Larisa Nuretdinova, a gaming analyst at Nival Interactive, one of the most internationally successful Russian game developers, joined RT to share her opinion on multiplayer gaming and the future of Russia's gaming industry.

Russia Today: How popular is multiplayer gaming in Russia? Do you see a lot of these kind of tournaments?

Larisa Nuretdinova: Well, multiplaying games in Russia are now very popular, especially that internet connections are growing rapidly in Russia, also in the distant regions, not only in the capital and big cities. Many people are now paying attention to the gaming experience. Unfortunately, there are now only a few games presented officially so there are not that many official tournaments happening in Russia now, because most of the players still play pirate and privately held services. So, it is hard to tell the total number but it is about 700,000 people playing multiplayer games in Russia.

RT: There is quite a lot of prize money if you are good enough to claim it, but at the end of the day, can you make enough to make a living? Can you make a career as a professional player?

L.N.: Well, actually yes and as a professional player you can join many championships worldwide. And many of them, as you have said, have got good money prizes. So any experience can earn money, even gaming experience.

RT: Do you see the Russian multiplayer games competing with Western ones in the years to come or do you think that the Russians will stay with niche games as opposed to blockbuster games?

L.N.: No, I am sure that in a certain period of time, Russian companies will be able to compete with Western ones. We just follow behind in experience, you know, because Russian computer industry started a bit later then in the U.S. and other countries. But we are running very tight and I am sure we will give beat many games and many Russian games will be played worldwide and people will enjoy them.