A trend that also caught the attention of visitors at Gamescom: The two tank and war simulation games World of Tanks and War Thunder are present and popular. Especially in Russia and former Soviet republics, the genre is growing massively.
Tanks and Uniformed Ladies at Gamescom
An article from the Sydney Morning Herald discusses the reasons for the popularity of the tank battle genre in the states of the former Eastern Bloc. The Australian journalist must find it strange that in Cologne young women in the service of War Thunder stand around a real tank and pose in uniforms from that time. The Herald also cites a German programmer who is tapping on a tank and is excited to be so close to history.
The Numbers Are Exploding
The growth figures for online wargaming are huge, the times are rosy. World of Tanks, along with its sister games World of Warships and World of Warplanes, has broken the 100-million-player mark. In the last two years, the number has tripled. The competitor War Thunder also reports record growth: The number of players playing free-to-play war simulations has doubled in recent years and continues to grow.
And the target audience is affluent and willing to pay. According to Gaijin Entertainment, 20% of all War Thunder players spend money in-game. Those who pay spend an average of $10 per month. World of Tanks is so successful that it serves as a shining example for the monetization model of a free-to-play title when explaining to League of Legends that it is too generous.
What Do the Russians Have to Do with World War II?
Particularly pressing is the question: Why is the new genre so incredibly successful and growing in former Eastern Bloc states? According to Wargaming, 3% of all people in former Soviet states are regular players of these games.
The Russian representative of an investment firm suggests as a possible reason that the former Soviet republics witnessed the victorious superiority of their war tanks during World War II. This has become part of their cultural identity. This experience is lacking in the West. The memory of World War II evokes in the East a kind of “pride in the sacrifices and willingness to endure” of that time.
The Nostalgia of War
War Thunder or World of Tanks: Who Is Tougher? Representatives of the affected game industry steer the focus, especially before an international audience, in a different direction. The representative of Wargaming (World of Tanks) says: “Four years ago, when we started, we primarily targeted history fans. But as it turns out, our games are also popular among those who want to compete like in eSports – or who simply enjoy blowing things up.”
Anton Yudintsev, the head of Gaijin Software (War Thunder), sees World War II as an opportunity to view war with a certain nostalgia. In war simulations with modern weapons, this is lacking. “With modern military vehicles, it’s just not fun. You destroy objects at such great distances that you can’t even see what you’re shooting at.”
