Find success for apps and games in Russia
6 best practice tips to guide your culturalization and localization strategy in Russia
As the biggest country in Central Eastern Europe (CEE) and one of the largest mobile markets in EMEA, Russia could be a great opportunity for your app or game. While penetrating the market and winning loyal users will require some groundwork in terms of localization and local language support, the high (and still growing) number of mobile users in the region suggest the rewards could be significant.
Despite common misconceptions, users in Russia are prepared to pay for apps, games, and services that offer value. Of the country’s 145 million inhabitants, almost half (65 million) are gamers, with an annual spend of up to $US 1.7b [Newzoo].
Let’s take a closer look at 6 key factors that can help your app or game find success in Russia.
1. Launch in popular game and app categories
According to App Annie data, the top game genres in Russia are:
- Strategy: There has been a huge investment in this genre by global developers in the region, and it’s now the highest-grossing genre. The majority of the big titles have been localized to Russian.
- RPG: The second main genre in terms of revenue.
- Action: The third most popular genre, with plenty of titles available.
The mobile games market is becoming more competitive in Russia, with many developers using strategies to raise the hype within Russian gaming communities, and increase the spirit of competition with other nations. There is also a strong interest in multiplayer games with cooperation, clans, and social features driving interest in new games.
The top app categories are:
- Media apps: Interest for Video on Demand (VoD), streaming, and music apps has been growing rapidly. These apps provide locally relevant content, such as local music and RU-localized movies, and are able to outperform global competition within the country. Much of this growth is attributable to Smart TVs — including Android TV — with revenue outpacing average mobile gaming growth in Russia.
- Education apps: These have a steady stream of active users and revenue is also growing. The most popular content is language learning, especially English.
Russia’s app and internet market is a little different from its western counterpart, with many of the big and familiar search, social, and streaming brands either unavailable or supplanted by local operators. This is definitely an important factor to consider when implementing login and sharing options, or when planning your user acquisition strategies.
The sharing economy is on the rise, with many of the big Russian cities quick to take advantage of its benefits and the convenience of being able to make in-app bookings and purchases. Growth services include:
- Car sharing (per-minute billing) is widespread in major cities. Moscow ranks as the #1 city in the world with over 30k car shares.
- Bike and scooter rentals achieved prominence in 2017–18.
- Food delivery services have been through a spree of acquisitions with 25% growth in 2019. Market share is expected to grow from 17% in 2018 to 55% in 2022
2. Localize your pricing
Russia’s currency is the Russian Ruble. When showing prices, ensure the Ruble sign (₽) appears after the price with a no-break space. A comma should also be used to separate the decimal part of the price (kopecks), but denominations are often skipped. For example, use 49,99 ₽, and not 49.99 ₽.
Also, make sure your pricing ‘rounding up’ follows the ‘99’ or ‘49’ rules, as this is more appealing to users.
Russia is also one of the Google Play markets that supports sub-dollar pricing. The minimum price for a premium app or IAP item is 15 ₽ (approximately 25 US cents).
Developers located outside of Russia are subject to a 20% VAT, which will automatically be deducted by Google from any premium app or IAP item sale made inside the country. You can find more information on that in the Play Console Help article Tax rates & value-added tax (VAT).
Generally, in-app, subscriptions, and paid app and game prices should be lower than in Tier-1 markets. We recommend exploring industry best practices, and experimenting to see which price points work best for your app or game business model.
3. Modify your user acquisition strategy
Working with mid-level creators on YouTube and other online Google channels can be a cost-effective way to promote your app or game.
When it comes to social media and other locally-relevant channels, keep the following in mind:
- Social media promotions on the big local networks, VK and OK, can be done through the MyTarget platform.
- Promotions can be arranged on a case-by-case basis with relevant VK groups.
- Search traffic from Yandex is available through the Yandex.Direct platform.
Offline content also holds opportunities for acquiring new users. For example, local gaming industry events such as White Nights can be useful places to strike up partnerships and gather intel. TV, print, and offline apps and gaming ads have also worked well for the big wargaming brands.
4. Revise your language and tone
Russian is the main language spoken in Russia and throughout the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). With very few people speaking English (or any other foreign language), it’s important your app or game is translated accordingly, especially when you consider that localization is often the #1 request in user comments and reviews.
Poor translations, grammar, and punctuation along with an inconsistent style of language give users the impression of a low-quality product that shouldn’t be trusted. In contrast, well-translated products tend to be received better and users are more likely to engage.
Formal vs informal
The use of a consistent language style is important, such as the formal (на “Вы”) versus informal (на “ты”). Also, when addressing the user informally (на “ты”), use the masculine and feminine style carefully, or find neutral language options.
Example: Masculine form of “попросить” used with female names, fixed by using the gender neutral “просит”.
Slang and jargon
When using technical jargon or gamer slang, consider the context of your app or game, the characters, target audience, and alike. Be consistent too, and strive to use the same terms or names across all text and visual assets.
Quantity plurals
Ensure quantity plurals follow Russian language rules and change according to the context. For example: 0 игр, 1 игра, в одной игре, 2 игры, 5 игр, о пяти играх, and so on.
Transliteration
If a word can’t (or shouldn’t) be translated, transliterate it instead (for example, McDonald’s becomes Макдоналдс).
Localizations vs translation
Make sure your text is translated and proofread by a native speaker. Ask them to check the context of your words in relation to your app or game interface as well, as many terms or words can have multiple meanings in Russian.
5. Consider font, layout, and user interface (UI)
Words translated into Russian tend to be longer than English. This means your new text won’t fit neatly into your app or game UI, resulting in either overflow or text that’s too small and unreadable. You’ll either need to build your UI around your text length, or be creative and find alternative translations that fit with what you already have.
Example: Translated Russian text often overflows UI components
Abbreviations
Avoid abbreviations, and if you absolutely have to shorten words always follow the accepted rules and guidelines. Also, avoid awkward line breaks (e.g. appl-ication) and, again, always follow accepted language rules.
Example: incorrect line breaks
Remember, many fonts don’t support Cyrillic. That can make numbers, punctuation marks, and other symbols appear wonky when stylized with Latin font. Symbols in Russian can also appear in a default font or as rectangles. Hence, it’s best to test your font for compatibility.
Example: The Russian and English fonts don’t match, making numbers and punctuation marks appear different from other text.
Example: The font doesn’t support Cyrillic and/or there were charset issues (UTF-8 / Windows-1251 and alike).
6. Adapt to cultural nuances
Authenticity
When promoting your app in Russia, favor locally-relevant imagery and videos (for example, promo shots of a navigation app should feature a map of Moscow with labels in Russian). If you’re planning to use photos of real people, or illustrations of fictitious characters, consider giving them Russian names and appearances. Likewise, if your promo has audio, it would be advantageous to hire a professional native speaker to record it. Lastly, ensure you are proactive in responding to user reviews in proper Russian, not machine translation, and remember it’s best to localize your privacy policy and other legal documentation, too.
Log in options
It’s best to add VK and OK log in options. For smaller communities, see if there is a similar Russian-speaking user-oriented service and consider offering people a way to log in through it.
Note: Some services (for example LinkedIn) are not available in Russia, so your app or game should not rely on these.
Laws
Always be aware of any Federal (or other) laws related to users’ private data storage restrictions, restricted contents and resources, and alike.
Conclusion
As one of the largest mobile markets in EMEA, Russia offers significant potential to app and game developers. However, you should be prepared to pitch your app or game at a lower price than other Tier-1 markets and consider sub-dollar pricing. Be aware that VAT is charged at 20%.
Consider taking advantage of local channels, such as VK and OK when planning your acquisition strategies. Similarly, these channels and other local groups are your best options for offering single sign-on.
When translating to Russian be aware of the impact on your UI and make sure you use fonts that support Cyrillic. Remember that many terms have multiple meanings in Russian and always consider getting assistance from a native speaker. And, it’s often worth culturalizing promotional material for your Russian audience.
What do you think?
Do you have thoughts on launching apps and games in Russia? Let us know in the comments below or tweet using #AskPlayDev and we’ll reply from @GooglePlayDev, where we regularly share news and tips on how to be successful on Google Play.
