Gameland

Gameland is the Russian media holding.

Assets

For July, 2014 company assets were among:

• The magazine I Cross stitch also the website CrossStitcher.ru – web club of needlewomen

• www.gameland.ru portal
• Russia IGN portal (Ru.ign.com)
• Xakep.ru portal

• Magazine the Business
• Smoke magazine
• Magazine Tuning of Cars

• Shop of a subscription (game) land

The closed projects

• Hacker magazine
• IT-spets magazine
• Strana Igr magazine
• Gameland TV (MAN TV) TV channel
• Fotomasterskaya magazine
• TotalDVD magazine
• Digital Photo magazine
• Iron magazine
• Hooligan magazine
• T3 magazine
• Xard.ru is the portal about computer component parts
• Forcing magazine
• The magazine about food - the First. The second. The third
• Total Football magazine

History

1992: Foundation of the company

1992 Dmitry Agarunov founds Gameland company. The company was called Agarun Company Individual Enterprise. Initially imported toys from China, then began to specialize in video games.

1995 - the first specialized retail network selling video games.

1996 issue of the first periodical – the Strana Igr magazine

1997 release of the Russian version of the Official PlayStation Magazine magazine.

1998 acceptance of strategic decision about closing of retail network and development of media industry

1999 issue of the Haker magazine

1999-2003 start of a series of specialized magazines in different segments.

2003 of Gameland becomes the Russia's first publishing house which attracted foreign financial investors, received investments for development in the amount of two million dollars from the Swedish private equity fund of Mint Capital.

2003. Purchase of the DVD Total magazine - the leader of the Russian market of newsreels.

2004. Continuation of starts of the magazines and the websites devoted to electronics, sport.

2005. The brand - a company code of Gameland and motor-HI FUN MEDIA is developed

2006: Issue to employees of cards of the Cyprian bank and the fees in currency

In the middle of the 2000th Gameland issued to employees plastic cards of the second largest Cyprian bank Marfin Laiki Bank (after crisis it was absorbed by Bank of Cyprus), told later several former employees of edition. The fees and awards were paid into the account in this bank on favorable rate in European currency^[1].

In 2006 Gameland carries out by GDC Russia – the only Russian business conference for leaders of the game industry.

2008: Start of Gameland TV and acquisition of ID of Mediasign

In February, 2008 start of the full-time cable TV channel about games of Gameland TV.

2008 acquisition of ID of Mediasign, 12 new magazines, 5 large web projects and a number of live of actions are added to a portfolio of Gameland.

2008-2010. Integration of collectives and projects of two companies, several waves of restructuring of business for overcoming effects of an economic crisis of the 2008th year. Start of tens of pilot projects, among which the most successful: credit card Men's Card, Socialist agency, coupon company ВЫГОДА.РУ.

2009-2011: Failure of TV channel and its closing

In September-October, 2009, according to TNS, monthly audience of Gameland TV – 0.5% of the audience, at popular "TB1000" (for comparison) – 15%. Potential audience – all audience owning computers or prefixes Dmitry Kolesov from TNS, in the same niche tells The First Game channel.

2010 conversion of Gameland TV to TV channel for real men of MAN-TV. The new TV channel began the broadcasting on September 30, 2010 at 12:30 p.m. Moscow time.

Since December 21, 2011 broadcasting of MAN-TV channel is absent in all satellite and cable networks.

2013

Start of cooperation with IGN

In March, 2013 it became known that Gameland became the partner translator of the website about the games IGN.com. The American project enters the markets, new to itself. Except Russian localizations in Norway, Turkey, Japan and the version in the French and Portuguese languages are prepared. The website owned ten more languages (Chinese, German, etc.) earlier. Before start of the Russian version the IGN.com pages were monthly visited by about 500 thousand users from Russia. This activity also became a reason for search of the local partner, report sources of Izvestia.

At the time of start transfers occupy about a half of all maintenance of the Russian IGN, in plans of Gameland to bring a share of own materials to 75%. The project will be tried to be monetized through advertizing. The rights to transfers belong to Americans. The unnamed share of income is promised owners of a brand. Russian-language IGN was headed by Konstantin Govorun continuing to direct and the website of Gameland.ru. According to Govorun, with Gameland.ru it is difficult to achieve some results. The publishing house considers the strong project the printing "Country of games", however on paper there are no quickly outdate news and topical materials.

IGN not for the first time comes into Russia. In 2009-2010 Americans already tried to cooperate with the domestic project, then it was Kanobu (from the 2011th Rambler-Afishe belongs). At the request of Roem.ru^[2], start of the Russian IGN was commented by the director of the products Kanobu Yaropolk Rush:

The Russian game market draws more and more attention of the international players. Being one of so-called emerging markets, the games show abnormal growth year-on-year and in 2012 on volume overtook the market of cinema. Leaders of the international game media (IGN.com, Eurogamer.net) look for entry into the Russian market. The greatest activity fell on 2012. So, Eurogamer gave the RU license for one of the Video Games 24/7 (vg247.com) resources and also conducted negotiations on licensing of the main Eurogamer.net resource. IGN goes on the same way - licensing with revenue share. Advertizing revenues Sheritsya in this case. Which, by the way, and without sher are not always enough for domestic game media.

All this activity in general is pleasant in terms of the status "territories" (Russia) and also is useful to increase in the overall level of local game media. If everything develops, of course.

Kanobu had experience of cooperation with IGN in 2009-2010. The essence of cooperation was in content localization of IGN. It became at some point obvious that investments into own content are more effective - here both organizational costs, and a difference of audience and its perception of information, and, certainly, cost efficiency.

Now IGN "comes" through the Gameland publishing house having profile assets in the form of known on recent discussions about circulations of the Strana Igr magazine, the closed IGRY PC magazine and also the domain gameland.ru. The situation, frankly speaking, strange as the Russian partner (Gameland) made practically the slogan a thesis "online will not fly up" for the last few years, and IGN or knows something that is not known by us, or is forced to go through Gameland as it is necessary to implement the plan for entry into the market, and except Gameland nobody agrees.

In Kanobu, according to Yaropolk, online flies:

Kanobu diversifies income and earns from advertizing (profile - game, and non-core - FMCG, the equipment and so forth), partner projects (revenue share with publishers online of games), digital distribution (sale of digital versions of games to the users) and also from production of video to order (for example, transfer the Guide of PlayStation for PlayStation Network Russia).

Closing of "Country of games" and other paper magazines

For June, 2013 company assets were among:

• The magazine I Cross stitch
• CrossStitcher.ru is web club of needlewomen
• The magazine about food - the First. The second. The third

• www.gameland.ru portal
• Russia IGN portal (Ru.ign.com)

• Hacker magazine and Xakep.ru portal
• Iron magazine
• Hooligan magazine
• T3 magazine
• Xard.ru is the portal about computer component parts

• Forcing magazine
• Magazine the Business
• Smoke magazine
• Total Football magazine
• Magazine Tuning of Cars

• Shop of a subscription (game) land

On May 31, 2013 it became known that the GameLand publishing house phases down production of all the line of magazines. It is reported in the letter sent yesterday to advertizing and marketing partners of ID. In it it is noted that among closed magazines:

• Total Football,
• "Forcing",
• Hardware,
• "The first. The second. The third",
• Fotomasterskaya and others.

Until the end of summer of 2013 there will be a Strana Igr magazine which will also be closed in the fall. The similar fate waits also for the IGN online project started by publishing house in March, 2013.

Comment of the head of Geymlend Dmitry Agarunov:

The company constantly closes and opens different projects. Purchased one and a half years ago "the First. The second. The third", in March ign.com started. Everything that profitable and perspective - works. Everything that non-profitable - is closed or transformed. Now in company 13, in my opinion, of projects media - 12 magazines and ign.com Precisely I know that the Fotomasterskaya magazine is closed - wanted to make it in November, but the command asked to give chance. The chance was given, it did not turn out, finely. 4 more magazines require transformation/correction. Commands work on it. Here such status today^[3].

Criminal case Muradov against Agarunov

In July, 2013 in capital police to Izvestia confirmed officially criminal proceedings on which one of persons involved there passes a founder of Gameland publishing house Dmitry Agarunov.

Proceedings were initiated after the incident which occurred in the editorial office of the Digital Photo magazine in June, 2013. According to the Chief Editor of the edition Boris Muradov, Dmitry Agarunov hit him after the conversation on a financial position of the magazine.

Muradov told Izvestia that employees of the Digital Photo magazine did not get paid several months.

— They occasionally have no money to reach before work and to pay mobile communication — the editor-in-chief specified. The issue of payment was discussed by Muradov and Agarunov then the head of publishing house knocked the subordinate on the head.

— The dispute or a skirmish was not, I constrained myself and expressed the opinion. At first we spoke in private, then I left its office and he sat down on the place, and (Agarunov. — Izvestia) ran for me after, and it was in the presence of several people. There is a video. The blow was struck. I could not neither get up, nor be protected … I fainted — Muradov told.

According to him, doctors stated at it concussion.

Now the injured editor-in-chief is on the sick-list, and his subordinates — employees of the Digital Photo magazine — prepare the August issue of the edition for release. It can become also the last.

— To collective it was told that the editorial office is free and the magazine will not appear any more — Muradov specified.

As reported Izvestia in the press service of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Moscow, proceedings are initiated by Part 1 of Article 119 of the Criminal code of the Russian Federation ("The threat of murder or causing heavy harm to health", is punished by obligatory works or imprisonment for a period of up to two years).

— I want that he got penal — Boris Muradov^[4] said to Izvestia^[4].

2014: Plans of translation of sites into paid access

In July, 2014 Dmitry Agarunov told that projects of his publishing house will enter paid access in 2014. The publishing house already gains more than 60% of income from a paid subscription for "tablet" versions of editions^[5].

Paid access on the websites can bring 5-10% of all revenue of Gameland in 2014, Agarunov considers. As the model country for the entrepreneur the USA — acts according to him, over the ocean sale of content most strongly grows in specialized spheres. According to the World newspaper and information and publishing association in 2013 paywall closed about 600 editions in America. In their Europe was many times less — only about 100. In the Russian Federation paywall the phenomenon still piece.

Awards

2006 victory in the tender "The Best Advergame of Russia 2006"

2007. Receiving the award "HR brand of year" - the best employer in category of media.

Notes