World of Tanks could come to consoles, but not in near future

World of Tanks console release may happen in future

World of Tanks and its related massively multiplayer game series could be ported to consoles, but not before its current gameplay is improved.

Speaking to Polygon, VP of global operations Andrei Yarantsau acknowledged the possibility of the series coming to console but emphasized the popularity of online-only titles means the company first aims to improve the technical aspects of its series.

"Online games are going through an avalanche of exciting changes," Yarantsau explained.

"Everything is headed more and more towards online bonds and even elements that would traditionally only exist as offline components are slowly becoming online-oriented. That's why console development is not on our immediate horizon. We first want to improve the current gameplay before seriously thinking about bringing the title to a console."

"Several other projects in mind"

Wargaming.net is, however, working on the development of World of Warplanes as well as the upcoming release of World of Battleships. According to Yarantsau, the studio "has several other projects in mind, too."

Freemium title World of Tanks lets user control various historically accurate World War II tanks in PvP battles that include Team Deathmatch and Capture the Flag. Its follow-up titles World of Warplanes and World of Battleships will also follow a freemium model and allow players to battle one another in the historical setting by air and by sea, respectively.

The studio briefly considered introducing a modern setting to its World War II simulation title World of Warplanes, Yarantsau continued, but modern advancements since the Cold War simplified warfare in a way that could not translate well to skill-oriented gaming.

"We have considered this but we still believe that modern aeronautical engineering is way too different from the classic, old-school approach," he said.

How the Cold War made strategy gaming easy

"We don't want to include winged robots filled with complex electronics. We want basic, analogue machines where the competence of the crew is most important. Simple and fun.

"We aim at developing diverse skill-oriented gameplay, where players devote time and energy to learning something. Vehicles designed and produced during the period of the 1930s to 1950s perfectly fit this criteria as they didn't have much in the way of electronic equipment and pilots had to rely on their skills instead of gadgets.

"We feel that introducing a more modern setting would have an adverse effect on the balance and gameplay. The technological advancement of the Cold War era and further decades has turned aerial combat into a 'push button' form of high-tech warfare. Dogfighting became a thing of the past with the pilot being merely relegated to a role of pushing 'magic buttons' upon command."

Integrated combat not feasible

Similarly, despite plans to let player-controlled tanks, ships and aircrafts assist each other on the Global Map, World of Tanks, World of Warplanes and World of Battleships will not include integrated combat in which users could play with one another across each individual game.

"We are certain about this one," said Yarantsau, "as it is not technically feasible."

"In terms of gameplay, air combat will be highly dynamic, naval battles will provide for a slower and more thoughtful game and tank battles present a middle ground between the two. Besides, the three types of warfare have totally different levels of vulnerability. Within one map, tankers would get destroyed by virtual pilots in no time, provided the planes don't get shot down by the naval monsters even faster, which is rather likely. Another point is that each type of warfare calls for a particular map size (1 x 1 km2 for tanks, 15 x 15 km2 for warbirds, and no less than 30 x 30 km2 for ships)."

World of Tanks was released to North America and Europe in 2011. Its follow-up flight simulation title World of Warplanes is currently in global alpha stage. Wargaming.net is in various stages of roll-out across Asia, including Vietnam, Korea, Singapore, Malaysia, Taiwan and the Philippines.

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