Game Insight

As of September 2011, in addition to mobile applications, Game Insight is developing games for social networks. The company has 17 games in its portfolio for 25 different networks around the world. On Facebook, the company gained fame through the games Mystery Manor and Resort World. On the VKontakte network, the success of Game Insight was brought by the games Island, Big Business and Mysterious House, and on the Orkut network by the game Mystery Manor.

History

2023: Mail.ru Group founders' bills seized over studio woes

On July 24, 2023, information appeared that the arbitration court, in the framework of the bankruptcy case of the mobile games developer Game Insight LLC (Game Insight), seized bank accounts and real estate of persons who, according to the bankruptcy trustee Denis Kachura, controlled the debtor. The case file, in particular, includes the founders of the Mail.ru Group Grigory Finger and Mikhail Winchel, as well as the former first vice president of this Internet holding Igor Matsanyuk. Read more here.

2022

Bankruptcy of Russian subsidiary

At the end of October 2022, the Moscow Arbitration Court declared bankrupt the Russian "daughter" of the Lithuanian game developer Game Insight at her own request. Bankruptcy proceedings have been launched against Game Insight LLC.

As follows from the materials of the case, the amount of unfulfilled obligations to creditors, which the company does not dispute, is 76.2 million rubles. And wage arrears and severance pay - 66.5 million rubles.

Russian "daughter" of game developer Game Insight declared bankrupt

The company owes more than 120 million 300 employees, arbitration manager Denis Kachura, appointed by the court to conduct the bankruptcy case of Game Insight LLC, told Izvestia. Some of the employees have already applied for the inclusion of their claims in the register of debtors, he added.

In his opinion, satisfaction of creditors' claims will be minimal. Leaving the Russian market, the company left a minimum of property, which will now go on sale. This is used computer equipment, equipment, office furniture and receivables. After declaring the company bankrupt, employees can wait for years to pay salaries. Moreover, by that time this money will be eaten up by inflation or reduced by the amount that the bankrupt company will be able to pay, according to a court order.

According to Denis Kachura, despite the ambiguous situation, Game Insight itself has not gone anywhere: games are sold in app stores around the world and receive updates, servers are functioning. Perhaps a new team has been recruited for a new Russian or foreign legal entity or, for example, under contract agreements, he did not rule out.

Most of the developers under contracts with Game Insight LLC were engaged in the creation and support of various mobile games. According to the agreement between the companies, the copyright holder of all software products is Game Insight UAB. From July 25 to August 18, 2022, the courts of general jurisdiction of Moscow registered 74 claims from employees due to non-payment of salaries to Game Insight LLC^[1]

Debt to employees in Russia for tens of millions

Lithuanian game studio Game Insight owes salaries of about 70 million rubles to employees in Russia, so they are suing the company. From July 25 to August 18, 2022, at least 74 relevant lawsuits were placed in the file of cases of courts of general jurisdiction in Moscow, Kommersant writes in the issue of August 24, 2022.

Game Insight game designer Anastasia Surina told the publication that her colleagues continue to file lawsuits because they have not received a salary since the end of June 2022.

Game Insight owes tens of millions in salaries to employees in Russia

After the first statements, Pavel Sedov contacted us (appointed liquidator of the company) and said that he knew about the claims, but would not be able to pay salaries, because the company did not have funds in its accounts, "Surina explained.

Another employee contacted by the newspaper added that the Lithuanian office continues to receive funds from sales of games.

Sedov himself said that when the company offered him to liquidate, it was assumed that its funds would be enough to pay off all obligations.

But when I conducted an audit of the assets of the enterprise, it was found that the total value of the property, as well as the amount of money in the accounts, did not cover expenses, he stressed.

Due to sanctions restrictions on the part of Lithuania, the parent company is not ready to transfer funds to Russia, Sedov added.

Амулекс.ру lawyer Lyudmila Makarova explains that if the company is declared bankrupt, employees can wait several years for payments. Moreover, by that time this money will be eaten up by inflation or reduced by the amount that the bankrupt company will be able to pay, according to a court order.

Alexander Zezyulin, an independent expert on game development, calls the situation when a large development company conflicts with employees and stops paying salaries non-standard.

Most likely, other developers who left Russia offer to move abroad, to Armenia, Kazakhstan, Georgia with a salary reduction, or we are talking about remote work, he said.[2]

Closing offices in Russia amid conflict in Ukraine

On June 16, 2022, it was announced that game developer Game Insights was closing all offices and leaving Russia. The company had offices in Moscow, Nizhny Novgorod, Murmansk and Taganrog, in which, before the conflict in Ukraine, about 600 people worked. Even the heads of these offices did not know about the closure of offices in Russia. Employees simply received notice of dismissal.

Dismissal of employees in Russia without severance pay

Game Insight, a game developer founded by immigrants from Russia, refuses to pay salaries after leaving the Russian market, App2Top five employees told the portal on condition of anonymity in July 2022.

In June App2Top, it became known that Game Insight, which is based in Lithuania, is liquidating Russian business, 600 people were employed in it. And now the interlocutors of the portal say: the liquidator company warned everyone that it would transfer the salary balances only to those who sign the papers on voluntary termination of the employment contract, made it clear that there would be no severance pay, and also demanded that the equipment be returned at the expense of the employees themselves.

2014

Relocation of headquarters from Russia to Vilnius

In May 2014, GI moved its headquarters from Russia to Vilnius. At the same time, the company began operations in Russia and by 2014 was the largest developer of mobile games in Russia according to Forbes.

Ropotov replaces Chumachenko as CEO

In August 2014, it became known that Alisa Chumachenko, founder of Game Insight, left the post of CEO. Anatoly Ropotov was appointed in her place. Alisa Chumachenko left the post for personal reasons, the press service clarified.

Previously, Alexey Ropotov previously held the position of Chief Experience Officer and was responsible for relations with partners, technology development, and also headed the innoWate studio, which develops games for Game Insight. It was announced that as CEO, he will implement a strategy to concentrate on the release of 3D games based on the Unity engine. The company plans to release five 3D games by the end of 2014.

2011

The success of My Country in the Android Market

In September 2011, it became known that the game My Country, created by the Russian company Game Insight, came in second place in popularity among earning applications on the Android Market^[3]. This happened less than a week after the release of the game, during which time it was downloaded more than 500 thousand times. The meaning of the game My Country is to manage the urban economy, construction, road infrastructure, etc.

In the Android Market, My Country is second only to Paradise Island, which is also created by Game Insight. The game was at the top of the rating in May 2011, in July the company estimated the revenue from the application at $1 million. The idea of ​ ​ Paradise Island is to manage the island in the Caribbean, create tourist infrastructure, etc.

Daria Trushkina, Vice President of Business Development at Game Insight, explains the reasons for the company's success by using a freemium model: the user can download and play a high-quality game for free, and only pay extra for receiving any additional options. In addition, as noted by Trushkina, the Andorid platform has become more attractive to mobile application developers than iOS, thanks to the increased popularity.

As of September 2011, the company brought together 13 development studios employing more than 200 people.

Game Insight has a staff of 30, with the company's five-person board consisting entirely of women. In addition to Alisa Chumachenko and Daria Trushkina, these are executive director Maria Dmitriyeva, chief producer Olga Skvortsova and marketing director Alexandra Pestretsova.

Start translating applications into HTML5

In September 2011, it became known that Game Insight announced the start of work on translating its applications into HTML5^[3]. The company is going to port 20 of its games, annual investments in this area will amount to $2 million. The estimated time for porting one game to HTML5 is 2- 4 months.

For the sake of solving the task, the company is ready to both recruit new employees and acquire existing developer studios in the regions, Game Insight Marketing Director Alexandra Pestretsova told CNews. Two studios have already been bought, their names have not been disclosed. So far, the company's new employees were found only in the Russian regions and Belarus.

Purchases of studios are carried out according to an investment model, explains Pestretsova: Game Insight invests in the content of the team, and then, together with the developers, shares dividends from their activities. In the regions, the maintenance of one studio with a number of employees of 7-10 people costs $20-30 thousand per month, which is two times cheaper than in Moscow.

Game Insight brings together 13 studios in Russia, Belarus and Latvia. They have 200 developers, but of them on HTML5 - only 25 people. The company hopes to attract 20 developers to the current studios, and 50 more to 3 new studios.

Games for social networks are usually developed in Flash, for mobile platforms - in C++ and other high-level programming languages. But because of this, you have to create a separate version of games for each network and platform. Switching to HTML 5 should solve this problem, since games will be opened by users through web browsers, Pestretsova promises.

The transition to HTML5 is a logical step for developers to gain independence from the owners of various platforms, says the founder of one of the companies - manufacturers of online games. "It is known that at one time Mail.ru actively invited developers, set preferential conditions for them, but then, having gained a critical mass, stopped all dumping," says the source of CNews. "With the help of HTML5, game developers are trying to teach people to play their games, and not games of some social network."

2009

Game Insight was created in 2009 by Alice Chumachenko, former vice president of gaming holding Astrum Online Entertainment (later merged with Mail.ru).

Notes