XYZ School: 74% of Russian Gamers are pirating games
Difficulties with buying games led to increased piracy.
Only in the first quarter of 2024, people downloaded content for free worth 118B roubles ($1.32 billion). This is more than double the amount spent on licensed content during the same period.
On average, a pirate downloaded games worth 6,800 rubles ($76) per quarter. 54% of users downloaded no more than 3 copies of games.
❗️ Experts attribute the increase in piracy to the exit of Western companies from the Russian market and the unavailability of purchases using Russian cards. For many users, piracy is a “response” to publishers who do not want to take their money.
Meanwhile, legally, in the first quarter of 2024, Russian users purchased goods worth 49 billion rubles ($0.55 billion). Helldivers II, Baldur’s Gate II, and Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader are leading charts.
The marketplace Ozon reported that year-on-year sales of gaming products in Russia grew by 71% in the first quarter of 2024.
❗️ Some purchases are in a grey area and are not visible to analysts, as Russian users actively buy games on Steam from other regions (Kazakstan, Türkiye); in the PS Store - in Türkiye; on Xbox - in Argentina.