Breakdown
- Russia is planning to make their own video game console
- This includes handheld and home versions
- Will this be a hit? Or a big miss like Brazil's Zeebo?
With Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo no longer selling games in Russia, the country is considering making their own console to reboot their video game industry. Russia will reportedly make standard home consoles and their own portables as a way to bring gaming back to the controversial country.
News website RT broke the news, President Vladimir Putin has told his government to start processing video game systems for the country. This will supposedly come with its own OS and cloud service, which will bring games to customers who have these systems.
Dmitry Peskov, a spokesman for the Kremlin, said that this decision is under consideration so that Russia can develop its own native game industry. Russia’s deadline to make this happen is June 15 this year, so the country is still considering the move and giving time for other gaming companies to reconsider their actions.
For those unaware, gaming companies decided to stop selling their video games to Russia after the country’s war with Ukraine. It wasn’t an immediate process, but game companies slowly backed out of supporting the country as a form of protest. Obviously, the people in Russia weren’t pleased with this development, hence the notion to make a new console.
You don’t see too many consoles exclusive to countries unless it’s Japan, the United States, or Brazil and Mexico. That’s right, Brazil and Mexico were home to a system called the Zeebo, which was meant to be an all-in-one digital console. However, it was just a way to play some mobile games, though it did have an excellent version of Double Dragon and even has an emulator in the works.
It will be interesting to see what kind of game console the country makes. We’re also interested in seeing how long the system will last, since it’s going to be Russia’s only system for a while. Gaming historians are going to have a field day with this console’s exclusive titles, that’s for sure.