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Russians spend more money on video games amid quarantine — retailers

In the first four months of the year, demand for game consoles grew by 15% in physical and by 20% in monetary terms

© Stanislav Krasilnikov/TASS

MOSCOW, May 19. /TASS/. Russians have began to spend more money on video games duing the self isolation regime imposed due to the coronavirus pandemic, representatives of the biggest retailers told TASS adding that the peak of demand was marked in late April-early May.

M.Video Eldorado notes that in the first four months of the year, demand for game consoles grew by 15% in physical and by 20% in monetary terms. But in April, in conditions of self-isolation, online sales of games and consoles more than tripled. Sony PlayStation 4 accounted for more than half of the unit sales, Microsoft Xbox took second place, and Nintendo took third.

"At the same time, inexpensive re-issued retro game consoles Dendy and Sega accounted for about 30% [of purchases], which influenced the decrease in the average check for the market," the company said.

In January-February, sales in the video gaming segment on AliExpress Russia in monetary terms soared threefold year-on-year, while in April console sales skyrocketed seven-fold, and in the first two weeks of May - 3.7 times, said the head of the company’s gaming department Anton Shokurov.

In the first quarter, Citylink’s sales of game consoles in units increased 1.6 times, accessories - 2.7 times, but in April, due to self-isolation, sales of Sony PlayStation consoles soared 14 times. Sales of Nintendo and Microsoft Xbox increased 5.4 times and twofold respectively, Oleg Pchelnikov, head of the company’s purchasing department, said.

The most popular games among Russians now are Nintendo's exclusive Animal Crossing life simulator: New Horizons, a sequel of the legendary DOOM Eternal series of shooters, FIFA 20 and UFC 3 sports simulators, and popular Rockstar Games action games - Grand Theft Auto V and Red Dead Redemption 2, remakes of classic Japanese games Resident Evil 3 and Final Fantasy VII, as well as PlayStation exclusive - God of War, which is named by many leading gaming editions of one of the best games of the decade.

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