Lesta Games studio bought an office building in the center of Moscow

Now Lesta Games, the former Russian division of Wargaming, rents part of the Factoria business center in Moscow. The company also has branches in St. Petersburg and Minsk.

As Lesta Games explained, the company needs its own office to reduce rental risks and save money. The property acquired by the studio is located on Izvestkovy Lane, near the Taganskaya metro station.

According to a source in the media sector, the purchase could cost between 2 billion and 4 billion rubles. The building was owned by Otkritie Bank until 2021, then it became the property of Pervy LLC, which invests in the real estate market.

The head of Lesta Games’ Moscow division, Gauhar Aldiyarova, clarified that although it is rare for game companies to own an object, the studio hopes to justify the costs in the future.

“But we believe that over a long planning horizon (the purchase) will be justified,” Aldiyarova said, explaining that maintaining one’s own building is cheaper than renting offices.

• In 2022, Wargaming sold shares in its Russian and Belarusian companies. The owner of the business was businessman Malik Khatazhaev, who previously headed the Russian studio Wargaming.
• In the fall of the same year, Lesta renamed the developer’s popular games, World of Tanks and World of Warships, to “World of Tanks” and “World of Ships.”
• The company subsequently began investing in expanding its product line and upgrading its infrastructure. The company allocated between $100 and $150 million for game development.
• At the end of last year, Lesta announced the launch of a video game distribution platform, Base, with an estimated investment in the project of between 10 and 30 million dollars.