Russia considers developing its own video game consoles

No, this isn't the April Fools' Day trap news. Russian President Vladimir Putin has given the Russian government a mandate to study the development and manufacture of game consoles, both home and handheld, as well as an operating system and a cloud-based system to create a complete ecosystem. According to RT ( which broke the story last week, although the link is now blocked), the departure of major companies such as PlayStation, Nintendo and Xbox from the country in response to the invasion and war in Ukraine is said to have prompted Putin's decision. The Kremlin government has a deadline of 15 June to consider a proposal.

Putin reportedly even already has a company in mind to carry out the daunting task of developing consoles: VK, a domestic technology company. However, Russian media reports point out that creating an entire console ecosystem from scratch would take at least a decade, and that the most plausible option for Russia to get its own console is to import from China and create a model similar to Steam Deck.

Thanks, VGC.