Business programme

Today’s Russian gaming market is worth RUB 170 billion (15th in globally) and is home to 80 million gamers who play for three hours a day, which is comparable to traditional media channels in terms of audience volume and time spent. Gaming is the new generation’s television, and eSports is a huge industry with thousands of stars and millions of viewers. The current market situation – the departure of big players and monetization problems – opens up opportunities to consolidate projects and create new growth points in premium game segments and opportunities to enter foreign markets. What challenges and opportunities await the Russian gaming and eSports market? How can an effective support system for the producers of games be created in the new reality? What are some ways the government can help gaming in Russia? What support can be shown for eSports development? What kind of regulation and benefits does the market need? What can be done for investments and product markets?

Moderator
Alexey Goreslavsky, Director General, ANO "Internet Development Institute" (IRI)

Alexey Goreslavsky

Director General, ANO "Internet Development Institute" (IRI)

Alexey Goreslavsky was born in Moscow in 1977.
He graduated from the History Department of Moscow State University in 1999 and from the postgraduate school of the Institute for US and Canadian Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences in 2002.
He worked for Moskovsky Komsomolets and Sovershenno Sekretno. Versia newspapers starting 1995.
He served as editor-in-chief of the Internet newspaper Vzglyad from 2005 to 2007, director of online projects at the Interfax news service from 2007 to 2010, and as head of communications of AgencyOne from 2011 to 2013.
He became deputy general director of Rambler&Co in 2013.
Alexei Goreslavsky was appointed editor-in-chief of Lenta.ru in March 2014.
He is married and has a daughter.

Panellists
Sergey Demchev, General Director, Magic Factory Animation (online)
Alexei Koptsev, General Director, Cyberia Limited (online)
Nikolay Petrossian, Chief Executive Officer, ESforce Holding
Dmitry Smith, President, Russian eSports Federation (ReSF Russia)
Igor Stolyarov, Head, Game of the Future 2024 Project
Vitaly Terlyuk, General Director, Siridar LLC
Egor Tomsky, General Director, WATT STUDIO (online)
Artem Chermenin, Director of Strategic Development, VK Play

Dmitry Smith

President, Russian eSports Federation (ReSF Russia)

Dmitry Smith was born in 1977.
He graduated from a physics and mathematics school at MIPT, and received his higher education at the Moscow Economics and Statistics Institute (MESI, now part of Plekhanov Russian University of Economics).
One of the first successful cyber-sportsmen in Russia (he participated in real-time strategy competitions).
In 1997 ranked eighth in the international rating of WarCraft 2, in 1998 became the leader of the legendary eSports team Orky, in 1999 came second in the international rating of StarCraft. Multiple champion and medalist in major tournaments. Performed under the game name Dilvish.
In 2000 Dmitry became one of the founders of the Russian Federation of Computer Sports. Was the organizer and chief referee at the Russian qualifying games of the World Cyber Games (WCG), the most prestigious cyber-sports tournament in the world. Organizer and referee of many domestic Russian competitions.
Currently holds the position of the President of the Russian Federation of Cyber Sport. He represents Russia in the International Esports Federation (IESF). The area of responsibility of Dmitry includes strategic management of the Russian CyberFight Federation, cooperation with the state authorities and partners, supervision of all-Russian tournaments.

Igor Stolyarov

Head, Game of the Future 2024 Project

At the beginning of his career, Igor worked for Coca Cola. In 1995, he became business manager of Duracell, Gillette Group, and five years later worked as area manager for Gillette International for CIS and Baltic States. He supervised the company’s projects in Melbourne, Australia.
From 2004 to 2006, he held the post of Vice-President for Sales and Service of the biggest Russian of cellular communications operator, MTS. In 2005, he was recognised as Best Business Manager, according to the Managers’ Association. In 2007, he was honoured with the Russian Government’s award for his assistance in starting up State Corporation RosNanoTech.
From 2007 to 2014, he worked on the Organising Committee for Sochi 2014 in the capacity of Senior Vice-President. Mr. Stolyarov was awarded the memory medal and diploma of the Russian President, numerous Letters of Appreciation from the IOC and OCR for the preparations for the Olympics.
In 2014–2015, he was Acting envoy of Infront Media AG to Russia. Igor is a Member of the Board of a number of agencies engaged in marketing sports channels. He teaches marketing, branding and economics of sports assets at the Academy of the National Economy, RIOU, MGIMO and RGGU.

Artem Chermenin

Director of Strategic Development, VK Play