‘The freedom to be who you are’

On 28 May, Russia’s media regulator Roskomnadzor listed Romance Club’s webpages on the App Store and Google Play as “prohibited websites”. One of the app’s more recent storylines was also included in the list, likely due to it allowing players to choose their sexual orientation.

Your Story Interactive, the Moldova-based independent mobile game studio that developed the app, refused Roskomnadzor’s demands to remove all LGBT content from the game, opting to remove their app from the store in Russia instead.

“It was an agonising decision that we debated for countless hours as it affects our readers, our team and the future of Romance Club,” the studio wrote in their Telegram channel. “In the end, we came to the conclusion that our company values and the very essence of stories that promote diversity, inclusivity and the freedom to be who you are did not allow us to remove this content.”

The studio pledged that it would continue to release content in Russian and offer support to its Russian-speaking users in other countries despite the decision.

In November 2023, Russia’s Supreme Court ruled that the so-called “international LGBT movement” was an extremist organisation, a decision that made pro-LGBT activity punishable by up to 10 years in prison.

The majority of Romance Club staff and fans interviewed by Novaya Europe said they supported the company’s refusal to remove LGBT content from the game. They pointed out that the game has always prioritised player choice and applauded the company for standing firm.

“Deciding what your heroine will be like, what she will do, and most importantly, who she will love. We want to hold on to these freedoms going forward, for us this is important,” says Alexandra, the game’s lead writer and producer.

Yevgeniya, a fan and fanfiction writer of the game, says she supports the studio’s choice to maintain same-sex storylines. She says that the most important thing to her is that the developers will not be “cutting back on their activities”.

Anna, whose name has been changed for anonymity, voices the dialogue of the characters in the game for fan videos. While she recognises that the studio’s decision to remove the app means Romance Club’s large following in Russia may struggle to play the game, she said she believed that the inclusivity in the stories was integral to their appeal. “It’s partly because of this diversity and tolerance that the stories attract people, and it wouldn’t be the same without them,” she explained.

Digital soap opera

Your Story Interactive released Romance Club in 2018. According to Russian independent media outlet Tinkoff Journal, the scripts for most of its stories were written by Russian speakers.

While the app has garnered a following in Europe and the United States, its largest fanbase is in Russia. It offers 42 distinct stories, or “novellas”, in which players can customise their character and navigate relationships with other characters through dialogue choices to change how the story ends.

“Romance Club has simple and straightforward game mechanics. It’s a game-novella, where all you need to do is follow the story and choose which direction to go. Each story is divided into chapters that can be completed in a 20-30 minute work break,” games journalist Natalya Belova*, explained in an interview with Novaya Europe.

Romance Club draws players in and keeps them invested, Belova added, with some storyline choices requiring diamonds, the game’s premium currency, to unlock them.

With over 1.5 million users who are eagerly awaiting new stories currently subscribed to the game’s group on VK, Russia’s biggest social network, the app’s overwhelming popularity recalls Russia’s well-documented passion for soap operas.

“In Romance Club, you can pick a novella by genre, but all of them include romance choices. And Russia is particularly fond of melodramas,” Belova says.

It’s often the large following and the fan-made content that draws new players to the game. Irina, a player who also makes Romance Club fan art, recalls first seeing memes about the game in 2019. She subsequently decided to download the app, thinking she would only play for a short time, but says she’s still playing five years later.

Alexandra believes that the game’s success can be attributed to the effort her team puts into each story. “We accompany each story with good visuals and music that a lot of people work on. Each one is made with heart and I think the players can feel that,” she says.

Romance Club’s popularity isn’t just limited to just the game, however. In the past two years, two books based on the app’s novellas and even a card game for couples have been released as well.

A loyal following

Although the app has been removed from Russian app stores, this hasn’t stopped players in Russia from continuing to use it. Many are likely to download updates directly from the website or find other workarounds. Nevertheless, Alexandra concedes that long-term planning remains challenging.

“The only thing we can say for certain is that we will continue to create content in Russian, and we’ll be counting on the support of Russian-speaking fans,” Alexandra says. “Romance Club has a huge number of readers all over the world. We care about all our players and will do everything we can to minimise inconvenience.”

Belova is confident Romance Club won’t be going anywhere though, stressing that its fan base has already grown by such huge proportions that Roskomnadzor’s intervention is unlikely to change anything.

"The game will probably continue to be downloaded using whatever workarounds can be found, as is already the case today with almost any content that is blocked,” Belova said, adding that she expected analogues of Romance Club that “don’t break the law” would “become more frequent.”

“I really hope that everything will be fine from now on, that the app will continue to grow and release stories,” Yevgenia said. “And that nobody will remove the same-sex storylines.”

* not her real name