The Russian government is prepared to support the development of a homegrown military shooter akin to Call of Duty through measures including reduced corporate tax rates and insurance premiums for developers who make it. Confirmation of those potential incentives comes a month after a Russian lawmaker called for a ban on the Call of Duty series in the country, accusing Western nations of using it to spread “Russophobic propaganda.”
The commitment comes from a Gazeta.ru report (Google translated, via Insider Gaming), which quotes the Ministry of Digital Development as saying, “if the [government] receives an application for funding for the development of a game on the topic specified in your letter, it will be reviewed in accordance with the established procedure and within the framework of existing competitive mechanisms.”
The Ministry cited existing government support for IT companies and game developers including “a reduced corporate income tax rate of 5%, reduced insurance premium rates, and a partial VAT exemption in certain cases.”
This is all extremely normal and unremarkable. Canada’s videogame industry is a powerhouse largely because provincial governments throw generous tax breaks and funding options to game studios: Ubisoft has more offices in Canada than it does in France (or the US) and it’s not because Yves Guillemot is a big fan of poutine.
And of course it’s not just the game industry that rolls this way. Despite the self-professed genius and self-reliance of their leaders and structures, most corporations rely on government largesse to some extent. It’s just how things are done, and the fact that Russia plays essentially the same game ranks alongside green grass and blue sky.
What makes this case interesting is what prompted the comment in the first place. Shortly after Russia banned Roblox in December 2025 over extremist content and “LGBT propaganda,” Mikhail Delyagin, deputy head of the State Duma’s economic policy committee, requested that Roskomnadzor—the agency that monitors and controls mass media in the country—review the Call of Duty: Modern Warfare series and, if warranted, ban them as well.
Delyagin “was absolutely horrified,” according to a separate Gazeta report. “You’re almost always shooting at Russian soldiers. It’s a very unpleasant experience for any citizen of our country, a kind of horrific masochism.
“The only positive Russians in the story are those who collaborate with American and British saboteurs. In the current context, when we’re in a proxy war with these countries, this is especially horrific.”
Delyagin, who said his request to investigate Call of Duty was initially sparked by complaints from Russian citizens—something we’ve seen in the past—also sent a letter to Russia’s Ministry of Digital Development, according to a since-removed report that remains available via the Wayback Machine (you’re going to have to translate the text yourself, sorry, we’ve gone too deep here), He asked that it develop a comparable big-budget shooter in which the player is a member of the Russian military or intelligent, “and the antagonists and targets are representatives of unfriendly countries (Ukraine, Great Britain, the United States, France, and others).”
He said the massive budgets of such projects—the Gazeta report estimated the cost of developing a Russian Call of Duty equivalent could be as much as 10 billion rubles, which works out to nearly $130 million—would likely put it out of the reach of domestic developers without “additional support” from the Russian government.
Which brings us to now: Nobody has stepped forward to say they’re working on a Russian Call of Duty, but if someone does, they’ll enjoy the same sort of benefits that Activision, Ubisoft, Electronic Arts, and all the rest get from Western governments.
Delyagin is correct in saying that Russians are the traditional enemies of the West in the post-World War 2 world (and not just in videogames), only stepping out of that role when covertly collaborating with Western forces—typically against Russian or Russian-aligned enemies. And US cultural hegemony means that if Russian gamers want to play the biggest and most popular military shooters in the world, well, they’re probably going to be shooting at their own boys.
Russia has made similar game-related noises in the past: In 2022, for instance, an exodus of Western tech companies following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine prompted the country to explore the possibility of making a “national game engine.” That idea was eventually dropped over the expense involved, although an unnamed private investor reportedly stepped in to keep the project moving forward.
Whether Russia can actually pull off a credible Call of Duty competitor is another question entirely, but it certainly isn’t alone in wanting to portray its military forces in a more flattering light. If anything, it’s late to the party: In 2013, the Chinese military released a military shooter called Glorious Mission, which was apparently a big hit in the country.
