The Ministry of Digital Transformation refused to allocate money to Rostec from the Rosinfokominvest fund, which now has about 1.3 billion rubles in its accounts, for the development of a game engine. Rostec boss Sergei Chemezov asked about this in July.
The Kommersant newspaper, citing a source, said the proposal aroused surprise in the ministry: “The Ministry of Digital Transformation does not have the authority to manage the fund’s funds in this way. In addition, the proposal was not accompanied by any justification or any performance indicator”.
The Rostec press service informed RB.RU that “information about the refusal of the Ministry of Digital Development to support the project to create a game engine is not true.”
“We were not turned away. The Ministry of Digital Development suggested that we work with RFRIT on the issue of allocating a grant for the creation of an engine; this is exactly what we wrote about in our appeal, offering RFRIT as a lead partner in the project,” the state corporation said in a statement.
Presenting the project at Rostec, they said that the engine would be useful not only for video games, but also for projects in virtual reality, cinema, animation, industry and education. The volume of investments in the project is estimated at 5-6 billion rubles.
A month and a half before Chemezov’s proposal, the problem of Russian game developers’ lack of their own engine was discussed at a closed meeting that the presidential administration held with industry participants.
Game development takes place primarily on Unreal Engine and Unity, access to which may be limited due to penalties.
In June, it became known that the Ministry of Digital Development was discussing an alternative to using the 1.3 billion rubles that were in Rosinfokominvest accounts. Among the possible measures was the creation of a risk fund with public and private capital on its basis and the refusal to support exports in favor of projects in Russia.
Author:
anastasia mariana
Source: RB
I am Bret Jackson, a professional journalist and author for Gadget Onus, where I specialize in writing about the gaming industry. With over 6 years of experience in my field, I have built up an extensive portfolio that ranges from reviews to interviews with top figures within the industry. My work has been featured on various news sites, providing readers with insightful analysis regarding the current state of gaming culture.
