The Journey
To My Success

Anton Nikolaevich: "Success is having a fulfilling personal life while working at a job you enjoy”

I have been in the gaming industry for ten years, and I love it! It's thrilling, and you'll never get bored.

Many people ask me "How did you become a game developer?" To be honest, it wasn’t my dream. I was looking for an opportunity to work on something creative and interesting in my field and, when one presented itself, I jumped at it. 

I've been working for Apella Games for the past two years, a Cypriot start-up founded in 2020 by local investors. Cyprus has a thriving gaming industry with both local and international investors. Apella Games is one of about five local businesses founded by Cypriots. Many international companies have also chosen Cyprus as a location for their operations. My job as a development producer combines technical knowledge with management responsibilities.

I was looking for an opportunity to work on something creative and interesting in my field and, when one presented itself, I jumped at it

Prior to moving to Cyprus, I worked for an ERP system company in Ivanovo, a city near Moscow, where I was in charge of test system development. In 2012, I began exploring new opportunities in my field trying to find something more creative. It was the "golden age" of flash games, streaming games, Facebook games, Farmville, and so on, so I applied for a job developing a Farm Simulator game at a local company. I accepted the position, and that is how I ended up in gaming. My next job was at Nevosoft and, while working there, I visited Cyprus for the first time for the White Nights CEO summit in Limassol. I was impressed by the island.

I was born in northern Russia, where temperatures can drop to -40 degrees Celsius for nine months of the year. Growing up, all I wanted to do was to escape to a warmer country, and anything above 0 degrees was fine with me! So, when I saw a job opening for a Project Manager at Wargaming in Cyprus, I applied and was hired. When I first moved here, almost 5 years ago, the first thing I noticed was how friendly and open the people are, how nice it is to know everyone, and how beautiful the island is. Now that I am the father of a little girl, my wife and I have decided to stay here.

During my career in gaming, I held a variety of roles and responsibilities. I learned how to manage and overview the entire process, from design to game release, how to manage a team, organize work and work with budgets. But I’ve learned everything through trial and error. I didn’t have the academic qualifications. So, at some point, I decided that I needed to acquire management skills properly and learn from experts. Fortunately, while working for Wargaming, I had the opportunity to get a scholarship for Frederick University’s MBA program.

Having an MBA degree makes me feel that I have not only the knowledge, but also something to back it up. It was a strong push to something new and exciting

My two-year journey at Frederick University gave me a deeper understanding of management and accounting, which was extremely valuable to me. I realized that I was doing many things wrong and learning how to do them correctly gave me confidence and helped me improve in many ways. Having an MBA degree makes me feel that I have not only the knowledge, but also something to back it up. It was a strong push to something new and exciting.

My fellow students were Cypriots; interacting and learning with them was extremely beneficial to me as a foreigner. In many Universities there is a culture of separation and isolation for international students but that was not the case with Frederick University. The University encourages inclusion and collaboration among all students and this provided me the opportunity to make good friends and learn a lot. The whole learning experience was really different compared to my previous university years. In Russia the system is not very flexible and you are not allowed to choose subjects. The different approach really helped me achieve the best outcome.

Success is doing exactly what you want with as few compromises as possible while also spending time with family and friends and enjoying personal time

I have to say that all members of the academic staff at Frederick University were really great and friendly. They are very understanding and open to the students, they are approachable and they really care. Ms Eleni Hadjiconstantinou, Professor of Management Science, stands out. She is not only a superb academic, but also a warm, loving, and caring individual. She is the type of person who can explain anything to you and you will understand and learn it.

For me, success is doing exactly what you want with as few compromises as possible while also spending time with family and friends and enjoying personal time. Having a fulfilling personal life while working at a job you enjoy, is the definition of success.