Even in the midst of his current dealings, Russian President Vladimir Putin has ordered the creation of an annual ‘cyberchampionship’ for eSports as part of a new Russian Online Games competition, according to Kommersant.
Lesta Games, a domestic developer, is handling the establishment of the tournament. It will feature domestic games that the nation is known for, such as World of Tanks, World of Warships, and more. These are not the versions controlled by the original studio, Wargaming, but rather versions run by Lesta.
After the invasion of Ukraine, the Wargaming studio transferred its entire gaming business in the Russian and Belarusian territories to Lesta. This means they are not involved with the new tournament.
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According to Gaukhar Aldiyarova of Lesta Games, “it’ll be an all-Russian championship, from Vladivostok to Kaliningrad, where games from domestic developers and developers from friendly countries can be shown.”
When it comes to friendly countries, Aldiyarova cited League of Legends as that is helmed by China’s Tencent despite being developed by RIOT Games, an American studio. However, Russia has essentially outlawed Counter-Strike, an internationally popular franchise, due to its “one-sided coverage of political events within the game’s universe.”
What part of Counter-Strike is one-sided, you ask? Turns out Helsingin Sanomat, a Finnish newspaper, announced plans to smuggle information regarding the War in Ukraine into Russia using maps from CS:GO.
This is likely another strategy Russia is taking in order to remove itself from the general consumption of western technology.
While the tournament is still being planned, the intention is for it to kick off in the far eastern regions of Russia instead of a western territory like St. Petersburg or Moscow.