Kommersant: Authorities can support Russian patriotic video games with a tax on foreign platforms

The Russian government may impose an additional tax on foreign video game distribution sites to replenish the fund for supporting patriotic video games that popularize Russian history and culture. It is reported by “Kommersant”.

A government source noted that the Ministry of Digital Development is finalizing the business model of a future fund to support Russian video game developers. It is assumed that a fee of 5% of sales in Russia will be introduced for foreign digital distribution platforms. This will enable the Russian Developers Support Fund to receive up to 10 billion rubles. in year.

Earlier, RIA Novosti, citing a study by BCG, reported that Russia is among the top five countries in the world in terms of the volume of game content consumed, but lags behind in the creation of new content in this area. According to the results of the study, in addition to Russia, the top 5 in terms of content consumption include China, the USA, South Korea and Japan. The study also notes that against the background of the pandemic, the shares of companies from the gaming industry have risen in price in the range from 22% to 39%, and the spending on games of US citizens has increased by more than 75%. The total market volume reached a record high of $175 billion. It is expected that it will continue at the level of 10% per year.

Meanwhile, according to media reports, the Main Radio Frequency Center (GRC) subordinated to Roskomnadzor proposed using artificial intelligence (AI) to monitor video game content in order to quickly find “forbidden” stories. We are talking about child pornography, extremism, propaganda of suicide and drug use, and the like.