77 pct of Russian internet users have played video games: survey

The Star

06-06-2025

MOSCOW, June 6 (Xinhua) -- A recent survey conducted by the Russian government-owned research center VCIOM found that 77 percent of active internet users in Russia have played video games, reflecting a more widespread global trend.
As of 2025, the global gaming community has expanded to around 3.32 billion players, showing a significant rise from previous years. In fact, video gaming has become an increasingly popular hobby for both the younger and older generations.
Of the 77 percent of Russians who have played video games, 44 percent consider themselves active players, while 33 percent say they used to play but no longer do. This shows that while gaming is widespread, almost half of the respondents continue to play on a daily basis.
In Russia, gaming is predominantly favored by men and younger adults, especially those that are financially stable. In contrast, women, older adults and those with lower incomes tend to have less gaming experience.
A distinctive feature of the Russian gaming landscape is the fact that personal computers remain the most popular gaming platform. The findings of the poll show that 82 percent of gamers use a computer or laptop to play games. A total of 63 percent of the respondents use mobile phones, while 27 percent use tablets, and 27 percent consoles.
Russian mobile games are also becoming more popular among the population. The number of transactions on RuStore, Russia's official application store, has nearly doubled over the past year, with 60 percent of payments linked to domestic games, Ilya Ulyanov, the director of business development at RuStore, told Russian media Izvestia.
The improvement of the quality of games, the growth of the diversity of in-game content and the development of convenient payment methods are causing the growth of its domestic games, said Ulyanov, the income of Russian indie developers in RuStore increased four times in the first quarter of 2025 from the same period last year.
Although fewer people use consoles than mobile phones, console gaming remains a promising sector. For those Russians that do use consoles, they note that they offer a way to unwind and spend time with family and friends. PlayStation remains the most popular console, according to the report.