About the project. Editorial policy

Who are we?

VGTimes is an independent information and analytical publication dedicated to video games, technology, cinema, and contemporary pop culture. The project was launched on July 19, 2010, by developer and game journalist Evgeny Sokolov (also known as the founder of LibertyCity).

Over 15 years, VGTimes has evolved from a niche portal to a multilingual media platform with a monthly audience of over 8 million unique users. Today, our team consists of more than 20 professionals: editors, analysts, and technical specialists.

What do we do?

We monitor dozens of global publications, insiders, and official press releases daily to provide our readers with the most relevant information.

Editorial materials: reviews, interviews, previews, analytics, author rankings, and opinions.
Game database: the largest catalog (63,000+ titles) with a system for checking system requirements, price comparisons, and useful files (mods, saves, trainers).
Community: we support a UGC panel and forum where users can publish their materials under the supervision of professional moderators.

Editorial standards and ethics

Rating system in reviews

We use a 10-point scale to evaluate the quality of games:

10 — Masterpiece. A game that sets industry standards.
9 — Excellent. Almost flawless project.
8 — Very good. A quality game with strong ideas.
7 — Good. A solid project that meets expectations.
6 — Satisfactory. Interesting ideas with uneven execution.
5 — Mediocre. A project with serious flaws.
4 and below — Poor. Technically or conceptually broken games.

Independence and AI

Objectivity: We do not accept payment for reviews. The editorial opinion is not influenced by advertising contracts.
Transparency: We always indicate the source of the copy for review (provided by the publisher or purchased by the editorial team).
Human factor: All our reviews and analytics are written by human experts. AI is not used.

Accuracy and Corrections

We strive for absolute accuracy. In case of factual errors, we update the material within 24 hours with a note "Updated" and a description of the correction.

Our History

The domain VGTimes.ru was registered on July 19, 2010. The site began operations in 2011.

Initially, VGTimes was a news resource, but soon reviews of games and other articles began to appear. Over time, the site started featuring reviews of movies, animated films, and series. Meanwhile, the news department continues to keep its finger on the pulse and cover major events in the gaming sphere.

In 2015, a large game database was launched, which continues to grow. That same year, a guide section was established, which was made possible in no small part due to the high-profile release of Fallout 4. The editorial team aimed to uncover all the secrets of the Bethesda Game Studios project and assist players in their gameplay.

In 2016, a price aggregator was launched on the site, where users can track the best deals on games across a large number of marketplaces. Thus, VGTimes helps users save money. Additionally, users can win a free game in the "Tavern" section.

Since 2019, the site has featured a tests section. Users can participate in a fun challenge on a relevant gaming topic and learn something new about themselves. In 2020, "versus" sections were added, where readers choose their favorite hero, game, or something else.

Since July 28, 2020, VGTimes is a registered trademark.

Main sections:

As of today, VGTimes is represented on most social networks, as well as on major video hosting platforms:

A friendly website LibertyCity dedicated to Rockstar Games and Take-Two Interactive games is operational.

Site Ratings

The site participated in the LiveInternet ranking until 2022 in the "Games" category. From 2015 to 2018, it ranked 7th.

In 2019, it moved up to 5th.

In December 2020, it ranked 1st.

In 2022, it left the ranking for ethical reasons.

Participation in international exhibitions and showcases

From October 4 to 7, 2018, the VGTimes team covered the gaming exhibition "Igromir" in Moscow;

March 2019 — a VGTimes journalist was invited to evaluate the early version of Pagan: Absent Gods in Belgrade (Serbia);

From August 20 to 24, 2019, the VGTimes editorial team actively participated in the gamescom exhibition in Cologne (Germany);

From October 3 to 6, 2019, VGTimes journalists worked at the "Igromir" exhibition in Moscow;

July 2019 — editorial representatives were invited to showcase new technologies and solutions from MSI in Girona (Spain);

January 2020 — a reporter from the VGTimes editorial team studied the game Doom Eternal in Berlin (Germany) before its release;

2020/2022 — VGTimes served as a jury at the Indie Cup Indie Cup;

December 10, 2023 — the editorial team covered the cyber tournament for PUBG Mobile from the "Ulker Sports Arena" in Istanbul (Turkey).

September 26-29, 2024 — traveled to Japan to cover the Tokyo Game Show 2024, the largest gaming exhibition in the world. All details and photos from the event in this material.

August 1-4, 2025 — VGTimes editor-in-chief Rodion Ilyin visited the ChinaJoy 2025 exhibition, which took place in Shanghai, China. In this material we will show and tell how one of the main gaming exhibitions in Asia and the world looks like.

October 16-19, 2025, in the hot capital of Thailand the gamescom asia took place together with the Thailand Game Show. Editor-in-chief Rodion Ilyin couldn't stay home during these days, packed a camera, microphone, and a couple of socks into his backpack, and hurriedly flew to Bangkok to interview developers and prepare reports from the event. From this trip, he managed to bring back a record number of interviews (17!), including with Dead Space author Glen Schofield, the authors of Dead by Daylight , and the development director of Santa Monica Studio (God of War and Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions) Megan Morgan Junio.

January 6-9, 2026 — VGTimes at CES 2026 in Las Vegas, USA. The Consumer Electronics Show is one of the largest annual exhibitions in the world dedicated to consumer electronics and new technologies. It gathers leading companies that showcase innovations in computer technology, gadgets, home appliances, cars, gaming devices, and other tech innovations. At CES, the most interesting and promising devices that will appear on the market in the near future are often announced. VGTimes editor-in-chief Rodion Ilyin simply couldn't stay away and flew to Las Vegas to report on everything from the event.

We are cited and referenced by publishers and developers

The Dark Pictures Anthology: House of Ashes

Little Nightmares II

Doom Eternal

Blood & Truth

Syberia: The World Before

MSI

Our expert analysis of 2021 in terms of game releases for App2Top

Interviews with developers

What kind of game journalism would it be without interviews? Our exclusives are published here.

VGTimes in scientific works and research

Scientific work: “Digital Transformation of Russian Gaming Media: Analysis of Major Online Platforms”

Scientific work: “On the Main Information Resources for Youth, Risks and Threats of Social Networks”

Scientific work: “Modern Socio-Economic and Legal Research”

Scientific work: “The Concept of Lean Production in the Gaming Company Nintendo”

Scientific work: “Content analysis of top youth resources in the Russian segment of the computer-interactive social system”

Scientific work: “Translation of video games in the paradigm of audiovisual translation”

Scientific work: “The essence of game journalism and the specifics of its formation in Russia”

Scientific work: “Comparative analysis of the interfaces of websites about computer games”

Scientific work: “Methods of linguistic localization of video games (using SONY games as an example): master's thesis”

User-generated content and activity

Our website provides the possibility of authorization and, we repeat, creating user-generated materials. All of them undergo moderation and are published in the general feed with a mandatory label UGC. In addition, users can write on the forum, leave comments on text materials (news, articles, tests), write reviews of games, test their PCs for compliance with the technical requirements of various games.

“Gifts in the Studio!” Nice surprises from publishers and developers

A stylish night lamp from Atomic Heart

A thick art book on “World of Ships”

And a lot more interesting stuff...

Local gaming events, presentations, and showcases featuring VGTimes

November 28 - December 1, 2024 — The VGTimes team at "RED Expo" in Moscow, including editor-in-chief Rodion Ilyin, authors Alexey Ermolayev, Dmitry Pyatakhin, and Konstantin Popov. VGTimes is the official media partner of the exhibition

The site team continuously conducted a large text report from the event, released separate previews and interviews, and also prepared a detailed video report from "RED Expo". Our cosplay contest became a special pride — we took photos, and you determined the best male and female images through voting.

The cosplay shooting process took a whole day, with a line to our photo zone of various heroes stretching the entire length of the pavilion. The world has never known such a multiverse!

Cosplay, console games, and an atmosphere of love for everything Asian — this is Hinode

November 2024 — the Asian culture festival Hinode and the console games CGF: Console Gaming Festival. What happened there and why you need to see it — in our report from the event.

October 2024 — press event for Gran Saga

Event details and announced news — here.

More about the tournament, related activities, and winners can be found here.

December 2022 — Astrum Entertainment and VK held a whole theatrical performance with a lavish banquet to celebrate the launch of Atomic Heart

A large piece on the outcome of the gameplay session, which also took place between the theatrical performance and the banquet, can be found here.

June 2023 — event to mark the start of the new season in Battle Teams 2

More about the update and the event here.

November 2023 — Banquet for someone's coronation? No, just a presentation of the video game Xtract

Details of the announcement made during the event in our news.

December 2023 — press event in St. Petersburg for Escape From Tarkov: Arena. Journalists and bloggers were taken to a shooting range to shoot with real assault rifles, shotguns, and pistols. Then they were invited to compare the sensations from the weapons in the game

After several gaming sessions, we prepared material about everything we managed to learn about EFT:Arena.

April 2019 — CS tournament in Moscow, victory for the team from Novosibirsk

More about the esports tournament MGA Uni Cup for CS:GO, organized by MSI, we wrote in our news.

April 2019 — event for the launch of Rage 2 in Moscow

June 2019 — Black Desert event on the occasion of a major update launch. The dessert with sour cream sauce was simply finger-licking good. However, the mushroom soup-noodle was also top-notch

About how the meeting of Black Desert fans with developers in Moscow went, we told here.

September 2019 — Fortnite tournament with NERF blasters in reality, VGTimes representative fought bravely!

We reported on the tournament progress here.

October 2019 — presentation of a major update for Lost Ark. And Helavisa's performance

More photos and details from the event at the link.

2018 — the opening of the (now closed) Bethesda Softworks office in Russia and the launch of Fallout 76

We covered all the most important and interesting things from the festival here.

Contacts

Editor-in-chief: Rodion Ilyin — [email protected] / [email protected]

PR and press releases: [email protected] / [email protected]

Advertising department: Anastasia — [email protected] / [email protected]