AI, Cloud Gaming to Set Trends in Russian IT Market in 2020, Analysts Say

Trends in the Russian IT market in 2020 will be determined by super apps, cloud gaming, artificial intelligence (AI) and the growing consumption of paid video content, experts told TASS.

Experts call the emergence of super apps — applications that combine services such as instant messaging, ordering food and transport, payment tools, e-commerce — one of the main trends of 2020.

 In Russia, Mail.Ru Group (using the Vkontakte app), as well as Tinkoff Bank and Sberbank primarily oversee the development of such ecosystems. 

“Tinkoff and other companies are now catching up; in 2019 super apps became a full-fledged trend and will continue to develop. First of all, such products will appear in companies with developed ecosystems of their own services: banks, telecom operators, etc.,” Dmitry Ryabinin from Hi-Tech Mail.ru said.

Other IT market players in Russia, including Sberbank and Yandex, will also try to launch their own super apps, leading analysts of the Russian Association for Electronic Communications (RAEC) Karen Kazaryan believes. However, so far the popularity of such apps in Russia is doubtful, he added. “I’m afraid that companies will [try to launch super apps] largely misunderstanding why exactly Asian super apps are successful and how they have built systems, replacing all parts of the usual mobile ecosystem. I don’t believe in their popularity in Russia,” he explained.

Another IT trend in Russia will be artificial intelligence, experts presume. Thus, the government is discussing setting up a federal project within the Digital Economy national project to develop AI. In addition, the Russian president earlier approved the National Development Strategy for Artificial Intelligence until 2030.

According to Yaroslav Meshalkin, director of strategic communications at eSports holding ESforce, cloud gaming in Russia will be an unconditional industry trend, but it is part of a more global trend when complex technical operations are assigned to “clouds” rather than “hardware.” “5G, ‘cloud’ — this is what telecom operators around the world are betting on, and efforts in these areas should be justified. 

“According to SuperData, global gaming revenues amounted to $109.4 billion by the end of 2019, showing constant growth over the past few years, so the desire to enter this industry through the ‘cloud’ is quite understandable,” Meshalkin said.