The government is considering a concept where the patriotic video game fund would be funded by an additional tax on overseas distribution sites, informs “Kommersant”.
Steam, Playstion Store and other sites may be required to transfer 5% of the turnover in Russia to the fund. This can provide the fund with 10 billion rubles. in year.
The Ministry of Digital Development has already sent proposals to the government to create a fund.
The plans of the authorities to create a fund to support video game developers became known in the spring of 2021. The Games Fund will work similarly to the Cinema Fund of the Ministry of Culture, which co-finances the release of films on a reimbursable basis, and the mechanism for selecting projects is being “worked out”.
The creative producer of Wargaming.net Vyacheslav Makarov, in a conversation with Kommersant, expressed fears that the government may be demanding “to turn the game into a political agitation.” “Projects in which the ideological part prevails over the quality of development are usually ignored by the market,” says Makarov.
