Buka Entertainment
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Buka Entertainment JSC () — is one of the oldest Russian
video game developer A video game developer is a software developer specializing in video game development – the process and related disciplines of creating video games. A game developer can range from one person who undertakes all tasks to a large business with em ...
s and
publishers Publishing is the activities of making information, literature, music, software, and other content, physical or digital, available to the public for sale or free of charge. Traditionally, the term publishing refers to the creation and distribu ...
. Headquartered in
Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...
, the company was officially established in 1994. Since 2008, it is a part of the
1C Company 1C Company (, ) is a Russian software developer, distributor and publisher based in Moscow. It develops, manufactures, licenses, supports and sells computer software, related services and video games. In Russia, 1C develops and sells the business ...
. Although Buka produces its own games, it is mostly known for acting as a publisher for independent developers and a localizer for AAA companies, such as
Valve Corporation Valve Corporation, also known as Valve Software, is an American video game developer, video game publisher, publisher, and digital distribution company headquartered in Bellevue, Washington. It is the developer of the software distribution pl ...
,
Deep Silver Deep Silver is an Austrian video game publisher and a division of Plaion. History Deep Silver was announced in November 2002, with their first release to be '' Anarchy Online: The Notum Wars''. According to Craig McNichol, who ran Koch Medi ...
,
Ubisoft Ubisoft Entertainment SA (; ; formerly Ubi Soft Entertainment SA) is a French video game publisher headquartered in Saint-Mandé with development studios across the world. Its video game franchises include '' Anno'', '' Assassin's Creed'', ' ...
,
Square Enix is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational holding company, video game publisher and entertainment conglomerate. It releases role-playing video game, role-playing game franchises, such as ''Final Fantasy'', ''Dragon Quest'', and '' ...
, Alawar,
THQ THQ Inc. was an American video game company based in Agoura Hills, California. It was founded in April 1990 by Jack Friedman, originally in Calabasas, and became a public company the following year through a reverse merger takeover. Initial ...
, and others. As of 2017, the company released over 1000 titles for various platforms, including PC, PS4,
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,
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, Android, and
iPhone OS Ios, Io or Nio (, ; ; locally Nios, Νιός) is a Greek island in the Cyclades group in the Aegean Sea. Ios is a hilly island with cliffs down to the sea on most sides. It is situated halfway between Naxos and Santorini. It is about long and ...
.


History


Early history and expansion (1994-2008)

The idea to start a developing company unofficially hatched among Igor Ustinov, Andrey Antonov, Oleg Beloborodov, and Marina Ravun (Kapustina upon marriage) in 1993. Initially, their working group, provisionally called "Bravo", planned to develop a new
gaming console A video game console is an electronic device that outputs a video signal or image to display a video game that can typically be played with a game controller. These may be home consoles, which are generally placed in a permanent location connect ...
, but later gave up the idea and decided to focus instead on distributing
Sega Mega Drive The Sega Genesis, known as the outside North America, is a 16-bit Fourth generation of video game consoles, fourth generation home video game console developed and sold by Sega. It was Sega's third console and the successor to the Master Sys ...
and its games in Russia. In February 1994, Ustinov registered the official company under the name of Buka. Despite the general belief that the name's origins were connected to the word "
bogeyman The bogeyman (; also spelled or known as bogyman, bogy, bogey, and, in US English, also boogeyman) is a mythical creature typically used to frighten children into good behavior. Bogeymen have no specific appearances, and conceptions vary drast ...
" ("buka" in Russian), the company repeatedly stated that its name is an
acronym An acronym is a type of abbreviation consisting of a phrase whose only pronounced elements are the initial letters or initial sounds of words inside that phrase. Acronyms are often spelled with the initial Letter (alphabet), letter of each wor ...
of the founders' surnames. In 1994—1996 Buka Entertainment signed contracts with
Panasonic is a Japanese multinational electronics manufacturer, headquartered in Kadoma, Osaka, Kadoma, Japan. It was founded in 1918 as in Fukushima-ku, Osaka, Fukushima by Kōnosuke Matsushita. The company was incorporated in 1935 and renamed and c ...
and
Sony is a Japanese multinational conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered at Sony City in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. The Sony Group encompasses various businesses, including Sony Corporation (electronics), Sony Semiconductor Solutions (i ...
to distribute 3DO and
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games and consoles in Russia. Simultaneously, the company formed partnerships with several Russian companies, developing games for PC. In 1996, Buka began to work in the game-publishing business, starting off with the release of a PC-game "Russian Roulette" in the same year. This item was one of the first computer games developed and published in Russia. Following the success of "Russian Roulette", in 1997-1998, Buka released and licensed Rage of Mages (developed by Nival), Vangers (by K-D Lab), and (by ), thus entering the global market. In 1998, Buka also became one of the most active representatives of the Russian
anti-piracy Anti-piracy may refer to: * Anti-piracy measures Piracy is an act of robbery or criminal violence by ship or boat-borne attackers upon another ship or a coastal area, typically with the goal of stealing cargo and valuable goods, or taking ...
movement, also known as the "Russian Shield" organization. While the number of licensed games in "boxed" versions did not exceed 2% of the total video games market in Russia, the absolute majority of the sold games was counterfeit. Therefore, the official distributors could not gain enough profit for their licensed products. Responding to this challenge, Buka started releasing games in cheaper jewel cases, thereby equalizing the prices for licensed games with the pirate ones. Red Comrades Save the Galaxy was the first game released in such a format. A year later the company opened a localization branch and became one of the first official game localizers on the Russian market. The same year Buka released a Russian version of
Heroes of Might and Magic III ''Heroes of Might and Magic III: The Restoration of Erathia'' (commonly referred to as ''Heroes of Might & Magic 3'', or ''Heroes 3'', or abbreviated HoMM 3) is a turn-based strategy game developed by Jon Van Caneghem through New World Comput ...
. Although the company had to withdraw the first batch of discs in order to correct some mistakes in translation, the
royalty payment A royalty payment is a payment made by one party to another that owns a particular asset, for the right to ongoing use of that asset. Royalties are typically agreed upon as a percentage of gross or net revenues derived from the use of an asset or ...
that Buka received for the localization, was comparable to the revenue generated by the game's American publisher,
The 3DO Company The 3DO Company was an American video game company based in Redwood City, California. It was founded in 1991 by Electronic Arts founder Trip Hawkins in a partnership with seven other companies to develop the 3DO standard of video gaming hardware ...
. Over the next years, Buka localized a number of globally popular games, including
Wizardry 8 ''Wizardry 8'' is the last installment in the '' Wizardry'' series of role-playing video games developed by Sir-Tech Canada. Serving as the third game in the "''Dark Savant'' trilogy," it follows '' Wizardry VI: Bane of the Cosmic Forge'' and '' ...
,
Far Cry ''Far Cry'' is an anthology franchise of first-person shooter games published by Ubisoft. The first game, '' Far Cry'', was developed by Crytek to premiere their CryEngine software, and released in March 2004. Subsequently, Ubisoft obtained ...
,
Half-Life 2 ''Half-Life 2'' is a 2004 first-person shooter game developed and published by Valve Corporation. It was published for Windows on Valve's digital distribution service, Steam. Like the original ''Half-Life'' (1998), ''Half-Life 2'' is played ent ...
, FlatOut, Supreme Commander, and others. In 2000, the company opened a new direction of game publishing - «Bukashka» - and registered a trademark under the same name. The direction produced and localized video games for children. Until its acquisition by the 1C Company in 2008, Buka released a number of games produced by Russian developers, including a
flight simulator A flight simulator is a device that artificially re-creates aircraft flight and the environment in which it flies, for pilot training, design, or other purposes. It includes replicating the equations that govern how aircraft fly, how they rea ...
Echelon Echelon may refer to: * A level formation ** A level or rank in an organization, profession, or society ** A military sub-subunit smaller than a company but larger than a platoon ** Echelon formation, a step-like arrangement of units * ECHELO ...
,
strategy game A strategy game or strategic game is a game in which the players' uncoerced, and often autonomous, decision-making skills have a high significance in determining the outcome. Almost all strategy games require internal decision tree-style think ...
The Entente: Battlefields WW1,
RPG RPG may refer to: Military * Rocket-propelled grenade, a shoulder-launched anti-tank weapon **''Ruchnoi Protivotankoviy Granatomyot'' (Russian: ''Ручной Противотанковый Гранатомёт''), hand-held anti-tank grenade laun ...
, and other items. Among them, the most noticeable games published by the company were
first-person shooters A first-person shooter (FPS) is a video game genre, video game centered on gun fighting and other weapon-based combat seen from a First person (video games), first-person perspective, with the player experiencing the action directly through t ...
The Stalin Subway and Pathologic, released in 2004 and 2005 respectively. The latter game received favorable reviews among Russian players and critics and was appraised with several awards. However, in English-speaking countries it received mixed or negative reviews mainly because of its inadequate English translations.


New ownership (2008-present)

In early 2008, Finam Holdings and the Norum Fund, cumulatively owning the
controlling interest A controlling interest is an ownership interest in a corporation with enough voting stock shares to prevail in any stockholders' motion. A majority of voting shares (over 50%) is always a controlling interest. When a party holds less than the maj ...
of Buka's shares, expressed their intentions to sell the company. Ustinov, Antonov, Beloborodov, and Ravun, collectively holding the rest of the company's shares, supported this decision. The same year, in July, another Russian video games publisher and developer, the 1C Company, announced the acquisition of Buka Entertainment. Both companies highlighted that they would not merge: instead, they planned collaborative publishing, marketing, and distribution activities. Due to the
2008 financial crisis The 2008 financial crisis, also known as the global financial crisis (GFC), was a major worldwide financial crisis centered in the United States. The causes of the 2008 crisis included excessive speculation on housing values by both homeowners ...
, Buka lost part of its revenue, resulting in the company's massive
layoff A layoff or downsizing is the temporary suspension or permanent termination of employment of an employee or, more commonly, a group of employees (collective layoff) for business reasons, such as personnel management or downsizing an organization ...
in 2009. According to Buka's general director, Alexander Mikhailov, the releases of Company of Heroes: Tales of Valor and
Saints Row 2 ''Saints Row 2'' is a 2008 action-adventure game developed by Volition and published by THQ. It is the sequel to 2006's '' Saints Row'' and the second installment in the ''Saints Row'' series. The game was released in October 2008 for the Pla ...
helped the company to recover from the financial losses. In 2010, together with Alawar (bought the same year by 1C as well), Buka published the third part of a popular
casual game A casual game is a video game targeted at a mass market audience, as opposed to a hardcore game, which is targeted at hobbyist gamers. Casual games may exhibit any type of gameplay and genre. They generally involve simpler rules, shorter sessio ...
series Farm Frenzy. Upon localizing AAA-projects
Portal 2 ''Portal 2'' is a 2011 puzzle-platform game developed by Valve for Windows, macOS, Linux, PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360. The digital PC versions are distributed online by Valve's Steam service, while all retail editions are distributed by Elect ...
and Might & Magic Heroes VI in 2011, the company opened its own digital shop in 2013. In 2015, Buka gained the status of a licensed publisher on
Steam Steam is water vapor, often mixed with air or an aerosol of liquid water droplets. This may occur due to evaporation or due to boiling, where heat is applied until water reaches the enthalpy of vaporization. Saturated or superheated steam is inv ...
. In the following years, the company expanded its partnerships with international partners, becoming Activision Blizzard's, Nintendo's, and Steam Controller's official distributor in Russia. In 2017-2018, Buka participated in several exhibitions. In May, its
quest A quest is a journey toward a specific mission or a goal. It serves as a plot device in mythology and fiction: a difficult journey towards a goal, often symbolic or allegorical. Tales of quests figure prominently in the folklore of every nat ...
was nominated in the category "Excellence in Narrative" at the international exhibition . Later the same year, the company presented its localization of Kingdom Come: Deliverance at . In 2018, Buka appeared with its upcoming release of 9 Monkeys of Shaolin at the
Game Developers Conference The Game Developers Conference (GDC) is an annual conference for video game developers. The event includes an expo, networking events, and awards shows like the Game Developers Choice Award for Game of the Year, Game Developers Choice Awards and ...
and
Gamescom Gamescom (stylized as ''gamescom'') is a trade fair for video games held annually at the Koelnmesse in Cologne, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Gamescom is the world's largest gaming event, with 370,000 visitors and 1,037 exhibitors from 56 ...
, organized in
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and
Cologne Cologne ( ; ; ) is the largest city of the States of Germany, German state of North Rhine-Westphalia and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with nearly 1.1 million inhabitants in the city pr ...
respectively. In March 2021, Buka's general director, Alexander Mikhailov, died of a
stroke Stroke is a medical condition in which poor cerebral circulation, blood flow to a part of the brain causes cell death. There are two main types of stroke: brain ischemia, ischemic, due to lack of blood flow, and intracranial hemorrhage, hemor ...
. In June of the same year, the company reported the death of Mikhailov's successor, Maxim Lelkov.


References

{{reflist, 3 Video game companies established in 1994 Video game companies of Russia Video game localization Russian brands Video game publishers Companies based in Moscow Russian companies established in 1994 Video game publishing brands