President Putin urges Russia to develop its own video game console

Russia, which brought us Tetris, is considering creating its own video game industry, including the development of home consoles.

At a socio-economic conference this week, Russian President Vladimir Putin instructed the government to consider the issue, according to local media reports. Specifically, the government order asks Russia to consider producing both “stationary and handheld game consoles” as well as the operating systems and cloud systems to provide games to customers.

President Putin issued the order after all major video game manufacturers, including Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo, suspended official sales to Russia in the wake of Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Despite the ban, local Russian traders are still finding ways to import foreign video game consoles. But amid tough economic sanctions from Western countries, the Kremlin appears to see an opportunity to create its own domestic video game industry.

President Putin has given the government until June 15 to consider this ambitious proposal. Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin will oversee the effort. However, it is clear that this effort will not be easy.russian newspaper Kommersant According to reports, President Putin likely commissioned the Russian technology company VK to carry out the plan. Nevertheless, the paper added: “Market participants do not have the capacity to manufacture their own PlayStation or Xbox consoles, and it would take up to 10 years to create such a system from scratch.”

In fact, console development not only requires an ample supply of advanced chips, but also a strong ecosystem of software developers, despite the US blocking shipments of such chips. is. still, Kommersant He says a more realistic option is for Russia to source video game hardware from China to create a portable console similar to Valve's Steam Deck.