"Firstly people in Russia prefer products that are more universal, that can be used for a number of different purposes. For example, a PlayStation 3 or PlayStation Portable can be used for games, or films, and so on."
"But the Wii is only for games, and for very specific kinds of games. The gaming society in Russia is pretty young, and I remember when Nintendo attempted to attract more people from older demographics - they put on their last slide a babushka, an old woman, in a headscarf sitting in the countryside and playing on a DS... but actually it's very hard to see that really happening in Russia," Bukatina says.
"I know that in other parts of Europe, older age ranges are playing these games, but in Russia they don't know what to do with it - they never owned a computer, and probably never worked with a device that's more technical than a telephone, for example."
She did note however that the DS has grown a following but that previous generation GameBoys remain more popular and cheaper.
"The DS has a following, but there's a lot of piracy there too, and it's of course much more expensive than the GameBoy," she notes.
Written by: Andre Yoskowitz @ 19 Jan 2009 14:37
