Russia's Sber buys games.ru domain for $1mn

By bne IntelliNews October 15, 2021

Russia's largest state-controlled bank Sber (Sberbank) acquired the domain games.ru, Kommersant daily reported citing unnamed sources that put the price tag on the domain at $1mn.

As followed by bne IntelliNews, Russian internet major Mail.ru is the leader in the gaming segemnt. After successfully building a global e-gaming vertical it has become Mail.ru's second-largest revenue source after Communications and Social Media.

But reportedly Sbergames of Sberbank could boost its own gaming business under the Sber ecosystem, with subscriptions and games to be sold on the games.ru domain.  The bank launched the investment in gaming in spring 2021 with $100mn.

The analysts surveyed by Kommersant see games.ru deal as one of the largest .ru domain sales recently, and believe that Sber aims for a leadership position on the games market.

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