Died General Director of the publishing house “Buka” Maxim Lelkov

General Director of the Russian Game Publishing House “Buka“(Buka Entertainment) Maxim Lelkov died at the age of 46. This was officially announced by the press service of the company.

The incident took place on June 2, but the cause of death was not named. It is also not yet known which of the top managers will head the publishing house.

“Maxim was a visionary and innovator, an excellent leader and a wonderful person. Our whole team would like to express our sincere condolences to family and friends,” the statement says.

For the past 15 years, Lelkov has been in charge of the Buka design department, but a couple of months ago he moved to the post of general director. This is due to the fact that in March 2023 died co-founder of the company Alexander Mikhailov…

GameMAG.ru editorial office brings his sincere condolences to the Buka employees, as well as to the family and friends of Maxim Lelkov.

“Buka” was created as a distributor of computer and console video games. In 1994, she managed to obtain the status of a Russian representative from most of the largest foreign game publishers at that time, and a year later she became an official representative. SEGA, Nintendo and Sony in Russia for the distribution of game consoles.

Since 1996 “Buka” started publishing its own games, in particular, by launching popular series “Petka“and”Truckers“, and in 1998 it was the first in Russia to start releasing games in Jewel-cases, which later became the standard for the entire market. In the same year, the company experienced the pressure of the financial crisis, abandoning the distribution of game consoles, and in 1999 it launched a new direction for the full localization of foreign games, starting with the cult Heroes of Might and Magic III…

In 2008 the company was bought out “1C“, but has not ceased its activities. Today it operates in more than 50 countries around the world.