According to World of Tanks, Wargaming has allegedly fired some European employees due to incompetence. However, an employee of the software studio vehemently denies this.
The community and the media situation surrounding World of Tanks is hard to understand for outsiders. Some of the main bloggers are based in Russia. In the West, there were two blogs, “FTR” (For the Record) and “Status Report”, that disclosed internal information, expressed concerns about the conditions, criticized sharply, and handled source references rather loosely.
“For the Record” ceased operations in March 2015; the blog’s operator took a job with the World of Tanks competitor Armored Warfare. He recommended Rita Sobrals Status Report as an information source for his community.
Since Wargaming and their games do not play a dominant role in the “traditional gaming media” of the West, these sites serve as the main information source for many core fans of the games. From this Status Report, for instance, we had our information weeks in advance about what would happen in World of Tanks 9.8.
Blog reports that Wargaming has fired numerous incompetent employees
Now, the blog reported that Wargaming EU was undergoing a “purge”, a cleanup operation, as they had fired several community employees in Europe, allegedly due to incompetence. This includes popular English posters Erissa and Grimbru. They are now planning a restart and are looking for 16 new employees. As far as the reporting site knew, this was just “the beginning.”
With a sharp tongue, they add: They wonder about this decision. If they are dissatisfied with performance in Europe, it would be more logical to fire management.
Wargaming employee contradicts
A verified employee of Wargaming has now strongly contradicted this portrayal via Reddit. It is an exception to comment on such speculation at all. He will never do this again, only in this case. Because he cannot stand seeing his colleagues being dragged through the mud.
The information was clearly spread by someone who wanted to put the European branch of Wargaming in a bad light. The employee was particularly disappointed with Rita, who knows she just needs to make one call to have information confirmed by Wargaming.
The employee is sure he will regret getting involved on Reddit. But he cannot bear that the community accepts information from unverified and anonymous sources as indisputable truth.
He made it clear: No one at Wargaming has been fired. Some may have left their jobs for personal reasons, others because they received offers from other companies.
According to the Wargaming employee, currently, there are 6 jobs open in community management. 2 had already been vacant (community manager for Czech Republic and Poland), and 4 positions became available due to departures (CM for Germany, one German-speaking, and two English-speaking community coordinators). The two vacancies in Czech Republic and Poland arose due to the growth of World of Tanks, with previous employees in these positions being promoted internally.
Conspiracy theories also exist
The top comment in the relevant Reddit thread has a theory of its own: The sharp tone against Wargaming EU in Rita’s blog comes from her mentor, the former operator of “For the Record.” He had already attacked Wargaming EU in his format and is now indirectly continuing to do so as an employee of the competitor “Armored Warfare” through influence on Rita Sobrals Status Report.
