Last week VK Company, one of Russia’s top Internet companies, announced the sale of its international gaming division My.Games to Alexander Chachava, Managing Partner of Russian venture firm LETA Capital.
The deal includes 100% of the shares and assets of My.Games, including its studios and game products.
The deal valued My.Games at $642 million — some 60% below market value, according to sources cited by Kommersant.
“The long-lasting talks might have been accelerated by the fact that Apple deleted the VK app and its games from the Apple Store,” wrote the business daily.
VK Company, which is indirectly controlled by the Russian state, has reportedly been seeking to sell these assets since last spring, soon after the Russian invasion of Ukraine began. As its CEO was targeted by western sanctions, VK company anticipated its prosperous international gaming division could be exposed anytime, too.
VK Company, meanwhile, will continue developing games under its own brand for the domestic market.
“VK Play is the largest Russian game platform, launched in April 2022. It brings together all the popular game-related entertainment into one place and includes a catalog of games, cloud gaming, VK Play Live streaming platform, tournament platform and news media,” the company stated.
Vasily Maguryan, who was in charge of VK’s gaming business for more than eight years, will head VK Play.
My.Games develops and publishes games for PC, consoles and mobile devices. It has more than 150 games in its portfolio — including, for example, Hustle Bustle, Left to Survive and War Robots). The division has 12 regional offices and representative offices in Russia, Europe, the USA and Asia, with a global partner network consisting of more than 50 development studios in Russia and abroad.
The gaming division brought VK a third of revenue, reports Kommersant, while at the end of the third quarter of 2021, 77% of My.Games sales were outside Russia and neighbouring countries — primarily in the USA, Germany and France.
