Vladimir Putin, the president of Russia, has bizarrely authorised the establishment of an annual competition for internet games, but Counter-Strike is not permitted.
Vladimir Putin seems to be interested in the regional gaming and esports scene in Russia, despite the ongoing situation in Ukraine.
Numerous Russian esports teams have had limitations as a result of the conflict, including being excluded from sponsorship opportunities and competitions.
According to reports, the President recently revealed his decision to establish a ‘cyberchampionship‘ during a visit to an exhibition of creative industries at Moscow’s Zotov Centre.
The tournament is said to feature popular Russian titles such as World Of Tanks, a game from the World Of War series, along with other domestic hits.
Interestingly, these versions of the games will be under the control of Lesta Games, as Wargaming transferred its entire Russian and Belarusian gaming business to them following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Gaukhar Aldiyarova, an executive at Lesta Games, told Kommersant that the championship would exclusively feature games from Russian developers and those from friendly nations.
She also provided examples, mentioning League Of Legends, which is owned by the Chinese publisher Tencent – who bought Riot Games in 2011.
However, games like Valve’s Counter-Strike will be excluded from consideration due to their ‘one-sided coverage of political events within the game universe.’
Although it’s not immediately obvious what this means, it’s likely a reference to journalists from Finnish newspaper Helsingin Sanomat using Counter-Strike to sneak news stories of the Ukraine invasion into Russia.
Leveraging the fact you can create and share maps in Counter-Strike, Helsingin Sanomat crafted their own custom map called da_voyna (‘voyna’ meaning ‘war’ in Russian) which contained a hidden room full of reports and photographs of the war.
It might seem peculiar, to say the least, for Putin to establish a ‘cyberchampionship’ while Moscow faces drone strikes, but it’s not entirely unexpected.
The country has been trying to cultivate a self-reliant games industry ever since numerous western tech companies announced their departure from the country last year.