The Video Game Hall of Fame of Russia

The Video Game Industry Development Organization (VIDO) has launched the Hall of Fame — a project about the very best of Russian game development since its earliest days, and about the people who shaped the industry and its culture.

The Hall of Fame opened with those whose standing is beyond dispute — seven remarkable figures who shaped the industry enormously. Sadly, not all of them are still with us.

Alexey Pajitnov, programmer and creator of Tetris
Victor Savyuk, who brought the Dendy console to Russia
Sergey Orlovsky, founder of Nival and developer of Rage of Mages
Sergey Suponev, the legendary host of the television programme Dendy — New Reality
Andrey Kuzmin, founder of K-D LAB and creator of Vangers
Boris Repetur and Anton Zaitsev, hosts of Ot Vinta, the first and most popular video game show of the nineties

On 6 October public voting opened in a VKontakte mini app and ran for a month. In the People Who Shaped the Industry category, users cast their votes for well known figures, experts, studio founders, game designers and public personalities — from Soviet-era to present-day developers, without whom the greatest projects from Tetris to Atomic Heart would never have happened.

The results of the online vote on expanding the Video Game Hall of Fame were published on 29 November. Out of 36 candidates and 37 games, users picked two sets of three leaders — with almost
80,000 votes cast in total.

The most votes in the People Who Shaped the Industry category went to

Nikolay Dybowski, founder of Ice-Pick Lodge,
Robert Bagratuni, co-founder of Mundfish,
Evgeny Isupov, creator of Igromania.

“Being included in the vote came as something of a surprise to me. Making the top three is even more of one. I will agree that the Igromania magazine and brand did a great deal to popularise and grow the games industry in Russia,” — Evgeny Isupov said of his win.

Topping the Legendary Video Games category

Atomic Heart, the adventure shooter developed by Mundfish,
Space Rangers, a science fiction game from Elemental Games blending RPG, turn-based strategy, text quest and arcade,
the legendary Tetris by Alexey Pajitnov, one of the first names in the Hall of Fame.

“Many thanks to every player and fan of Atomic Heart — the game owes its success to their unwavering support. And of course a separate thank you to the Mundfish team, whose love and belief in the project brought it into the world,” — Robert Bagratuni thanked the fans.

Voting for new members of the Hall of Fame will be held every year from now on. A nomination for next year can already be submitted on the site if a person or a game did not make the shortlist.

“Congratulations to the winners. This is public recognition of your work and of projects that are truly legendary. The Hall of Fame is not only a walk of fame for the industry legends and cult games that have already made their name, but an inspiration for every Russian developer just setting out, who needs their creative potential supported. We hope our project will take shape as real art objects, and we are looking for partners to make that happen,” says Vasily Ovchinnikov, head of VIDO. — “I am certain that more stars of Russian game development are waiting to be discovered.”

For now the Hall of Fame lives at legends.forgamedev.ru, but the organisation intends to bring it into the real world as well, with themed art objects in parks and public spaces across Russian cities and regions. Would you like to take part? Become a partner or a patron, or offer help in bringing a memorial place of your own to your city. VIDO can be reached by email or through the Telegram bot — all contacts are listed at legends.forgamedev.ru
and on the official VIDO site forgamedev.ru.