How Elena Grigorian plans to guide European game publisher My.Games

27.10.2023 - 16:07 / venturebeat.com

Elena Grigorian recently took over as CEO of My.Games, the former Russian game company that moved to Amsterdam after a buyout in the wake of the war in Ukraine.

Grigorian, previously chief strategy officer, took over from Vladimir Nikolsky, has stepped down from his CEO role at My.Games in September. The company has been through a lot of change.

Before the war in Ukraine started, My.Games had a lot of people working for it in Russia. In September 2022, Leta Capital managing director Alex Chachava acquired My.Games from VK for $642 million and proceeded to move it out of Russia. The remaining part of the company that stayed in Russia, including the Warface property, became a separate company dubbed Astrum Entertainment.

The new My.Games has most of the core of the old company, with more than 1,500 employees. Nikolsky credited Grigorian with having exceptional management skills, deep experience in international business, strong strategic vision, creativity, and inspirational leadership.

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Grigorian was part of My.Games since its exception, serving first as chief mraketing officer. She has over two decades of experience in gaming, including eight years in a top games position at Disney. She was part of the team that launched 70 games and saw a 14-fold increase in effective marketing investments and four-fold growth in overall business. The company has opened new offices in UAE, Serbia, Georgia and Armenia, and it unveiled titles like War Robots: Frontiers, Little Big Robots, and Hawked.

Key existing games include Rush Royale, War Robots, Hustle Castle, Left to Survive, and Grand Hotel Mania. Rush Royale achieved over 63 million installs and generated $230 million in revenue, while War Robots boasts a remarkable milestone of over 250 million registered players and lifetime gross
revenue exceeding $750 million since its launch.

I spoke with Grigorian about her plans. Here’s an edited transcript of our interview.

[GamesBeat: How is it going?]

Elena Grigorian: For the moment my schedule is pretty hectic. I believe that in two or three months it will be a little easier for me. But right now I need to talk with everybody, all the key members of my new team, to align our strategies together and so on.

GamesBeat: How many years have you been at the company now?

Grigorian: It’s about nine years, very close to that.

GamesBeat: How do you see this opportunity as far as what My.Games can do more of?

Grigorian: Before My.Games, I was part of the Disney Interactive family. When I had the opportunity to become the CMO of