The US software giant Microsoft announced last week that a PC game production unit recently set up in Yaroslavl has started providing its products to Russian customers. An international digital entertainment company, Arvato Digital Services, has been contracted to produce Microsoft’s Xbox 360 console compatible games at its own factory in this city, which is located some 200 miles northeast of Moscow.
Arvato Digital Services is a subsidiary of Germany’s Bertelsmann AG.
Previously all gaming products were imported, even those with firmware flashed specifically for the Russian market.
The Yaroslavl site’s inaugural gamer offering is Kinect Rush: A Disney Pixar Adventure. It has been available in stores since last Friday, Microsoft announced, adding that Arvato runs world-class equipment and will insure “invariably high quality of printing and bundling.”
The localization is expected to give the US company a perceptible competitive advantage, as printing and distribution now take much less time and the products are already customized for Russian-language gamers.
Microsoft pledges to extend a range of Russian-made Xbox 360 compatible products as the project unfolds.
According to CEO Claus Madsen, Arvato Digital Services Russia will not focus exclusively on producing Microsoft Studio games. Russian gamers can now also look forward to Xbox 360 compatible products outsourced to the German-owned firm by a number of other global publishers.
In a joint statement with Microsoft Rus president Nikolai Pryanichnikov, Madsen told the media that jointly marketing Microsoft’s gaming bestsellers on the Russian market is a priority for the two partners.
