Category Archives: Russia

Codemasters is to translate all its major upcoming games into Russian as part of a “global drive,” the firm announced today.

Rise of the Argonauts, Damnation and Operation Flashpoint 2: Dragon Rising are all getting the Cyrillic treatment.

“Codemasters has targeted Russia as a front-line territory, key to our overall EMEA strategy” said Codemasters’ Axel Herr, probably while thumping a table.

“Localisation and tailoring of content is key to our emerging market strategy and Codemasters is keen to continue leading the charge in these fast-evolving markets.”

Press release after the link.

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Codemasters Online has inked a deal that will see Game Factory Interactive publish NetDevil MMO Jumpgate Evolution in Russia.

No release date’s been given. Read the press release after the break to check we’re not lying.

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MCV’s reporting that World of Warcraft and the Burning Crusade expansion have launched in Russia.

Blizzard announced only last week that the game was to hit Russia in August.

“The launch of the Russian-language version reflects our continuing commitment to make World of Warcraft even more accessible for gamers throughout the world,” said Blizzard boss Mike Morhaime.

“We also hope that providing a fully localised version of the game will further enhance the gameplay experience for our enthusiastic Russian community.”

More through the link.

Both Funcom and Blizzard have announced Russian release dates for their spearhead MMOs today, with Age of Conan hitting the country in “late 2008″ and WoW getting all vodkarish in August.

The new WoW release is the fifth European-language version, complementing the existing English, French, German, and Spanish versions. More here.

Age of Conan is to be distributed in Russia by 1C. More on GameDaily.

Valve’s upcoming zombie shooter, Left 4 Dead, will be released in Russia thanks to a partnership between the US company and local distributor Akella.

“Left 4 Dead is Valve’s attempt to fill gamers’ desire for a dynamic and engaging co-operative action experience,” said Doug Lombardi, VP of marketing at Valve. “This has been validated by the press, who are calling it one of the most anticipated titles of the year. We will be working closely with Akella as we prepare the launch of Left 4 Dead in one of today’s fastest growing gaming markets”.

The game launches worldwide this autumn. Press release after the link.

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MMO developer Turbine’s done a deal with IT Territory to distribute Lord of the Rings Online in Russia and Eastern Europe. The game, currently operating in the US, Europe, Australia, New Zealand and Japan, is the well-received online adaptation of Tolkien’s fantasy epic. Who knew Russians were bang into trolls? Turbine did, obviously.

No dates have been given for the new language releases, and no other details related to the current game were given in the press release. An official figure for those playing LotRO has been nonexistent since it launched in 2006. Codemasters Online Gaming, the title’s publisher in Europe, has been careful to never release a figure for reasons best known to itself. Probably best to not wave your willy in the face of the 10 million figure for WoW, right?

Lotro will be a big part of Connect 2008 in March, so expect more things hobbit then.