Russia is trying to make its own gaming consoles in a bid for technological independence

It’s no secret that Russia has been slowly working to avoid as much Western technology as possible and develop its own, and its latest efforts appear to be related to video games. On December 25, Anton Gorelkin, Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Committee on Information Policy, Some information about the home video game console being developed by the Ministry of Industry and Trade, as reported . The theoretical console will have an Elbrus processor and will be powered by Aurora or Alt Linux, both Russian forks of the popular Linux operating system.

according to TechSpotthe Elbrus processor was developed by the Moscow SPARC Technology Center and is primarily designed for defense, critical infrastructure and other applications. This processor falls short of what Intel, AMD, and Arm are currently producing, and it certainly won’t reach the power levels of the PS5 or Xbox. Despite the weaker chipset, Gorelkin confirmed that the console is not designed to play ports of older games, but will play “domestic video game products.” Presumably, this means that Russia will also need its own developer community to design these games.

There’s also another console called Fog Play in development, but it’s more of a cloud gaming device. Users with high-end computers can rent them to Fog Play owners, who play games on those computers through the cloud.

These potential controllers are only one aspect of Russia’s broader technological sovereignty plans. Since its invasion of Ukraine and subsequent Western sanctions, Russia has been trying to make that a reality – but… Makes this difficult.

The adoption of Astra Linux in government, intelligence, military, and even educational computers is another Russian effort to develop its own technology. To this end, Russia is also trying to replace the file and website scanner VirusTotal (owned by Google) with its own Multiscanner platform for fear of US government infiltration.

Despite this progress, Russia still relies heavily on Chinese technology. Chinese smartphones are very popular there, Chinese electronics and dual-use technology Until the Middle Kingdom them to the United States.

Russia will likely be unable to achieve true technological independence, in video games or other crucial areas, because it is too dependent on China and does not have the capabilities to produce chips at the level of the PS5 or Xbox. The two Russian video game consoles are a good example of the challenges the country faces given its poor relations with many of the world’s superpowers. Just as the Elbrus processor won’t really compete with the best consoles, Russia will likely continue to struggle for technological supremacy.