“Russia now outside of Germany is our largest continental European market,” Newell was quoted as saying on Geekwire. Presumably this also means the UK is Valve’s largest continental European market. But Newell’s statement also indicates that Russia eclipses France, Spain and Scandinavian countries in terms of profits.
It seems other games companies who had tried to penetrate Russia hadn’t done so due to a the infamous levels of piracy.
“The people who are telling you that Russians pirate everything are the people who wait six months to localize their product into Russia,” said Newell. “It doesn’t take much in terms of providing a better service to make pirates a non-issue.”
“The easiest way to stop piracy is not by putting antipiracy technology to work,” Newell said. “It’s by giving those people a service that’s better than what they’re receiving from the pirates.”
Source: PC Gamer
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