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Whose game is it? The history of the creation of the game World Of Tanks

Most often it is replenished with products created by developers from the United States of America, large European countries or Japan. But it is worth noting that even not very large states are capable of creating games that reach the whole world. In our article we will answer the question in which country the World of Tanks game was created. Many people ask this question, so today this game is known and popular. The article will also provide information about interesting features this online game.

A few words about the game

World of Tanks is an online game. Its genre is defined as having a historical setting. It was announced on August 12, 2010. All gameplay takes place in a simulated time period of 1941-1945.

The business model of this product is free-to-play. This means that anyone can register, download the client and play the game itself without any forced costs. This has caused some unfair situations between those who buy additional weapon or equipment and those who play without donation.

However, in 2013, those who created the game World of Tanks announced a change in the system. From now on, the model will stick to the free-to-win type. This means there is absolutely no difference in benefits between those who buy something and those who play without spending real currency. This change has led to the fact that the number of victories and defeats depends only on the skill level of the player himself.

Gameplay

immediately after launch, the player is “thrown” into a general battle, without training in single-player mode;
the beginner has at his disposal one copy of the tank from each gaming nation (USA, USSR, Sweden, Czechoslovakia and some other countries);
By taking part in battle, the player earns in-game currency, crews train, and experience points are accumulated, allowing access to new equipment.

Creators

So who came up with the game World of Tanks? This product is owned by a private company called Wargaming.net. It is listed as a publisher and game developer, developing near-game services on various platforms. Where was the game World of Tanks created?

This development company was organized in Belarus (Minsk). The headquarters is located in the Republic of Cyprus.

History of the creation of World of Tanks

The Wargaming.net studio was founded back in 1998. At that time she was not well known, but very promising. Then she was involved in improvements to third-party clients, game releases and other similar work.

However, luck came from where we didn’t expect it. The engine of the people who created the game World of Tanks, called AdRevolver, designed for displaying banner advertisements, turned out to be interesting to BlueLithium. She was engaged in advertising on the Internet.

It started on December 12, 2008. The developers faced a serious question: they had a large amount of money, the desire to create a worthwhile gaming product, and most importantly, the development of an online game in the fantasy genre. As a result, after several hours of discussion, the developers made a decision: to abandon the fantasy idea and move on to working on a product, the working title of which was “Tankodrome”.

It is worth noting that those who created the World of Tanks game spent quite a long time trying to attract any serious investors to work on the game. It’s interesting that if the company had worked on the original “science fiction”, the search would have been easier. This is explained by the fact that many knew and trusted the elves.

And yet, Wargaming.net continued to work on their idea. The results became noticeable within a few months. In April 2009 there was official announcement product. September was the month when alpha testing was launched. At that time, players were offered to try 5 different tank models on an unfinished map.

A further update followed in 2010. The first one came out in winter closed test games. In the spring of the same year, the game added the ability to upgrade vehicles using experience points. And in the summer of the same year, open beta testing was announced.

And finally, on August 12, 2010, the release took place. It is worth noting that if at the very beginning of development those who created the World of Tanks game were subjected to ridicule from not only players, but also investors, now this is one of famous companies in the game world. It is worth noting that the launch of the project was not as easy as it could have been. The unusual setting attracted more and more interested players each time. This, in turn, led to the fact that the servers with the game crashed quite often, unable to withstand the influx of players.

Game updates

In the first month of 2011, it "passed" the 1 million player mark overall, as well as the 75,000 online user mark, which was a huge number at the time. The game began to gain popularity in China, the USA and Great Britain, winning a sufficient number of awards that same year, including the prestigious “Runet Award”.

This dedication has paid off. In December 2014, the bar of 1 million concurrent online users was surpassed. And at the moment, more than 80 million users have registered in the game.

Global update

On March 20, 2018, the developers presented the first large-scale update numbered 1.0. Generally speaking, it brought a new sound system and graphics to the game. Talking in more detail, it is worth noting the following elements: graphics engine, performance, music, system requirements.

Changing the graphics engine

In this update, the creators switched from the old BigWorld engine, which limits the introduction of new technologies into the code, to the improved Core. Its development was tailored specifically for World of Tanks. The engine has the ability to introduce new technological settings.

It also makes it possible to use modern effects and technologies that improve the game's graphics, making it more realistic. Many different environmental details have been added to the maps to enhance the level of immersion in the game.

Elements such as weather conditions changing depending on the time of year have been changed when the player moves from a summer or autumn map to a winter one. Improved quality and intensity of sunlight. The visualization of destruction has also undergone changes.

Changing performance settings

The following improvements have appeared:

the interface has been optimized;
change in track calculations;
improvement of the vegetation model system;
increased level of detail;
particle system optimization.

Music

The compositions have been completely reworked. Among those who came up with the game World of Tanks were composers. They wrote and added more than 60 new tracks. Each map is assigned its own unique soundtrack. Loading screen tones have been updated to match the map region. Each action also had its own sounds and tracks written.

Minimum System Requirements

Initially, the game was not too demanding due to the rather outdated engine. But at the moment, after the release of a new update and an increase in the quality of not only the picture, but also the mechanics themselves, it has become more demanding. In order to run the program, you will need:

have operating system Microsoft Windows XP SP3/Vista/7/8/10;
processor with 2 or more cores with SSE2 technology;
for stable operation of the game you must have 1.5 GB of RAM when running on Windows XP SP3; for other versions you must have 2 GB of RAM;
the video adapter must be at least HD X2400 XT 256 MB RAM;
to install the game, you need to have 36 GB of free space;
The connection speed to the server should not be lower than 256 Kbps.

To run the game under these conditions, you must have:

the processor must be at least Intel Core i5;
for stable operation of the game you must have 4 or more GB of RAM;
the video adapter must be at least GeForce GTX660 (2 GB)/Radeon HD 7850 (2 GB);
the system must have DirectX 9.0 or an older version;
To perform a trouble-free installation, you need 36 GB of free space;

Requirements for ultra settings

If you have a fairly powerful computer or gaming laptop, check out the following startup requirements:

OS Microsoft Windows 7/8/10 64-bit;
the processor must be at least Intel Core i5 - 7400 or AMD Ryzen 5 1500 X;
you must have 8 or more GB of RAM;
the video adapter must be at least GeForce GTX1050ti (4 GB)/Radeon RX 570 (24 GB);
55 GB of free space is required to install the product;
The connection speed to the server should not be lower than 1024 Kbps or higher to ensure stable operation of the voice chat.

World of Tanks is five years old. Just five. During this time, hundreds of millions of people from Russia, China, the USA, Australia and other countries registered in it. This is twice the population of Italy and ten times the population of Belarus. We can say that the multiplayer online game – a bit of a shooter, a bit of a strategy – was formed from three main components: a childhood hobby of modeling, an online simulator about World War II Navy Field and huge letters “The Feat of the People is Immortal” on Victory Square in Minsk. Wargaming, the company that created World of Tanks, already earns hundreds of millions of dollars on tanks and invests tens of millions in e-sports. GQ tells who and how made “Tanks” and why they were loved all over the world.

Tankers vs Orcs

Four men in a small room discussed weapons for five hours. It was getting stuffy, the old processor was heating up and buzzing louder. Three of them were not averse to a smoke break, but the fourth - he spoke most of all - had difficulty getting onto the stairs: the wheelchair could hardly squeeze through the doorway. Pyotr Bityukov, an economist by training and a historian by vocation, was sitting in a chair; in his hands he was twirling models of Soviet tanks. He changed the turrets, installed more powerful guns, showed where to weld the armor.

Bityukov was just over thirty in 2008. Since birth, he has suffered from a bone development disorder: at the institute he studied by correspondence, and spent his free time at the computer. His room in an apartment on the outskirts of Moscow is filled with historical books about the great wars and models military equipment. Bityukov’s guests are three gamer programmers, the most important one is Viktor Kisly, a strong blond, blood and milk. His Minsk studio was going to release a multiplayer online game in the style of World of Warcraft. Figures of orcs and elves were already ready, campaign plots were being developed. But Bityukov insisted: think about historical accuracy, a short battle, a unique setting, huge prospects. Sour nodded and went home. On the way, I remembered how I met Bityukov. He accidentally wandered onto a site with a test of the first one, written by Kisly, turn-based strategy. I played several games and started giving advice on how to improve the mechanics and how to fix the plot. All comments turned out to be useful.

Viktor Kisly grew up in such scenery: on one important square of Minsk there was a combat T-34 that broke through the front line of German defense in 1944, on another there was a stele with a ruby star. And on the roofs of houses around there is the motto “The feat of the people is immortal.” Not some seasonal slogan for a spring holiday, but solid red letters that have stood since the 1980s. Nothing has been forgotten here, people have never stopped mourning here.

Six months after the gatherings with Bityukov, Kisly came to Moscow again for a conference of computer game developers. The presentation screen lit up, elves and orcs jumped out on it, chatted, waved axes - the audience was ready to listen about another fantasy quest - suddenly they were run over soviet tank. Kisly wasted almost a year of studio work and abandoned mythical creatures in favor of real technology.

It was not difficult to persuade the team. Firstly, there were no multiplayer games about tanks on the market; a shooting game with similar mechanics was in Korea, but in it ships fought with each other. Secondly, Kisly’s studio had already made the historical strategy “Operation Bagration”; it did not become widespread, but was popular in its segment. Thirdly, patriotic feelings and the desire to take on an educational mission played a role.

The exhibition audience received the project coldly. They told Kisly: “Players love to associate themselves with a character, who would want to play as a tank?” Bityukov recalls that many doubted. But the first focus testing in late summer 2009 was a triumph, nine months after the idea was born. During this time, Bityukov combed through everything history books in the house, researched archives in libraries and museums and compiled two trees of tanks - Soviet and German.

The first focus testing in late summer 2009 was a triumph, just nine months after the idea was born.

The developers have outlined a time frame: cars produced from 1930 to 1950 should appear in the game. At the first level, the player receives the simplest light tank in the USSR tree - the MS-1. The better a gamer fights and gains more experience, the more cars he gets access to and can buy with in-game currency. There is no plot in World of Tanks, the user simply selects a map, a country for which he will play, and finds himself in a field among other vehicles - “friends” and “enemies”, usually 15 by 15. “Tanks” is not a banal shooting game, in the game There is a place for tactics and strategy, it is important to create a cohesive team and act together.

To comply historical facts and make a game according to the laws of physics and ballistics, Kisly attracted experts. Some were hired, others helped on a voluntary basis. The developers wrote about how the collection of material and the process of creating the game were progressing on the company’s website, and also posted photo reports from museums and from the fields of real battles, where they were looking for inspiration and information.

Beta tests began in the spring of 2010, with 200,000 people participating by the end of the summer. The Belarusian company had to increase server capacity several times in order to launch in August. In the first months, several million users registered in World of Tanks. In January 2011, the game was included in the Guinness Book of Records: 100,000 people fought simultaneously on “Tanks.”

Straight to the heart

Viktor Kisly spends most of the year in Cyprus. The Wargaming office is located in a two-story manor with openwork balconies near the city park in Nicosia. It’s cramped for hundreds of employees, so in 2013 the company bought a skyscraper under construction nearby for €20,000,000. The design of the 75-meter building is similar to the surface of a giant submarine.

Kisly says: “Minsk was and remains the heart of Wargaming.” They still draw tanks and write code in Belarus, but the financial and legal departments were transferred to Cyprus in 2011 - in an offshore zone it is easier to collect money from players from different countries. Russia and the former Soviet republics bring the company only 50% of revenue, the rest is generated by Europe, Asia and the United States. In general, the company has fourteen offices and branches - there are representative offices in Japan, Australia, the USA and other countries, so the employees hung a canvas in the dining room with the motto: “The sun never sets on Wargaming.”

The company does not disclose financial indicators, but the reputable analytical agency SuperData estimated revenue at $500,000,000 in 2014. In 2013, according to the same agency, it was almost two times lower - $234,000,000. Having earned half a billion, Wargaming became the third Internet company in the CIS, ahead only of Yandex and Mail.ru. The largest gaming company Blizzard Entertainment received revenue of $1,720,000,000 in 2014. Blizzard is more than twenty years old, it has been releasing world-famous franchises - Warcraft, Starcraft, Diablo and others - and earns only three and a half times more than the Belarusian "Tanks". How did this happen?

The company does not disclose financial indicators, but the reputable analytical agency SuperData estimated revenue at $500,000,000 in 2014.

It was no coincidence that Bityukov came up with the idea to transfer it to the monitor tank battle. About a year before that very meeting with Kisly, he became interested in the Korean Navy Field, an online simulator of battles on warships. The Asian game was designed for generous users; it worked on a pay to win system - the more game currency you invest in upgrading your fleet, the greater your chances of defeating your opponent. Game currency, of course, appeared in exchange for real money. “They’ll play this kind of game for six months and that’s it, but we wanted the player to be hooked for a long time,” Bityukov and Kislyi decided to use a different scheme.

“It was clear to us that the game was for the audience of the CIS countries; not many people here could pay for serious advantages and, in general, they perceived the investment negatively,” Bityukov says that rapid enrichment was not part of Wargaming’s plans, the developers wanted to captivate users with the game, but the opportunity make the upgrade available. Viktor Kisly always says about the success of World of Tanks: “It took twelve years and a million mistakes to make a hit for a mass audience.”

Who invented

Victor Kisly

The main owner of the Wargaming company (38.5 % belongs to him, 25.5 % belongs to his father Vladimir Kisly, the remaining shares belong to the company’s managers). He graduated from the physics department of BSU, founded the Game Stream studio in 1998, and registered the Wargaming company in the same year. To creation of World of Tanks Kisly and his team have released several online games: DBA Online, Massive Assault, Operation Bagration.

Petr Bityukov

Consultant for Wargaming, author of the idea for World of Tanks. He graduated in absentia with honors from the Moscow Institute of Economics and Statistics, then from full-time graduate school there, defended his dissertation on the topic “Modeling pricing problems for electronic training courses in the field of distance learning.” Since childhood, I have been interested in modeling military equipment and history. He took part in the creation of scripts for many games from Game Stream and Wargaming, and was the first historical consultant for World of Tanks.

Cult of authenticity

Kislyi's studio, which turned into Wargaming after the release of World of Tanks, made money for more than ten years mainly by producing websites and software for third-party customers. Bityukov says that by 2008 the company had become one of the leading developers of computer games in the territory former USSR. The product was cool, but too hardcore, not for a mass audience. IN best case scenario managed to recoup the costs of its creation. “Tanks” became a real popular hit for three reasons: firstly, the developers made the battle fast and dynamic, secondly, armored vehicles attracted a wide audience - from young people to men over forty, thirdly, players appreciated historical accuracy - the main principle of Wargaming .

The company employs more than twenty historians - most in Minsk, several in Moscow. In 2011, 2012, 2013, a lot of equipment was introduced into the game - 100 tanks per year. The fourth, after the Soviet, German and American, was created by the French tree. They were going to release an American or English one, but historical consultant Yuri Pasholok, a big fan of both armored vehicles and computer games, intervened. He showed French tanks, maneuverable and fast, unlike the vehicles that already existed in the game.

The company employs more than twenty historians - most in Minsk, several in Moscow. In 2011, 2012, 2013, a lot of equipment was introduced into the game - 100-150 tanks per year.

War tanks, the production of which was put on stream, cover only the lower levels of the tree. For high levels, where the armor is stronger and the fighting qualities are better, we had to look for drawings, prototypes, verbal descriptions of experimental models preserved in the minutes of meetings of governments and ministries. Working with museums, libraries and archives of military institutions is not easy; not many are willing to conduct electronic correspondence and send documents by mail; not all exhibits are preserved in their historical form after restoration. To obtain the necessary documents, one had to resort to tricks: exchanging information about their exhibits with museums, asking for support at the state level. To create the American tree, the archive of a deceased armored vehicle researcher from the United States had to be purchased at auction.

The ability to play as China and Japan arose when the game's timeline was expanded to the mid-1960s.

The primacy of authenticity is a cult, maintained by developers and protected by players, because a real-life tank is usually well balanced. He has strengths, for example, maneuverability, but there are also flaws, for example, light and vulnerable armor. It is not possible to find a tank that is suitable for the level in all cases, and sometimes Wargaming takes liberties - it comes up with the design of the gun or changes the shape of the turret. Passionate fans of the game are not always ready to forgive this. For the "Waffle E-100", a German self-propelled gun of the tenth level, Wargaming is being bullied at every opportunity.

Drawings and other information on rare tanks had to be purchased at auctions and traded with libraries and collectors.

The Waffenträger E-100 appeared in the game in 2013, it became the biggest invention and biggest failure of the game, in which more than 400 vehicles from eight countries are now fighting. Bityukov recalls that an update was about to be released, in which a branch of German anti-tank self-propelled guns. Historical cars were found up to the ninth level, but the tenth stood empty. It was assumed that the coolest self-propelled gun in the branch would have two barrels - multi-barrel vehicles actually existed, but technically it was not possible to realize the idea. Then the developers mounted an anti-aircraft gun with a cassette of several shells onto the tank. In reality, this weapon traveled on a heavy railway platform and would not have fit on a tank. But in the game everything is possible.
The Waffenträger E-100 turned out to be a monster that shot down the cars of other level ten players in a minute (the average duration of a battle in WoT is seven minutes), and could kill an entire platoon in a quarter of an hour.

“In the end, the problem was solved when we established work with the German state archive Bundesarchiv, there we found drawings of a self-propelled gun, which, although it was not built, was suitable for us for the tenth level,” says Bityukov. This case well illustrates the popular saying in Wargaming: “There are never enough tanks, there are never enough archives.”
“My business education is the game “Civilization”, it should be given to everyone who wants to achieve something in life. You are building your own empire, essentially your own business. You play for two or three weeks, a couple of hours a day, and you start to understand something about economics, politics, armies, research, religion and manufacturing,” says Victor Kisly in Morgan Ramsey’s book “Online Gaming Pioneers at Work” (published in 2015).

Tanks in the morning, money in the evening

Kisly immediately pulled back from the development and design of tanks, entrusting everything to professionals - Muscovites, Bityukov’s friends who were present at the very first meeting - Marat Karpenko and Sergei Burkatovsky. When it became obvious that the game was a success, the head of Wargaming plunged into business processes and set the following task: to create conditions so that the player could spend only a small amount on upgrading equipment. This, firstly, will not provoke subsequent regret about the money spent and abandonment of the game, and secondly, it will force units to develop solely due to the battles won and the experience gained.

Wargaming does not disclose the average amount of payments per player per month; Kisly in an interview with Vedomosti said that it “maybe $25.” But the SuperData agency calculated the revenue per user of World of Tanks ($4.51) and reported that in 2014 this was the best figure among online games. Belarusians beat League of Legends ($1.53) and DOTA2 ($1.32). The closest game to WoT is Valve's Team Fortress2, with $4.36. The strategy of “create a big community so everyone pays a little” worked. Sour calls it free to win.

In 2013 he surprised everyone game world, announcing that bonuses that provide advantages in battle will become free. He explained the decision this way: now newcomers will not leave the game immediately. Typically, online games that you don’t have to pay to install (free to play) use the following scheme: the more you spend in the game real money, the more benefits you get. After some time, “whales” appear in this model - players who have seriously invested in their account. They seize power, and it is almost impossible for new users to defeat them: as soon as they enter the game, they leave disappointed.

To maintain business growth, Tanks need new players, platforms, and products. In World of Tanks on the desktop, the ceiling is already close. New trees are unlikely to appear - there are no more countries with strong tank forces left, and besides, there is already enough equipment in the game, users greet new vehicles with less enthusiasm than a couple of years ago. Ardent fans of the game recall the developers’ long-standing promise to make a Swedish and Italian tree, but Wargaming remains silent on this matter. Bityukov says the company was toying with the idea of adding amphibious tanks, but then the maps would have to be enlarged so that they would not be visible in their entirety and amphibious vehicles could carry out hidden raids - this is difficult.

Ardent fans of the game recall the developers’ long-standing promise to make a Swedish and Italian tree, but Wargaming remains silent on this matter.

For Americans and Japanese who love consoles more than desktop games, Wargaming has released the game on consoles, including Xbox One. Kisly is waiting for this segment to grow, but so far it represents only a percentage of the total number of players.

Finally, Wargaming released two more games - World of Warplanes and World of Warships. The first one did not work out, both developers and players admit this; the planes became unsuccessful clones of tanks. The players appreciated the second one. The mechanics turned out to be new - warships are less maneuverable, you can’t hide in an ambush on them, the battle turned out to be longer, but also with more nuances: whether a ship sinks or survives depends not so much on the fact of the hit, but on what part it was hit enemy. Wargaming says: “Tanks” is also played by those who are already fifty, and they have done something slower for them.

Book of Job

“Oh, we thought you were boring, but you rock,” a mannered guy in a tight white T-shirt shouts into the microphone, hugged from behind by a short-haired blonde in a silver bomber jacket. This Quest Pistols show entertains employees of the Moscow office of Wargaming, gaming video bloggers and popular World of Tanks players at a closed party in a pretentious club on Krymskaya Embankment. Guys with glasses and large backpacks hover rather timidly in front of the stage, several very tall and cheerful girls admit that they came by invitation, but know nothing about the game. Older men with bulging bellies and undone collars formed a circle in the foyer, discussing Job's new video.

Jov, aka Konstantin Ladanin, is the most authoritative streamer in the “tanker” crowd. His YouTube channel has two million subscribers. He got into the game in 2011, when he worked in an Internet cafe as an administrator and whiled away his nights playing shooting games. Thanks to videos like “A real cheat for World of Tanks. Why is it worth downloading the T-54? he became a real star in the community: “Now everything about me is interesting. What I eat, where I relax, what my girlfriend looks like,” Ladanin is confident that a large audience can bring him many dividends, and he is going to expand his area of interest - to record videos not only about “Tanks”, but also about other games. Ladanin’s channel is among the top 15 YouTube video blogs in the CIS.

Gamers are a huge community that has long ceased to be marginal. Twitch, a popular online video game streaming service, attracts ten million viewers per day and generates terabytes of content. In 2014, it was bought by the American retail giant Amazon online store for $970,000,000. If there are spectators, there must be spectacles; the gaming industry is actively developing e-sports, and Kisly’s empire is no exception.

Tank League

“Professional sports - and e-sports is no exception - must obey the principles of fair play” - this is another explanation that Kisly gave to the American gaming industry publication Pandodaily when he was asked why Tanks needed a free to win model. Championships computer games attract an audience of millions, sixteen teams from all over the world competed in Dota2 this year, the competition took place in a packed seventeen-thousand-seat arena in Seattle. Another five million people watched the live broadcast online. The prize fund - $20,000,000 - is almost eight times less than at the Tour de France cycling race. Such tournaments are the best marketing for game manufacturers; every teenager with a joystick and mouse dreams of being in the place of the winners.

Wargaming also has its own gaming league; it has already held two championships - in 2014 and 2015. Both times the finals were hosted by the Polish town of Poznan, the first time the prize money – $400,000 – went to the Chinese, in October 2015 the Russians won. To develop the e-sports direction, the company hired a Frenchman, Nicolas Passmar. He pays great attention entertainment and says that first of all, the tournament should have a beautiful stage. For now, for Wargaming, tournaments are only a way to promote and attract new players, primarily from the USA and Asia. In 2015, this is especially important, because due to the difference in exchange rates, revenue in dollar terms dropped. Kisly thinks that e-sports is a new media reality and show business. Star players, he believes, will bring sponsors, content - broadcasts of matches - will provide advertising.

For now, for Wargaming, tournaments are only a way to promote and attract new players, primarily from the USA and Asia.

World of Tanks already has competitors - tank game Armored Warfare was released by Mail.ru Group, it uses modern vehicles (that’s why Uralvagonzavod drew attention to the shooter, calling it a training ground for young tank crews). The multiplayer game “Tanks Online” by the Perm company “Alternative Platforms” attracts 5,000,000 people. Several tank simulators have been launched in China. Wargaming is not worried about these phenomena; the company already feels like a member of the major league of the gaming industry. “We understand that our numbers are not as impressive as the Dota2 numbers, but we are not inferior in quality,” Passmar says before the start of the tournament. In 2015, the show was visited by twice as many people as in 2014, which means the calculation is correct - the marketing is working.

Last September, Bityukov went on vacation to Cyprus - got a tan, looked at the new Wargaming office, discussed the company's affairs with Kisly and returned home to a new building on the outskirts of Moscow. In his wheelchair, he rolls up to a cabinet with models of three dozen different tanks, looks at them affectionately and talks about each one, carefully pointing to those that his father glued together. From this great childhood love grew Wargaming, a company on which the sun never sets.

7 FACTS ABOUT

1

In 2015 WoT tournaments More than 40 thousand teams took part. This is six times more than there are football teams in all English leagues.

2

WoT fans have released the book “Gods of War” - 16 science fiction short stories. Circulation – 3700 copies.

3

1.5 billion battles fought WoT players on the most popular tank KV-1S.

4

On WoT maps– about 1000 provinces.

5

670 birds fly over the fields WoT battles. Most of all - over the city of Himmelsdorf - 26; least of all - above the Pass - two eagles.

6

500 thousand women play World of Tanks, which is approximately 2% of the Russian audience.

7

$100 average account price. In 2013, an account was sold on unofficial WoT forums for $7,000. Whether it was purchased is unknown, but there are always deals going on on the WoT black market.

Photo: Gettyimages.ru; Diomedia; press service archives

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Belarusian and resident of Cyprus Viktor Kisly has been running the Wargaming company for 17 years, which managed to create one of the most popular multiplayer games in Russia and the former USSR - World of Tanks. Vedomosti recently spoke with him.
WoT is always rapidly gaining users, and they actively pay for items within the game. In 2012 year World of Tanks brought Wargaming $218 million, and last year its revenue more than doubled: according to Superdata, the company earned more than $500 million from “tanks.” The crisis tempered the excitement of players - they began to spend less time playing the computer game and began to pay less. Wargaming plans to compensate for the drop in revenue with growth in international markets, new projects and promotion of the game in eSports competitions (computer game competitions), which, according to Kisly, could develop into new media reality.

– Before the crisis, your main market was Russia and the CIS countries, but now?

– The structure of our players has not changed much. We all understand that a tank is “hardwired” into the DNA of a Russian person (laughs) and nothing can be done about it. Residents of the former Soviet Union They play tanks a lot and haven’t done it any less. Americans are more spoiled, they need everything to be beautiful, they need to be shown everything. They play more on consoles, and we only launched World of Tanks on consoles a year ago, and even then old version. Now we are doing new version for Xbox One, and then there will probably be some growth in the number of users in the US.

For example, in Japan there are few computers; the Japanese play mainly on the Play Station. But if a Japanese person falls in love with a game, he will never get out of it. And this is the most paying audience. But in terms of quantity, they are few when compared with other countries.

It is clear that we started with a proportion of 0:100. That is, Mother Russia, the CIS. True, in the very first week of closed testing, Poles and Czechs began to actively join - they also really love tanks. For some reason, Icelanders play a lot, Scandinavians in general.

We have been making efforts to spread our game to the world. To do this, we localized World of Tanks and provided support in different languages.

Now our audience for the game is distributed approximately 50:50. Half are Russia and the countries of the former USSR, the other half are the rest of the world. That is, the dynamics are still moving towards an increase in the international audience, which is logical - after all, the population of the whole world is larger than the former USSR. Although the density of “tankers” is less, the population and territory are larger (laughs).

We are systematically working to improve our understanding of America, Europe, and Korea. There are several open spots, for example Brazil, we started working there quite recently. We do not cover Middle Eastern countries yet. There is a peculiarity: Arabic script is written from right to left, which means that we actually need to “mirror” the entire game.

– With such a significant share of Russian World players of Tanks did the crisis in Russia greatly affect Wargaming’s business? Are people paying less for artifacts in the game? During the crisis of 2008–2009. many gaming companies saw an influx of players: people stopped going to the movies and flying on vacation, but they didn’t play less.

– Of course, Russia – large country, in which a crisis of geopolitical proportions occurred. It is clear that these movements in the ruble and euro were not in our favor and led to a decrease in the dollar equivalent of revenue.

Our audience is very heterogeneous. In addition, the game does not force players to pay money. In the game you can spend money comparable to several movie tickets, and a student can generally play for free.

We have 25% of paying users, and this is a very good indicator compared to other games. In the gaming industry, there is a concept called a "whale" - a senior manager who drives a black Mercedes and whose salary is measured in numbers with a lot of zeros. He doesn't care how much to pay. But World of Tanks is built in such a way that you can’t spend $1000 a month there. I could spend that amount, but I don’t know what (laughs). The game is made in such a way that there is no product for that amount per month. $10 costs a premium account, plus a couple of tens, well, a hundred dollars for collectible tanks ($5–40) or internal currency.

So these “whales” don’t feel the difference between spending a few tens of dollars in a game or a couple of hundred. Therefore, we did not notice any changes in payments among this audience. Schoolchildren and students, of course, began to pay less - it is clear that purchasing power has fallen.

Games love silence

– Superdata analysts estimated Wargaming’s revenue in 2014 at $505 million. How correct is this estimate?

– Companies, especially large ones, do not really like to give direct assessments of their business. Therefore, I would not like to comment on this assessment.

This is primarily due to competition. We are not alone in this clearing, there are others similar games, there are complete copies. It's a very competitive industry. And if you know how much money your competitors have, you can roughly predict their maneuvers. Therefore, it is good if your competitors have no idea how flexible you are in your maneuvers.

I can only say that Wargaming’s revenue is measured in hundreds of millions of dollars. It is clear that due to the fall of the Russian ruble, our dollar revenue, to put it mildly, has not increased. How much she has not grown is not very important. We still expect that the situation will improve, peace will come and everything will return to normal.

But other factors, not necessarily macroeconomic ones, can also influence revenue. For example, some changes in the game itself. Example: last year we released a new World version of Tanks, in which we made several technical errors: the storyboard in the game became slower due to the fact that something there was poorly drawn. The speed dropped by an average of 10%. And we released vague historical battles: what we did did not fully meet user expectations. And these two factors immediately affected our results, as the number of concurrent users fell by 20% in two months. Well, then we entered autumn - and oil prices fell, the ruble fell. There was a fall again.

– A drop in both audience and revenue?

- And so and so. They play but don't pay, pay but don't play. It got worse, we felt it. It is clear that we took some measures. For example, in the case of the ruble, we offered users purchases at a lower rate: people liked it. Therefore, such jumps have happened to us twice over the past year: an unsuccessful technical patch and the economic situation at the end of the year.

– Do you disclose how much one person pays on average? World user of Tanks, something like ARPU? How much is it in Russia and in the world?

– To be honest, I don’t know the exact number. It seems to me that it makes no sense to talk about ARPU, since this is the average temperature in the hospital. When a game reaches such a size that it already covers countries and continents, it makes no sense to talk about ARPU. In addition, the population groups are very different in age - from seven years old and above. I believe that it is necessary to introduce segmentation: we need to look separately at the ARPU of the “whale” and the “schoolchild”, the ARPU of the Russian and the Japanese.

Although our game is built in such a way that there cannot be a large ARPU. I can give an approximate figure - $25 per paying person per month, although I could be wrong. But that doesn't mean anything. We have built our game in such a way that a person voluntarily pays as much as he can afford. And this is very important. There are games where you can’t progress further without paying. These types of games make people make impulse purchases, especially via mobile devices. In our country, even in order to pay, you have to go to some terminal and fill out some form. A hassle in general.

– So you are making it difficult for yourself to do business?

– No, well, it’s on computers – there’s just such an infrastructure. It's easier on smartphones.

The ARPU of $25 is made up of the premium account and a little bit of the rest. And often it's not because the person can't afford to pay, they just don't consume anymore.

Therefore, in such cheap entertainment as World of Tanks, the percentage of “whales” is very small. Moreover, it is interesting that in Japan there are only “whales”. They also exist in Russia, but in comparison with the population their percentage is very small.

Of course, we could immediately make some kind of diamond tank for $10,000. But here a factor comes into play - people won’t understand (laughs). We could only afford this in China. Our Chinese partner simply pushed it: they say, give me a gold tank - it’s needed for gifts, etc. They did it, it costs $400.

– Gold iPhones are said to be very popular in China...

- Yes. But we must understand that our game is international. As soon as you introduce something in one country, it begins to be intensively discussed all over the world - on forums, in social networks. And for this golden tank, which we made at the request of the Chinese workers, our workers told us: “not good.” And such conversations spoil our reputation, and this is very important. So we won't do this again.

Attack lines

– In addition to the most popular World of Tanks, you now have other games – World of Warplanes, World of Warships. How popular are they?

– We were probably in a hurry with World of Warplanes, we made mistakes in some places. Now we are studying this, trying to fix something. Everything seems to be going very well with World of Warships so far. Now we are in the closed testing phase: we are using behavioral mechanisms with all our might to understand whether people like the game and what needs to be changed and where. So far, all statistical parameters in the closed beta are excellent, and in all regions.

– Last year Wargaming entered the American market. How successful was this outing? How is Wargaming developing in international markets in general?

– Of course, it’s impossible to say that “We took the States.” This market is very competitive, not only in games, but in all areas. But we got some kind of audience there. These are older men who take their children to tank museums and watch the Discovery Channel. The next challenge was to reach a younger audience. But this is much more complicated: they already need shooters, they like to play on consoles.

In Europe and the USA we still have room to grow. But in Russia the market has become saturated. It is probably already impossible to find a man in Russia who has not heard of World of Tanks, except perhaps in the taiga.

– Are there any ideas that could help conquer new markets? Are you planning to make your own shooter, for example?

– I have nothing to say about this yet. Of course, we in the company are discussing different options, different new games. But we don’t have a position on shooters yet. And there is no shooter itself. And since there is no shooter, then there is no position (laughs).

Like I said, we don't look at that average user ARPU. You can make $27.7, but for this you can ruin your reputation. You can suddenly make a lot of money in the short term, but then you will be left with scorched earth. We have seen this effect - when you tighten the screws too much, then there is a decline. It is beneficial for us if revenue is stable or grows slightly. Over the course of several years, we have determined this socially acceptable figure that a person can get out of his pocket. And we don't want to change it significantly. A business like ours must be conducted calmly.

– Any other ideas for products or promotion methods?

– In general, we act by dynamic analysis: if there is some opportunity to advance something, we try. For example, there is an idea for e-sports, we hold competitions. If successful, then we increase it. It's the same with advertising. It works differently in different countries. For example, TV advertising for games is considered to be ineffective. But this is not always the case - in some places it is very effective. For example, the same Clash of Clans advertised during the break between Super Bowl football matches, during the most expensive advertising time. Everyone was very surprised. But they thought it was profitable, and we thought it wasn’t. In general, all this is painstaking work.

Like I said, we don't look at that average user ARPU. You can make $27.7, but for this you can ruin your reputation. You can suddenly make a lot of money in the short term, but then you will be left with scorched earth. We have seen this effect - when you tighten the screws too much, then there is a decline. It is beneficial for us if revenue is stable or grows slightly. Over the course of several years, we have determined this socially acceptable figure that a person can get out of his pocket. And we don't want to change it significantly. A business like ours must be conducted calmly.

“Buildings” and “rides”

– In April, you held World of Tanks competitions in Poland. Other game developers are holding similar events. How do you generally assess the prospects for esports? Is this a tool to promote the game or could it become a big new medium in the future, competing with, for example, television broadcasts of regular sports?

– It is impossible to predict the future 5–6 years in advance. But so far eSports is developing very well. In general, e-sports originated in South Korea with the television broadcast of Starcraft, and everyone thought that this was such a purely Korean thing and it would not go anywhere further. When we held the finals last year, there were half as many people as this year.

It has now become clear that eSports is growing so quickly that we can already assume that it will soon become very big - both in terms of audience and, possibly, in money. But the whole question is in the content. It seems to me that this can be compared with ordinary sports, which people watch with great pleasure on TV.

– So in 20 years we will be watching the Cyber Olympics?

- Quite possible. E-sports is actually being born before our eyes; its rules have not yet been established. This is a completely new phenomenon at the intersection of media, streaming, and advertising.

Esports is, first and foremost, a show. Last year, 300,000 players took part in the competition, and even more - tens of millions - watched. In order for the show to be exciting for them, a beautiful and dynamic picture is needed. That is, this is a new type of visual art - cinema, only interactive. E-sports already has elements of beautiful show business: fights are commented on, there are prizes, “back-up dancers”, all this goes into live in many languages. In show business there should always be some kind of intrigue, and in e-sports we fully observe it. It’s just as difficult to predict who will win here as in regular sports: for example, in this league [in Poland], the Chinese beat the Russians. Previously, this seemed unthinkable. So eSports is the same sport, only a little more youthful.

– Can eSports already be considered a business?

– Let’s just say that businesses are already being built on this wave. Take the same Twitch - an application that “streams” games. This is incredible: someone plays games, and others watch it, and there is already a huge audience there. Amazon recently bought Twitch for $1 billion, and until recently no one had heard of this startup. This demonstrates how quickly things in this area can grow. So the same thing will likely happen in eSports as in other media. Content appears, views grow, and after some time advertising appears.

– Are advertisers already interested in eSports?

– Are big advertisers interested in this phenomenon? For example, consumer sector companies?

– Not yet, but they may come, because here advertisers can be offered a very attractive type of advertising. On the regular Internet, they deal with traditional advertising, in which the audience is determined by age, place of residence, etc. But there is also behavioral advertising, which is based on how a person behaves. In games, people engage in behavior - well, yes, in difficult conditions, when there are enemies on all sides (laughs), but they behave there somehow: they buy something, look at something. And all this information is accumulated by gaming companies, and on large numbers it can work very well. Using such data, advertising can be targeted much more accurately.

– For Wargaming, could the advertising model become a source of income in the future, along with in-game payments and subscriptions?

– It’s difficult to say yet, but we are carefully studying this topic. For us, eSports is still a marketing tool that helps attract an audience. But everything is moving towards the fact that all this - games, competitions - will become a new media reality. She is cheerful, cool: these are fun rides, shooting games. People watch Minecraft for some reason – there are fun “builds” there (laughs).

In all this, of course, there is already an element of Hollywood. Normal new media reality. It is still taking its first steps, but is developing very quickly along with the development of new technologies, mobile devices. Because people mostly watch these things on smartphones and tablets. They go in a taxi - they can watch a couple of fights.

In the crisis zone

– Why did Wargaming decide to leave the Cyprus Exchange in 2014?

– In 2012, we decided to go to the Cyprus Exchange, because we began to build the company’s headquarters in Cyprus and manage it completely from there. The shares were not traded on the stock exchange. According to the rules of this exchange, this is possible. It was an offering that imposed all the same restrictions and requirements as a classic IPO. We plunged ourselves into the abyss of this responsibility so that we had no chance of violating it. We did this for several years. We got what we needed from this: we got some name, grew up a little and felt more confident in this stormy sea of financial instruments (laughs). We don't need this anymore.

– Do you plan to go public on the stock exchange in the future?

- Well... never say never. Now business, from the point of view of this bureaucracy, is in good condition: the same as it was when we were on the stock exchange. Because we learned for several years to live by the rules of a public company.

– Last year you said that Wargaming suffered from the Cyprus crisis, as a result of which the company became a shareholder of Hellenic Bank and acquired a building in Limassol. How much did the company ultimately lose?

– Wargaming is the largest technology company in Cyprus, we take an active part in the economic and social life of the country, and therefore the past crisis was not just an unpleasant moment for our corporate interests, but a problem for all company employees living here. We regularly pay all taxes, actively promote the reputation of Cyprus, and contribute to the development of this country, so it is not entirely true to talk about any losses. Of course, we went through certain difficulties, but, as in the case of the purchase of shares in Hellenic Bank, the crisis also opened up new opportunities for us.

Our company is one of the current shareholders in Hellenic, there are people who represent our interests there, but our participation in its work is limited. Wargaming is primarily a developer and publisher of games known all over the world, so activity in other areas is not so important for us.

The Cyprus economy grew by 1.6% in the first quarter of 2015, and the country is gradually restoring its financial and investment attractiveness. The local authorities have very accurately and consistently carried out the reform program that was recommended by the eurozone countries and the IMF, and in the long term we look at the economic situation in the country with great optimism.

– Do you think that the countries of the former USSR will also be able to become convenient for doing international business in the foreseeable future, what needs to be done there for this?

– In post-Soviet countries, progress in creating favorable conditions for business is enormous. Wargaming unites studios from Kyiv, St. Petersburg, Minsk, as well as offices in Europe, Asia and the USA under one roof, and we can compare the conditions that are provided to us different countries. In the countries of the former USSR, we feel support and interest in the company, in our initiatives to restore military equipment and popularize history. Of course, to attract international companies, many more steps need to be taken to improve the business climate and introduce predictable and effective law enforcement, but in the future, any country can become a place where business will be convenient and comfortable.

– How does Belarus feel about the fact that such a large company has moved to another country and pays taxes there?

– Minsk was and remains the heart of Wargaming, so talking about moving is not entirely correct. The company's largest office is located in Minsk, where the global hit World of Tanks is completely created: from writing code to organizing e-sports competitions and promoting the project. The Minsk office is also developing a mobile version of the game World of Tanks Blitz, the global UX, BI, financial and legal teams are also located there. In general, the office occupies the entire 16-story building and employs about 2,000 people.

– After the crisis began in Russia, many technology companies moved to other countries, to the Baltic states for example. Do you see this migration process from the outside, are our programmers coming to you?

– As far as I know, we began to receive a little more responses to vacancies from programmers from Russia, but it is worth considering the fact that Minsk, as well as Kyiv and St. Petersburg, has a decent reputation as a center of expertise in game development. Wargaming has become a brand in the HR field, so our vacancies are actively interested in Russia, Europe, and the USA.

Our Minsk development team is working on World of Tanks for PC and mobile versions games, Kyiv is working on World of Warplanes, a studio in St. Petersburg is preparing for the release of World of Warships, a team in Chicago is working on updates for World of Tanks Xbox 360 and developing a version of the game for Xbox One, and Seattle is creating a new, as yet unannounced project .

Globally, the competition between companies for talent is only gaining momentum. Talents are worth their weight in gold everywhere; they are the ones who dictate the terms, and businesses have to adapt. Geography is not the most important factor; professionals can make their way in all regions of the world.

Chasing new emotions

– What new things await us in technology, what do you think about the general “mobilization” - the transition to smartphones and tablets?

– The main trends for the next five years are obvious: the introduction of cloud technologies, active promotion of streaming, universal tabletization and miniaturization, virtual reality. Market mobile games will continue to grow at a tremendous pace, while mobile devices will become smaller and more powerful, and their cost will fall.

Games on mobile platforms other. The player's attention span is very small; the gaming session can end at any moment. It is important for developers to take these conditions into account and adapt to them. At the same time, the industry is moving away from developing games exclusively for the platform. We focus on creating an engaging gaming experience regardless of device. Good story, communication, a gaming universe in which the player enjoys being, developing and receiving new emotions, become more important than the platform.

Very soon we will come to the conclusion that good games will be available anywhere at any time. In such a situation, the winner will be the one who gives the players an enjoyable and exciting experience, an interactive world with great opportunities.

– Do you think technology will become virtual reality the next big thing? Does Wargaming plan to do something in this area?

– Virtual reality technologies have made a real breakthrough over the past three years. The prospects for using the Oculus Rift helmet in games are simply impressive; this device can radically change gaming industry. I was amazed by the first one test version helmet, which I tested more than a year ago: picture, sound, emotions - you are immersed in another dimension, and therefore I am looking forward to the release of the commercial version of the product. Our team is actively experimenting with the device, and we have already developed and released a special game mode for Oculus. It allows the player to take a different look at the gameplay, enjoy the effect of presence and get new sensations from tank battles. By the way, the implementation of technology turned out to be a very labor-intensive process. We needed to rebuild the in-game menu, radically redesign the gameplay UI and create a specific control system.

We are not tied to one platform and are constantly developing games for new devices. If technology becomes mass, global, accessible, our games will definitely appear on it.
Thanks for the interview and good luck in your battles!

Worldwide famous game"World of Tanks" is classified as a client online games multi-user network that take place in real time. It is a simulator of tank battles, made in accordance with specific historical events: World War II. The concept of the game is based on team tank battles, using vehicles of the corresponding period in PVP mode.

Due to the fact that the game has gained enormous popularity, it is a sin for regular users not to know about who created the game world of tanks

Let's take a little history. It all started with a small company engaged in the development and implementation of websites, stores and other Internet resources, opened in 1998. The entrepreneur of this company, Victor Kisly, was an ardent fan of games, which influenced the change in the further emphasis on the work of the company. Despite the fact that the very first developments did not yield fruitful success, the company continued to develop developments in this area.

Discussion of the situation led to the decision to create a kind of analogue of the Korean game, in which naval battles, gradual upgrades of ships and much more were fought. Only in new game The company decided to replace those same ships with everyone's favorite tanks.

A huge number of new personnel were brought in for development. Simultaneously with the creation of the game itself, the development of servers, a website, forums and other resources was carried out.

Belarus is considered the birthplace of the game - it was in this country that the company called “Wargaming.net” was located.

Development began in 2008 and was officially announced in April of the following year.

It's clear to say who created it world game of tanks is impossible. A huge number of specialists worked on the project and listing all the names would take a lot of time.

All participants made a huge contribution to the creation. The alpha test took place already in 2009. In 2010, a beta test took place and it lasted exactly four months, during which the developers quite adequately filled the game with a wide variety of equipment and several different locations.

On August 12 of the same year, the official online release had already taken place, but due to technical problems, users were able to fully immerse themselves in the game only the next day. But despite this, the developers can undoubtedly be praised, because the main thing is that they are not going to stop there to this day.

What are the only epithets people don’t award? World Of Tanks game: she is both an “enemy of families”, and a “Belarusian miracle”, and a “breakthrough of the decade”. Its creators managed to do what dozens of companies had tried so vainly to do before them, namely, to massively involve men aged 30 to 45 years who had already established themselves in the gameplay. People who are not poor and quite conservative.

And it is largely thanks to the support of this age group that the game’s income in 2013 amounted to no less than half a billion euros. An amount that just a few years ago seemed to the creators a dream, completely divorced from reality. And yet, success took place: today we can already talk about more than 60 million players and up to a million playing simultaneously. The only fact that somewhat blurs the rosy picture is that the path to triumph took 12 long years. But who said that everything comes at once?!

Background

Once upon a time lived in the vastness of Belarus a not very well-known, but quite skillful studio, Wargaming.net. Founded back in 1998, for the time being it was known exclusively for the fact that it employs guys who know how to fulfill their obligations for reasonable money. The studio has released several games, improvements for third-party clients, and other similar orders.

As it happens, the joker came almost by accident: studio development - engine AdRevolver, responsible for displaying the banner, interested a large Internet advertising company BlueLithium. In exchange for some profit share in BlueLithium, the Belarusians provided support staff and a technology platform.

And luck again: after some time, the well-known company buys BlueLithium for $300 million. Wargaming.net receives a small, but quite sufficient part of the profit, amounting to several million dollars. It happens that having received a lot of money, people are not ready for it. Fortunately, with Wargaming.net everything was exactly the opposite. They had been waiting for this chance for a long time and took full advantage of it.

Creation of World Of Tanks

A fateful conversation about the fate of World Of Tanks (WoT) took place on December 12, 2008 and lasted several hours. The developers faced a dilemma that was quite difficult to resolve. So there's some serious money that Yahoo paid. There is a desire to do something epochal and... And, most importantly, a multi-user game is already in development.

As you already understood, in the end a phrase was uttered that dotted all the i’s. I can’t vouch for the literalness of what was said, but the main message was as follows: to hell with the elves and orcs, let’s make tanks! From that moment on, work began on “ Tankodrome" Yes, yes, the working title of the game was exactly that.

Oh, how many refusals the studio had to hear when it tried to take on serious investors with whom it could share the financial burden of working on World Of Tanks. Orcs and elves were understood and approved by many, but it was unclear to whom to invest necessary tanks no one wanted to. Today these people are probably biting their elbows, but at that time they laughed at the Wargaming.net studio, considering them dreamers, preoccupied with a failed and unpromising “project.”

And yet, despite the stupid hooting, Wargaming.net continued to work on World Of Tanks. In April 2009, the official announcement of the game was released, and already in September of the same year, alpha testing began, for which there were only five tank models and one incomplete map. Yes, not much, but the trouble has begun!

~ winter 2010- first closed beta testing;

~ spring 2010- upgrade of equipment for experience has been introduced;

~ summer 2010- open beta testing;

~ August 13, 2010- official release of the game.

And so, the start was given. With momentum, sometimes even overloading, the game went on, gaining loyal followers who were not indifferent to the roar of engines and desperate tank battles.

Further development

Rumors about the new game, which is a fusion of realistic shooter, RPG and real-time strategy, spread around at warp speed. In January 2011, the goal of one million users and 75,000 online players was reached. Then it was considered something incredible, but it turned out that this was just a reflection of future success.

In fact, 2011 was the time of expansion of the game to the West and East. World Of Tanks was launched in China, America and the UK for a short time. That same year, the game collected a whole bunch of prizes and awards. So, an unthinkable thing, a project that was only a year old received the prestigious “Runet Award”. An unprecedented event for our latitudes.

In parallel with the marketing progress, game mechanisms were also rapidly developed: new equipment, powers, and cards appeared. Thanks to the support of loyal fans, World Of Tanks is constantly improving. We must give credit to the developers: they do not rest on their laurels and do not cut big coupons. The owners invest more than a decent portion of the profit (and in 2013, by the way, the profit was more than 200 million euros) into the game.

And this brings results: today about 80 million people are registered in the World Of Tanks game, and on December 19, 2014, another record was set - 1,114,000 online players. Serious numbers.

Why do people love World Of Tanks so much?

Today, many analysts are trying to explain the success of World Of Tanks for a variety of reasons. I even met some completely incredible ones, something like “These are Slavs - they need to constantly fight with someone” or “It’s all because of loud advertising campaigns, over time the popularity will decline.” No, it doesn't. Growing. And, by the way, it has been growing for a long time and steadily.

It seems to me that there are three main “pillars” on which the success of the World Of Tanks game “stands”:

~ whale first - short-term gaming action. Most multiplayer games require a lot of time to be spent on gameplay. In World Of Tanks, battles are fleeting. Simply an ideal option for serious men burdened with work and family responsibilities;

~ whale second - realism. The game is great. The hum of engines, shooting, perfectly drawn landscapes - all this is mesmerizing. If in fantasy worlds about 90% of game actions are completely invented, then in World Of Tanks everything is real;

~ whale third - business model. In WoT, you don’t have to constantly “pour in money” to be on top. Yes, there are some benefits to premium accounts, but they are not as dramatic as in most other multiplayer games. In 2013, Wargaming.net completely introduced the “free to win” principle, meaning that paying players cannot feel like “titans” when playing with ordinary users. Skill and military cunning come first. And playing without a subscription is also quite a serious trump card, thanks to which World Of Tanks is constantly replenished with new adherents.

I am sure that if this approach to the convenience and quality of the World Of Tanks game is maintained by the creators in the future, then we will still have a lot of high-profile news about the next broken popularity records.