It’s no secret that Russia is slowly working towards abandoning Western technology as much as possible and developing its own technology, and its latest effort appears to be related to video games.
On December 25, Anton Gorelkin, deputy chairman of the State Duma Committee on Information Policy, revealed some information on a home video game console being developed by the Ministry of Industry and Trade, as reported by TechSpot. The theoretical console will feature an Elbrus processor and be powered by either Aurora or Alt Linux, both Russian forks of the popular Linux operating system.
According to TechSpot, the Elbrus processor was developed by the Moscow Center for SPARC Technologies and designed primarily for defense, critical infrastructure, and other applications. This processor is not on par with the processors currently produced by Intel, AMD, and Arm, and it certainly won’t be able to reach the level of power of the PS5 or Xbox.
Despite the underpowered chipset, Gorelkin stressed that the console is not designed to run ports of older games, but will run “domestic video game products.” Presumably, this means that Russia will also need its own developer community to design these games.
Another console called Fog Play is also in development, but it’s more like a cloud-gaming device. Users with high-end computers can rent it to Fog Play owners, who play games on these computers via the cloud.
These potential consoles are only one aspect of Russia’s broader technological sovereignty plans. Since the invasion of Ukraine and subsequent Western sanctions, Russia has been trying to make this a reality – but digital isolation is making it difficult.
The adoption of Astra Linux in government, intelligence, military, and even educational computers is another Russian attempt to develop its own technology. To this end, Russia is trying to replace the file and website scanner VirusTotal (owned by Google) with its own multiscanner platform, fearing US government intrusion.
Despite this progress, Russia is still heavily dependent on technology from China. Chinese smartphones are popular there, and Chinese electronics and dual-use technology continue to enter Russia even though the Middle Kingdom no longer exports them to the US.
Russia is likely unable to achieve true technological independence in video gaming or other critical areas, as it is heavily dependent on China and does not have the capacity to produce PS5 or Xbox-level chips.
The two Russian video game consoles are a good example of the challenges the country faces due to its poor relations with many of the world’s superpowers. Just as the Elbrus processor is not going to really compete against the best consoles, Russia will continue to struggle for technological sovereignty.