Russia has started searching for a developer for a domestic game console.

Experts remain confident that this project has neither economic nor technological feasibility.

The Ministry of Industry and Trade has begun a search for potential developers of the Russian game console. RBC writes about this with reference to a message from the department’s press service.

Plans to develop such a device were first discussed back in February. And in March, the President of the Russian Federation instructed us to work on this topic. By June 15, the government had to “consider the issue of organizing the production of stationary and portable game consoles and game consoles, as well as the creation of an operating system and a cloud system for delivering games and programs to users.” The ice has probably broken, and now the main task is to find the performers.

The Ministry of Industry and Trade noted that the creation of a domestic game console can be organized jointly with interested departments and businesses, and the development process of the device itself must be synchronized with the development or adaptation of games for it.

Market participants are still skeptical about this idea, since it has neither economic nor technological feasibility. Anton Fomin, head of retail projects at the IT holding Fplus, in a conversation with RBC, noted that in Russia now “no one has the expertise that would allow them to produce their own console at the PlayStation or Xbox level.”

Another RBC interlocutor, familiar with the monetization model of the world's PlayStation and Nintendo consoles, explained the economic problems of the potential development of a Russian console. According to him, in order for the console to attract the attention of consumers, it must, at least at the start, contain at least 150 adapted games of different formats and genres, including about ten AAA titles of the level of The Witcher, Elden Ring and Baldur's Gate III. And the average price for such a console, in order to recoup production costs when selling at least 20 million units, should be about 50-60 thousand rubles. PlayStation 5 and Nintendo Switch are cheaper today.

As an alternative solution, experts suggest considering the development of a portable console similar to SteamDeck or game sticks for Smart TV. Their development will take much less time.