Why Computer Clubs Are Thriving Again in Tyumen and Who Owns Them

In Tyumen right now, more than 50 computer clubs are open — including branches of federal chains and local businesses. What was a refuge for teenagers in the 2000s, where you could skip school and play with friends, has turned into a huge industry.

As it turns out, in Tyumen, the clubs are owned by quite well-known and far from poor people. In this article, we tell how cyber rentals began bringing in millions and which Tyumen businessmen were made wealthy by gamers.

Why Computer Clubs Have Returned

In the 2020s, cyber clubs are experiencing a new heyday. This is evident both from the number of outlets opened in the city and from the number of visitors: customers book PCs in advance, as if it«s not games but a visit to a popular restaurant.

Dmitry Lukin, founder of the LANGAME ecosystem (an aggregator of all computer clubs available in Russian cities, through which you can book services — Ed.), explained this phenomenon with several factors in a conversation with 72.RU.

— First, games have become a mass leisure format: the audience is growing, and the hobby itself is no longer perceived as niche or marginal. Second, the format of clubs has changed. Today, it«s a social space, a meeting point for people with common interests. Third, the industry is developing: service levels are rising, the range of services is expanding, owners are actively investing in marketing, — he believes.

Tyumen residents interviewed by 72.RU agree with him.

— It«s something like going to a bar with friends. I rarely go to such places alone. In a cyber club, team play feels different: it evokes more emotions, which you can express brightly and loudly without fear, not worrying about neighbors, — notes Tyumen resident Alexey.

However, it«s not just this that makes people go “to the computers” again. With the advent of first mining, which drove up graphics card prices, and then AI content, which caused RAM to become more expensive, home PCs started increasing in price rapidly, with the same RAM becoming 30% more expensive in just a week. Now, buying a powerful PC will cost 100,000–200,000 rubles ($1,000–2,000 at current rates) and up.

This is emphasized by our reader Dmitry.

— We used to go there because not everyone had gaming computers. Now, when I have my own PC at home, I can«t even remember when we last dropped into a club, — he says.

Dmitry Lukin also speaks about rising prices. Assembling a powerful gaming computer is becoming expensive. Moreover, he believes, the very culture of technology consumption is changing: for personal use, people more often buy laptops, tablets, and smartphones, not stationary PCs.

How Much Cyber Clubs in Tyumen Earn

According to LANGAME, there are now about 4000 clubs in Russian cities — 29% more than a year earlier. Opening one club with a safety margin for several years now costs 20 million rubles ($200,000 at current rates). A few years ago, it was significantly cheaper.

But the business also brings in considerable money. For example, the Association for the Development of Cybersports Infrastructure (ARCI) reports that in December 2025, the median revenue of a computer club in Russia was about 800,000 rubles ($8,000 at current rates) per month, in Tyumen — 784,000 rubles ($7,840 at current rates) per month.

— The total revenue of the city«s computer clubs for the same period is fixed at 35.5 million rubles ($355,000 at current rates), meaning successful Tyumen venues earn two to three times more than the median indicator. ARCI data was collected from 41 clubs in the city and gives an understanding that the region shows quite a good result, at the level of the Russian average, — say LANGAME.

Businessmen Who Quickly Understood This

In total, looking at 2GIS, there are 56 computer clubs in Tyumen. We won«t talk about each one, but we»ll reveal the owners of several large chains operating in Tyumen. Among them are very well-known and wealthy Tyumen residents, businessmen from Yamal, and federal players.

A Well-Known Deputy and Owners of TsUM

Surely in the city you«ve come across clubs with the sign eSports Central Arena — this is a local cyber club chain that has five branches in the city. The owner of the trademark and club chain is OOO “Central Cyber Arena”. Who owns this business?

So, the company is divided among four founders:

Sergey Morev (30%).

Andrey Glazunov (30%).

Nikolay Osintsev (30%).

Yekaterina Ovchinnikova (10%).

Osintsev and Glazunov are connected with Tyumen«s TsUM. The first is a co-owner, the second was on the board of directors of the company. Besides, both businessmen are co-owners of Tyumen branches of premium fitness clubs World Class.

Sergey Morev is a well-known businessman in the city and a deputy of the city duma. In the duma, he represents the “A Just Russia” faction. In 2021, he got into an unpleasant situation: his candidacy was removed from elections due to undeclared foreign assets in his declaration.

OOO “Central Cyber Arena” in 2024 reported a net profit of 14 million rubles ($140,000 at current rates). Annual revenue is 52 million rubles ($520,000 at current rates). And the indicators, according to Rusprofile, have been growing steadily and without failures since 2019.

Son of the Auto King

Another popular club is cyber lounge Noproblemz. In the city, there are now two establishments with that name. OOO “No Problem” is owned by Ivan Mikhailov (51%) and Oleg Balashov (49%).

Ivan Mikhailov is the general director of the holding “DINA”, a well-known Tyumen auto dealer. The company was inherited from his father Vladimir Mikhailov, who died suddenly in 2016. Besides the auto business, the investment portfolio of “Dina” includes markets (“Mikhailovsky”, “Severny”) and development (House of Life “Sibir”, business center on Kholodilnaya Street, 77).

His business partner Oleg Balashov is not as well-known; the man only has cyber business and individual entrepreneurship. In 2020, when demand for computer clubs was just heating up, he told 72.RU that future cybersportsmen often came to them.

— Everyone used to want to become firefighters or police officers, and now they want to be cybersportsmen. This is a very large audience. A team that holds training sessions often comes to us. Of course, everything is online for us, but the guys lack live contact. This is also very important, — said Oleg Balashov.

The business of Balashov and Mikhailov also showed rapid growth from 2019 to 2022, but since 2023, there has been a decline in both profit and revenue. In 2024, revenue is 12 million rubles ($120,000 at current rates), but there are difficulties with profit — 2.9 million rubles ($29,000 at current rates) in losses.

Federal Networks

Now on the Tyumen cyber entertainment market, there are two big federal players — Colizeum and True Gamers. The first is owned by entrepreneurs from Moscow Nikolay Antonov and Dmitry Smurov.

Previously, the entrepreneurs developed barbershops TopGun, and now they are engaged in entertainment in the gaming sphere. The first club opened in Moscow in 2017, and now the network has dozens of points across Russia. In 2022, the business turnover reached 2.3 billion rubles ($23 million at current rates), wrote Forbes.

In 2024, the legal structure of the company changed, and currently, the network belongs to OOO “UK Kolizeum”. In Tyumen, three points are now open, and a fourth club is being prepared for opening.

The second major networker — True Gamers — is registered in Moscow Oblast. The owners of the business are Anton Vasilenko (51%), Vladislav Gurov (25%), and Vladislav Belyanin (24%). In Tyumen, there is currently only one club of this network.

The revenue of this business in 2024 was 40 million rubles ($400,000 at current rates) with a loss of 975 thousand rubles ($9,750 at current rates). However, according to Rusprofile, the company recovered after a financial failure in 2023 and started growing again.

Businessmen from the North

Another four clubs in the city are owned by people with the surname Aliyev. This is the Gamer Pro network. Despite the fact that the points are clearly connected (on social networks they are listed as a network of clubs), the owners are different — and all are registered as individual entrepreneurs.

Thus, the first club on Nikolaya Gondatti is owned by David Sabirovich Aliyev, the second, in Novopatrushevo — Vali Sabirovich Aliyev, the third, on Kievskaya — Yekaterina Vitalyevna Aliyev, and the fourth, in Zareka, also by David Sabirovich Aliyev.

David and Vali Sabirovich, apparently, are brothers from Noyabrsk. Yekaterina is probably Vali Aliyev«s wife. On the club»s social networks, the girl is named the owner of the Gamer Pro network.

Since all points are registered to individual entrepreneurs, there is no data on the income of this business. However, things are clearly going well for the entrepreneurs: in 2024 and 2025, they opened two clubs. One of them — in a prestigious residential complex in the city on Gazovikov.

Besides this, in the city, there are many single clubs that are not opened under a franchise and have no branches. The price of PC rental in the city varies, but roughly starts from 120 rubles ($1.20 at current rates) per hour and up.

Earlier, we told about the largest companies by revenue in Tyumen Oblast. The list included oil workers, pharmacists, companies of scandalous businessmen known to all, and figures in high-profile criminal cases.