massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) "TALION" on both the Google Play Store and Apple's App Store in Russia, Feb. 28.

The release came after the game was well received by gamers in Japan and Southeast Asia.

The firm said it became the most popular in the RPG genre on Russia's Google Play Store soon after the release, raising hope for a success in the country.

"We have established a strategy to enter the global MMORPG market this year," a Gamevil official said. "We are off to a solid start...