Text taken from a news article which appeared in rbc.ru
Commentary by Russian military journalist Boris Rozhin is in italics.
[ColonelCassad] In light of Putin's recent proposals to move game project servers to Russia.
Roskomnadzor included the PUBG Mobile game in the register of information dissemination organizers. Companies included in the register must store data on user actions and transfer them upon request to the FSB. PUBG Mobile was the first video game on this list.
The video game PUBG Mobile and its publisher, the Singaporean company Proxima Beta, were included in the register of information dissemination organizers (IDO).
Roskomnadzor reported that the company was included in the register based on a request from “federal authorities carrying out operational investigative activities or ensuring security” in Russia. “This is necessary to ensure the assistance of owners of information resources in implementing the measures provided for by legislation in the field of information security,” the department said.
PUBG Mobile was the first game to make it to this list. In April, it was among the first foreign applications to appear in the Russian single store RuStore.
The register of organizers of information dissemination on the Internet has existed since 2014. Companies listed there are required to provide the FSB and other authorized government agencies with data on user actions, including the contents of correspondence.
1. Chinese and Asian manufacturers operating in the Chinese market will switch to new realities without any problems, since they work in such conditions in China itself.
2. The FSB will be able to control correspondence and chats of projects located in Russia. It is no big secret that intelligence services in many countries use game chats for contacts with agents. Our intelligence services also use these communication channels.
3. Some Western manufacturers, of course, will profane these requirements, so situations will inevitably arise when the question will be posed bluntly - either you comply or get out of the market. Someone will definitely leave. Companies with Chinese capital are likely to comply with government requirements.
4. Refuseniks will be banned through the RKN. Most of the refusenik games will still be able to be played via a VPN (with lower ping). With offline games everything is simpler, torrents are waiting. If we take consumers, then consumers of online shooters/action games, where the issue of ping is extremely critical, may suffer. And we are not yet considering the issue of strengthening state control over the market of VPN services by blocking those who refuse to obey.