World of Tanks
Encyclopedia
World of Tanks is a freemium
3D
team-based multiplayer online game
featuring historically accurate fighting vehicles from the 1930s to the 1950s. World of Tanks is a PvP-focused project that promises action and strategy based gameplay. In the release version, World of Tanks includes more than 90 armored vehicles from China, the Soviet Union, Germany and USA. France, Britain and Japan have also been confirmed to be in development. A planned "Tree of Europe" has also been confirmed featuring Italian, Swedish and Polish tanks with Hungary and Romania possible. The vehicles have been carefully detailed with historical accuracy. Eventually, there will be around 500 vehicles available in the game. World of Tanks was released on April 12, 2011 on the territories of Europe
and North America
.
World of Tanks is the first game of the Belarusian company Wargaming.net
to be released under "Play 4 Free" model, which will see the game released for free with revenue generated from micropayment
s in the form of Gold.
World of Tanks holds a Guinness World Record in the category of Most Players Online Simultaneously on one MMO Server, although its specific genre remains disputable. The record was registered on January 23, 2011 when the number of players on the game’s Russian server totaled 91,311.
Each team can have no more than 15 players in it; therefore the maximum possible number of combat units at the battlefield is 30. The goal of each team is to defeat all of the enemies and try to lose as few allied tanks as possible.
The basic mode of the game is team death-match with capture the flag elements, where teamwork takes precedence over more "lone wolf" style play. As originally intended, it was thought that the capture the flag portion of the game would be a separate version of the game, however this was not to be. Combat begins with players squaring off at predetermined locations usually directly across from each other on the maps. Typically between 400 meters and 1 km distance exists between the two teams, though due to tank speeds and terrain this can seem longer. After a timer counts down, players must decide how they want to handle the situation, having both death-match and capture the flag game play goals to choose from. Meaning, the player may decide to go for kills, attempting to destroy all of the opposing team, or a number of players may attempt to occupy the base of the enemy and capture their flag. Doing either will result in a win for one team, though it is possible for both teams to capture at the same time and result in a draw with no winner, thus forcing players to out-maneuver and destroy each other in the pursuit of victory.
will open new opportunities for the player – they will be able to take part in "Clan Wars" special battles. However, those willing to stay away from clan membership will be able to pay in-game gold to purchase a mercenary license. This will enable that person to be recruited by clans on special occasions. There will be a place for political and non-political methods of waging war and gaining control and power over their own and foreign territories on the global world map. Diplomacy will play an important part in Clan Wars as there would be various options available – non-aggression pacts, mutual aid treaties, intelligence sharing or free pass for allied armies. Another feature which will be added once the Global Campaign is completed will be introducing historical missions – series of battles set up on the maps close to their historical prototypes where only specific models of tanks will be allowed.
studio on April 24, 2009. Developers claim that the game budget was the greatest ever in the game industry of CIS
, but there has been no independent proof of this claim.
Alpha testing of the Russian version of the game began September 2009, with only six different vehicles (Su-85,BT-7,T-34,Pz IV,Hummel,Tiger) and one half-baked map available. By the beginning of the closed beta test, which started on January 30, 2010, several dozen vehicles and three maps were completed. In three months, the number of beta tester requests approached 40,000, and over 400,000 tank battles took place.
Open beta test of the Russian version started June 24, 2010; at that point, there were 7 maps available, along with over 60 Russian and German vehicles.
Closed beta test of English version of the game began on July 8, 2010.
The Russian version of the game was officially released on August 12, 2010; however, due to technical difficulties, the game servers went online only on August 13.
According to Wargaming.net official press release, the number of World of Tanks users worldwide reached 700,000, including 500,000 users on Russian servers (350,000 active players), and 200,000 on Western servers (150,000 active players). The number of peak concurrent users exceeded 43,000 on Russian servers and 10,000 on Western servers. The average active gamer spent 3 hours 20 minutes playing the game every day; over 10,000,000 battles have been fought since September 2010.
By January 4, 2011 World of Tanks had recorded more than one million registrations worldwide (United States
, Europe
and Russia
). This milestone was reached in less than a year since the launch of the closed beta in Russia
.
On January 5, 2011, there were 74,536 players simultaneously online on the Russian World of Tanks server, which, according to Wargaming.net, had become a world record amongst MMO games. The "Most players online simultaneously on one MMO server" world record was officially registered by Guinness World Records
on January 23, 2011 and constituted 91,311 players.
According to the game's official site, the Russian server hit the one million registration mark on January 18, 2011.
The open beta of the English version of the game was launched on January 27, 2011; the official release was scheduled for April 12, 2011.
The World of Tanks pre-orders were scheduled to be available for the American and European clusters until the game launched on April 12, 2011.
World of Tanks was released on April 12, 2011 on the territories of Europe and North America.
On May 24, 2011 total number of registrations for all three game servers reached 3,000,000 players (2,000,000 on Russian server and 1,000,000 on Europe and North America).
On November 18, 2011 the public test of awaited version 0.7.0 was started
Freemium
Freemium is a business model that works by offering a product or service free of charge while charging a premium for advanced features, functionality, or related products and services...
3D
3D computer graphics
3D computer graphics are graphics that use a three-dimensional representation of geometric data that is stored in the computer for the purposes of performing calculations and rendering 2D images...
team-based multiplayer online game
Multiplayer online game
A Multiplayer Online Game is a multiplayer video game which can be played via a game server over the internet, with other players around the world...
featuring historically accurate fighting vehicles from the 1930s to the 1950s. World of Tanks is a PvP-focused project that promises action and strategy based gameplay. In the release version, World of Tanks includes more than 90 armored vehicles from China, the Soviet Union, Germany and USA. France, Britain and Japan have also been confirmed to be in development. A planned "Tree of Europe" has also been confirmed featuring Italian, Swedish and Polish tanks with Hungary and Romania possible. The vehicles have been carefully detailed with historical accuracy. Eventually, there will be around 500 vehicles available in the game. World of Tanks was released on April 12, 2011 on the territories of Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
and North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
.
World of Tanks is the first game of the Belarusian company Wargaming.net
Wargaming.net
Wargaming.net is a strategy game developer operating since 1998. The company is based in London with a development center in Belarus. In November 2007 Wargaming.net acquired Arise, an independent PC game studio,and currently consists of nearly 250 employees. The company's motto is "Strategic...
to be released under "Play 4 Free" model, which will see the game released for free with revenue generated from micropayment
Micropayment
A micropayment is a financial transaction involving a very small sum of money and usually one that occurs online. PayPal defines a micropayment as a transaction of less than 12 USD while Visa prefers transactions under 20 Australian dollars, and though micropayments were originally envisioned to...
s in the form of Gold.
World of Tanks holds a Guinness World Record in the category of Most Players Online Simultaneously on one MMO Server, although its specific genre remains disputable. The record was registered on January 23, 2011 when the number of players on the game’s Russian server totaled 91,311.
Game modes
The players in World of Tanks will have a chance to take part in four primary types of battles: random battles, team training battles, tank company battles and clan battles. In random battles players cannot choose in which team out of two possible they can play, however up to three friends can platoon together insuring they get placed on the same team. On the contrary, in clan battles gamers decide to fight for a particular clan on a risk-like board of Europe. Tank company battles are like clan battles, but anyone (up to 15 people) can join your tank company. When you have your tank company filled up, matchmaking will put you against another, random tank company on a random map.Each team can have no more than 15 players in it; therefore the maximum possible number of combat units at the battlefield is 30. The goal of each team is to defeat all of the enemies and try to lose as few allied tanks as possible.
The basic mode of the game is team death-match with capture the flag elements, where teamwork takes precedence over more "lone wolf" style play. As originally intended, it was thought that the capture the flag portion of the game would be a separate version of the game, however this was not to be. Combat begins with players squaring off at predetermined locations usually directly across from each other on the maps. Typically between 400 meters and 1 km distance exists between the two teams, though due to tank speeds and terrain this can seem longer. After a timer counts down, players must decide how they want to handle the situation, having both death-match and capture the flag game play goals to choose from. Meaning, the player may decide to go for kills, attempting to destroy all of the opposing team, or a number of players may attempt to occupy the base of the enemy and capture their flag. Doing either will result in a win for one team, though it is possible for both teams to capture at the same time and result in a draw with no winner, thus forcing players to out-maneuver and destroy each other in the pursuit of victory.
Clan wars and historical campaigns
World of Tanks will also include a never-ending campaign with Clan Wars unfolding on the Global Map. The Global Map with a particular part of the Earth will be introduced and split into certain districts. Clans (or blocks of them) will be fighting for these provinces. In the course of time other continents will be added so there’ll be a chance to take part in battles for superiority somewhere in the desert areas of Africa or tropical jungles of Asia. To form up a clan one should gather a team of at least 15 players with up to 100 participants. Joining a clanClan
A clan is a group of people united by actual or perceived kinship and descent. Even if lineage details are unknown, clan members may be organized around a founding member or apical ancestor. The kinship-based bonds may be symbolical, whereby the clan shares a "stipulated" common ancestor that is a...
will open new opportunities for the player – they will be able to take part in "Clan Wars" special battles. However, those willing to stay away from clan membership will be able to pay in-game gold to purchase a mercenary license. This will enable that person to be recruited by clans on special occasions. There will be a place for political and non-political methods of waging war and gaining control and power over their own and foreign territories on the global world map. Diplomacy will play an important part in Clan Wars as there would be various options available – non-aggression pacts, mutual aid treaties, intelligence sharing or free pass for allied armies. Another feature which will be added once the Global Campaign is completed will be introducing historical missions – series of battles set up on the maps close to their historical prototypes where only specific models of tanks will be allowed.
Custom features
Various camouflage schemes are available for use on tanks, from historically accurate patterns to more custom variants. Players can also place pre-designed slogans or clan emblems on tank hulls, although these "skins" are only currently visible to the individual user, until Update 0.7 is introduced.Pro Tournaments
Since 2011 the Electronic Sports League has been running professional eSports tournaments for the game World of Tanks. In the ESL Major Series, teams can win €7,500. In the Go4WoT Cups, teams can win €1300 every month. Anyone who makes a World of Tanks account and an ESL account can participate in these matches and see for himself, if he is fit to become a progamer.History
According to the developers' account, the concept of the game came to their minds on December 29 or 30th, 2008. The game was officially announced by Wargaming.netWargaming.net
Wargaming.net is a strategy game developer operating since 1998. The company is based in London with a development center in Belarus. In November 2007 Wargaming.net acquired Arise, an independent PC game studio,and currently consists of nearly 250 employees. The company's motto is "Strategic...
studio on April 24, 2009. Developers claim that the game budget was the greatest ever in the game industry of CIS
Commonwealth of Independent States
The Commonwealth of Independent States is a regional organization whose participating countries are former Soviet Republics, formed during the breakup of the Soviet Union....
, but there has been no independent proof of this claim.
Alpha testing of the Russian version of the game began September 2009, with only six different vehicles (Su-85,BT-7,T-34,Pz IV,Hummel,Tiger) and one half-baked map available. By the beginning of the closed beta test, which started on January 30, 2010, several dozen vehicles and three maps were completed. In three months, the number of beta tester requests approached 40,000, and over 400,000 tank battles took place.
Open beta test of the Russian version started June 24, 2010; at that point, there were 7 maps available, along with over 60 Russian and German vehicles.
Closed beta test of English version of the game began on July 8, 2010.
The Russian version of the game was officially released on August 12, 2010; however, due to technical difficulties, the game servers went online only on August 13.
According to Wargaming.net official press release, the number of World of Tanks users worldwide reached 700,000, including 500,000 users on Russian servers (350,000 active players), and 200,000 on Western servers (150,000 active players). The number of peak concurrent users exceeded 43,000 on Russian servers and 10,000 on Western servers. The average active gamer spent 3 hours 20 minutes playing the game every day; over 10,000,000 battles have been fought since September 2010.
By January 4, 2011 World of Tanks had recorded more than one million registrations worldwide (United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
and Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
). This milestone was reached in less than a year since the launch of the closed beta in Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
.
On January 5, 2011, there were 74,536 players simultaneously online on the Russian World of Tanks server, which, according to Wargaming.net, had become a world record amongst MMO games. The "Most players online simultaneously on one MMO server" world record was officially registered by Guinness World Records
Guinness World Records
Guinness World Records, known until 2000 as The Guinness Book of Records , is a reference book published annually, containing a collection of world records, both human achievements and the extremes of the natural world...
on January 23, 2011 and constituted 91,311 players.
According to the game's official site, the Russian server hit the one million registration mark on January 18, 2011.
The open beta of the English version of the game was launched on January 27, 2011; the official release was scheduled for April 12, 2011.
The World of Tanks pre-orders were scheduled to be available for the American and European clusters until the game launched on April 12, 2011.
World of Tanks was released on April 12, 2011 on the territories of Europe and North America.
On May 24, 2011 total number of registrations for all three game servers reached 3,000,000 players (2,000,000 on Russian server and 1,000,000 on Europe and North America).
On November 18, 2011 the public test of awaited version 0.7.0 was started
Reception
World of Tanks has received favorable reviews, and currently holds a Metacritic score of 80 out of 100.Awards
- The first prize for the "Best Online Client Game", KRI 2010Russian Game Developer's ConferenceThe Russian Game Developer's Conference , or KRI , is an annual event for industry professionals where devoted to game development, publishing and distribution in Russian Territories. The show also features the presentation of the annual KRI awards, Russia's only professional game awards...
. - "Best New Concept" award on E3 2010Electronic Entertainment Expo 2010The Electronic Entertainment Expo 2010, commonly known as E3 2010, was the 16th Electronic Entertainment Expo held. The event took place on June 14–17 at the Los Angeles Convention Center. E3 is an annual trade show for the computer and video games industry presented by the Entertainment Software...
. - "Best Free MMORPG" according to the MMORPG Center’s 2010 Player’s Choice Awards.
- "Most Anticipated Free MMORPG" according to the MMORPG Center’s 2010 Player’s Choice Awards.
- "Most Anticipated MMO in 2010" according to the MMOSITE's Reader's Choice Awards 2010
- "Favorite Strategy MMO in 2010" according to the MMOSITE's Reader's Choice Awards 2010
- World Guinness RecordGuinness World RecordsGuinness World Records, known until 2000 as The Guinness Book of Records , is a reference book published annually, containing a collection of world records, both human achievements and the extremes of the natural world...
: Most Players Online Simultaneously on One MMO Server - "Gold Award" from Gamers Daily News
- "Best Game" KRI 2011Russian Game Developer's ConferenceThe Russian Game Developer's Conference , or KRI , is an annual event for industry professionals where devoted to game development, publishing and distribution in Russian Territories. The show also features the presentation of the annual KRI awards, Russia's only professional game awards...
- "Audience Award" KRI 2011Russian Game Developer's ConferenceThe Russian Game Developer's Conference , or KRI , is an annual event for industry professionals where devoted to game development, publishing and distribution in Russian Territories. The show also features the presentation of the annual KRI awards, Russia's only professional game awards...
- Best «Game that Needed the Award» Award from Gamepro on E3 2011
- «Rising Star Award for E3 2011» from mmorpg.com