Innova is a Russian

video game publisher A video game publisher is a company that publishes video games that have been developed either internally by the publisher or externally by a video game developer. They often finance the development, sometimes by paying a video game developer ( ...

and localization company headquartered in

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

. Games published by the company in Russia include ''

Blade & Soul ''Blade & Soul'' () is a Korean fantasy martial-arts massively multiplayer online role-playing game developed by NCSoft (Team Bloodlust). ''Blade & Soul'' was released in Western territories on January 19, 2016. A Japanese animated televisio ...

'', '' Aion'', ''

Ragnarok Online ''Ragnarok Online'' ( ko, 라그나로크 온라인, marketed as ''Ragnarök'', and alternatively subtitled ''The Final Destiny of the Gods'') is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) created by Gravity based on the manhwa '' ...

'', ''

Crowfall ''Crowfall'' is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game-real-time strategy game developed by ArtCraft, described as a "Throne War Simulator". It released on July 6, 2021. Its Kickstarter campaign ended March 26, 2015 with a total fundin ...

'', ''

Point Blank Point-blank range is any distance over which a certain firearm can hit a target without the need to compensate for bullet drop, and can be adjusted over a wide range of distances by sighting in the firearm. If the bullet leaves the barrel paral ...

'', '' RF Online''

History

Innova was founded in 2006 by George Chumburidze (a representative of the Italian yacht shipyard Azimut-Benetti), Armen Gasparyan, Vasily Medvedev, Oleg Sambikin, and Gevork Sarkisyan. In 2009, Sambikin and Medvedev exited the business and founded the developer Syncopate. At the time of the company's creation, the online games market in Russia was described as a "gray zone": foreign games were mainly adapted by

pirates Piracy is an act of robbery or criminal violence by ship or boat-borne attackers upon another ship or a coastal area, typically with the goal of stealing cargo and other valuable goods. Those who conduct acts of piracy are called pirates, v ...

. The first licensed game released by the company was '' RF Online'' by the South Korean company CCR. In 2010, Innova released a launcher compatible with all games released by the company. In January 2012, this was replaced by the 4game platform. In December 2010, the company launched the online movie theater Ayyo, which provided

video-on-demand Video on demand (VOD) is a media distribution system that allows users to access videos without a traditional video playback device and the constraints of a typical static broadcasting schedule. In the 20th century, broadcasting in the form of o ...

and download-to-own paid access to films. In the following years, Ayyo showed both profit and loss, and in March 2017, it was frozen in the midst of the general unprofitability of the Russian online cinema market.

Investments

In late 2013, Innova bought the exclusive rights to develop KidZania, a Mexican network of game training parks, in

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

, the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

, and

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

. The rights were previously held by a subsidiary of the

Kuwait Kuwait (; ar, الكويت ', or ), officially the State of Kuwait ( ar, دولة الكويت '), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated in the northern edge of Eastern Arabia at the tip of the Persian Gulf, bordering Iraq to the nort ...

i company M.H. Alshaya Co. Investments in the project, made by Innova shareholders and partner companies, amounted to $2530 million. In January 2016, the first Russian KidZania opened in the shopping center Aviapark on the

Khodynka field Khodynka Field (russian: Ходынское поле, ''Khodynskoye pole'') is a large open space in the north-west of Moscow, at the beginning of the present day Leningradsky Prospect. It takes its name from the small Khodynka River which used t ...

in Moscow. At the end of 2016, the investment advisory firm Winter Capital Partners, associated with Russian businessman

Vladimir Potanin Vladimir Olegovich Potanin (russian: Владимир Олегович Потанин; born 3 January 1961) is a Russian billionaire businessman. He acquired his wealth notably through the controversial loans-for-shares program in Russia in ...

, acquired 21.5% of Luxembourg's Innova Partners, the operator of KidZania edutainment parks. Investments were aimed at supporting international expansion: the company plans to open parks in 2018-2019 in Los Angeles, Dallas, Chicago, and Paris in 2018-2019. Also in late 2013, Innova became a co-owner of the Russian digital distribution system for legal video content Pladform, founded by Armen Gulyan. Georgy Chumburidze invited

Ivan Tavrin Ivan Vladimirovich Tavrin ( rus, Иван Владимирович Таврин; born November 1, 1976) is a Russian oligarch, investor, and founder of several major corporations. Currently he is the Chief Executive Officer of Kismet Capital Group. ...

as a co-investor in the project. Innova played a role of the project’s financial investor with a smaller control package, with Armen Gulinyan, the founder of Pladform, remaining responsible for the management. In 2016, Pladform merged with the Russian video hosting

Rutube RUTUBE is a Russian video platform. It includes a library of licensed content including movies, series, cartoons, shows, and live broadcasts. It also hosts blogs, podcasts, game streams, and educational content. RUTUBE has web, iOS, Android ...

, as a result of which 33.3% of the merged company Ruform transferred to

Gazprom-Media Gazprom-Media (russian: ОАО Газпром-Медиа) is the largest Russian media holding. Gazprom-Media was established in January 1998 as a subsidiary of the 1997 established Gazprom Media Holdings. On its founding in 1997, Gazprom Media H ...

holding, and the remaining shares were divided between Pladform co-owners. The Swedish video game holding company

Enad Global 7 Enad Global 7 AB (also known as EG7) is a Swedish video game holding company based in Stockholm. It was founded as Toadman Interactive in 2013 by Robin Flodin and Rasmus Davidsson as a work-for-hire consultancy studio. The company began fully ...

wholly acquired Innova in February 25, 2021 with shares worth , the acquisition was finished on March 31, 2021.

Games published

Defunct

References

External links

* {{Authority control 2021 mergers and acquisitions Companies based in Moscow Video game companies of Russia Video game publishers Russian companies established in 2006 Video game companies established in 2006