The country's first monument dedicated to a video game will appear in the Russian capital. As part of the Video Game Hall of Fame project, a monument to Tetris, created by Soviet programmer Alexei Pajitnov, will be erected. The video game was selected by popular vote for inclusion in the "Hall of Fame". The task of designing the monument is one of the most popular among the participants of the Design Factory 3.0 contest.

According to a study conducted by the Video Game Industry Development Organization in collaboration with the NAFI analytical center, more than 60% of Russians play video games. At the same time, more than 50% of the Russian video game market is generated in Moscow. Many iconic video game studios are of Moscow origin. After the installation of the monument to the Tetris video game, the capital will receive a new interesting tourist location, a symbol of pride in the achievements at the dawn of the video game industry in our country, which may lead to the emergence of similar solutions in Russian regions with video game history and potential.

The Tetris video game had a huge impact on the industry and served as a source of inspiration for many developers and studios. Since 1984, the puzzle has been ported to almost all platforms, downloaded more than 100 million times. In 1993, Tetris became the first game to be played in space, and in 2002, Briton Fayez Chopdat received a four-month prison sentence for refusing to turn off his phone during flight so as not to interrupt the game. Tetris was also officially recognized as a work of art — a copy of the game is kept at MOMA in New York.

"The contribution that Tetris has made to the video game industry cannot be overestimated. It is the most downloaded and most famous puzzle video game in the world. This game helps not only to have fun, but even to treat PTSD. In order to perpetuate the memory and express recognition to the creators, it was decided to install an appropriate facility in Moscow," said Vasily Ovchinnikov, head of the RVR. 

There are examples of monuments dedicated to the video game industry in the world: 

- Video Game Hall of Fame, Texas, USA,
- Statue of an orc from the Warcraft franchise, California, USA,
- Statue of Sonic from the Sonic franchise, Osaka, Japan.

Right now, the participants of the Design Factory 3.0 are working on the design of the monument. The competition has been held by the Agency for Creative Industries together with the Union of Designers of Russia since 2022. It covers all areas of design and is a platform for building professional interaction between designers and companies in the real sector of the economy.

"The popularity of the project is growing: the number of participants in the first stream has increased by more than 50 percent compared to last year. Applications were submitted by over 480 industry specialists from 34 regions of Russia, most of them from Moscow, the Moscow Region, St. Petersburg and the Republic of Crimea," said Gulnara Agamova, Head of the Creative Industries Agency. 

Face-to-face presentations of design projects will be held until August 19, after which the results will be announced. After the competition is held and the layout of the monument is determined, work will begin on the implementation of the art object. 

The work is evaluated by Russian design experts, including: 

- Vitaly Stavitsky, President of the Union of Designers of Russia;
- Sergey Smirnov, Vice President of the Union of Designers of Russia, Founder and CEO of the Smirnov Design Company;
- Alexey Karfidov, Founder and General Designer of Karfidov Lab, Head of the Department of Technological Equipment Engineering at NUST MISIS;
- Alexey Kutyaev, founder and creative director of the Art-Up industrial design studio and others.

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The Video Game Industry Hall of Fame is the flagship project of the RVR about the best of the best in Russian game development since its inception and about those who influenced the development of the gaming industry and its culture. The "Hall of Fame" includes people and games that can safely be called legendary. As part of the project, a website and a mini-application for popular voting were developed.

The project aims to draw attention to representatives of the Russian game industry, support their creative potential now and develop it in the future, preserve and cherish the contributions of those who stood at the origins of the industry and developed it, as well as highlight the best projects created in Russia and / or by Russian developers.

Design Factory is a design solutions competition. Within the framework of three streams, participants develop solutions under the guidance of recognized industry leaders.

Design projects selected by the jury and partner companies receive promotion and the opportunity to implement, and designers and design teams declare themselves in the industry. For beginners, the Design Factory is a career elevator and a place to meet future employers.

The project has been successfully implemented since 2022. In two years and the current first stream of 2024, the Design Factory has already gathered more than 1,000 participants and 300 partners from 70 regions of Russia. The companies offered 500+ tasks for developing design solutions. As a result, more than 90 cooperation agreements were signed between the participants of the competition and the customer companies.