Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered the government to develop a Russian gaming console in March 2024. This order resulted in the creation of two devices: an unnamed gaming console that is reportedly not very powerful and a cloud-based gaming platform named Fog Play. The currently in-development console is powered by the Elbrus processor, which was developed by the Moscow Center of SPARC Technologies (MCST) and built using other Russian electronic components.
The first person to report this Russian gaming console is Anton Gorelkin, who works as the Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Committee on Information Policy. The man has a Telegram channel where he posts various announcements about important events. On December 25th, 2024, Gorelkin talked about the in-development console. He said the console, which the Ministry of Industry and Trade is developing, was slowly taking shape. The console’s operating system is also planned to be domestic, but the Ministry has not yet chosen between Aurora and Alt Linux.
On the other hand, the Skolkovo Foundation has been tasked with developing the future console’s business model, concept, and competitive advantages. Although Gorelkin was optimistic about the prospects of this device, he still admitted that the gaming console Russia made couldn’t compete with PS5 and Xbox. “I hope that my colleagues will approach this task with full responsibility and come up with something truly breakthrough,” Gorelkin wrote.
Fog Play is the second gaming console that Russia made. The telecommunications firm MTS produces this device and utilizes the company’s cloud-based gaming platform. According to RBC, users with high-end gaming PCs can rent out their devices to allow players with low-end PCs to play games. Fog Play costs around $45, and the payment system is per minute. Gorelkin noted that the hardware for this gaming console was made entirely in China, and only the cloud gaming service belonged to Russia. “The only thing is that you need a very stable internet connection, preferably 100 megabits,” Gorelkin said.
