Help! (stuck with Russian version)

[SteveThaiBinh]

Why do game companies not produce Russian language versions of their games?  It's because you can buy pirated Russian language versions so easily.  How do you expect to compete against prices that are basically paying for the cost of the cd itself plus a 10% mark up?  You can't.  Spending any amount of money developing a game for the Russian market would be STUPID, plain and simple.

 

Once Russia joins the civilized world, adopts the rule of law, and starts enforcing property rights instead of letting their country be run by corrupt oligarchs, companies will sell games in Russia because they know they can make money. 

 

All of Russia's problems are self-inflicted.  Look in the mirror before you start shouting brainless accusations at western companies.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Many of Russia's problems are Western inflicted, and I suggest you do some research into the events that followed the collapse of communism in the Soviet Union. Western governments sent hundreds of 'experts' to advise the new Russian government on how to switch to a market economy, and these experts advised the cheap sale of state-owned companies to private buyers on the grounds that simply by being privately owned, they would become more efficient and successful. This is what brought the corrupt oligarchs into being. A slower and better thought out transition could have avoided this.

 

'Once Russia joins the civilized world'? What on earth does this mean? Russia's civilisation is ancient. Piracy and copyright infringement exist in all societies, and I believe many western software companies are involved in legal proceedings against each other over such matters. And what about illegal internet music downloads? Where is that most common?

 

The majority of Russians are unable to own computers or buy games, restricting such purchases to a portion of the middle class. Middle class gamers or their middle class parents prefer to buy legal games, and will pay extra, provided it is not extortionate. My middle class students in Latvia paid extra for expensive legal English textbooks, even though cheaper local copies were available. They also bought pirated games, largely because they, like I, were not sure they were illegal. I suspect that if legal games were available and publicised, they would soon come to dominate the market.

 

I appreciate you wish to express your point of view strongly, but I don't feel that I have been shouting brainless accusations.

[Fionavar]

Well that was fun ... it's amazing how quickly the sandbox dirties up the various fora ...

 

FLoSD.OBE