When gaming industry sales figures are presented, they usually tend to focus on Asia, the Americas and Western Europe. This has left a large gap in the gaming market which has been mostly unfilled during the next generation gaming market of the 21st century. Today, however, the economic landscaped change with news of a distribution deal between an American video game company and a Russian one. The spearhead of this new market in gaming is Electronic Arts, who announced today that it finalized an agreement with the Russian software company 1C to distribute several EA titles in jewel cases throughout Russia and other countries located in the Commonwealth of Independent States.

According to EA Vice President and General Manager of Central and Eastern Europe Peter Laughton, the thought process behind choosing 1C as the gateway between America and the CIS was not an accidental decision. Laughton went on to explain that the Russian firm already made a name for itself in the business of distributing jewel case PC games, and therefore seemed to be a natural partner. Laughton also cited 1C’s professional attitude and positive reputation in the market, causing EA to be “ interested in long-term and mutually profitable relations” with the company. The array of possibilities created by this deal were also expanded upon by Murad Shapiev, Sales Director for Electronic Arts Russia, who said that the use of 1C’s well greased distribution system would lead to the deal evolving into the “next step in expanding EA games on regional markets of Russia and CIS."

Likewise, 1C’s International Sales Director Nikolay Baryshnikov described the deal between EA and 1C to be an “unprecedented event for Russian market." It is certainly a proud moment for 1C as it seems that the reason this deal happened is due to the ground laid by Baryshnikov’s company, which was “one of the first companies to introduce the [jewel case] scheme in Russian history.” He also went on to add that his firm welcomed EA’s partnership and expressed his belief that “the experience gained along with our distribution network -which is the biggest in Russia and CIS countries- will contribute to effective collaboration and further growth of Russian game market."