Wargaming (company)

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Wargaming
Type Public
Industry Entertainment
Video Games
Founded August 12, 1998 (1998-08-12)
Headquarters Nicosia, Cyprus
Key people Victor Kislyi (CEO)
Andrei Yarantsau (VP of Publishing)
Products Video games and services
Revenue € 217,9 million (2012)
Net income € 6,1 million (2012)
Employees 2200+
Website Official Website
The Wargaming.net Service Official Website

Wargaming Public Co Ltd is an international MMO developer and publisher headquartered in Nicosia, Cyprus. The company operates across 16 offices and development centers.

Primarily focused on TBS and RTS games, Wargaming switched to developing free-to-play MMO games in 2009, and has since become one of the leaders in the market.

The company's critical and commercial success came after the launch of its first MMO project, the military-themed team-based game World of Tanks. Wargaming is now working on several follow-ups.

History

Wargaming was founded by Victor Kislyi in 1998 [1] as a development studio creating multiplayer strategy games for PC.

The company’s first project was DBA Online—the digital version of a miniature tabletop rule set De Bellis Antiquitatis—launched in 2000.Wargaming started working on its first full-scale commercial project—the sci-fi turn-based strategy game Massive Assault—in March, 2002.[2]

Over the course of five years, the company shipped five projects within the Massive Assault franchise.[3]

On November 16, 2007, Wargaming acquired the Minsk-based Arise studio.[4]

In December 2008 the company released its first real-time strategy Operation “Bagration”.[5]

On April 16, 2009, Wargaming started working on real-time strategy Order of War, which was published by Square Enix on September 18, 2009.

On August 12, 2010, the company released its first MMO title World of Tanks. It was released in North America and Europe the following year.

At E3 2011, Wargaming announced the follow-up to World of Tanks—the flight combat MMO action game World of Warplanes.[6] At Gamescom 2011, the company unveiled the third part of its military saga—the naval action MMO game World of Warships.[7]

In October 2011, Wargaming announced the online collectible card MMO game World of Tanks: Generals.

2011 marked the beginning of active global expansion for Wargaming. On July 26, 2011, the company opened the European Business Operations Centre—Wargaming Europe—with headquarters in Paris, France and with a subsidiary office in Berlin, Germany.[8]

On August 3, 2011, the company created a direct presence in North America by opening an office in San-Francisco, USA.

Throughout 2011, Wargaming joined strategic partnerships with Persha Studia, Lesta Studio and DAVA Consulting,[9] with each operating separate projects under Wargaming.

On February 21, 2012, the Android version of World of Tanks Assistant—the mobile application for World of Tanks—went live in Europe and North America.[10]

In May 2012, Wargaming entered the Korean games market [11] by opening a subsidiary office in Seoul.

On April 12, 2012, World of Tanks was released in North America and Europe.

In June 2012, Wargaming embarked on a rebranding initiative and announced the Wargaming.net Service [12] that unites its games and services into a single battle universe.[13]

In June 2012, Wargaming had grown to 900 employees throughout the world.

On August 7, 2012, Wargaming acquired Australian company BigWorld Technology [14] [15] which brought development of the middleware for its MMO projects in-house.

In 2012, Wargaming's revenue was declared to be 217.9 million Euro, with net profit of 6.1 million Euro, declared in an annual report for the Cyprus Stock Exchange.[16]

On January 29, 2013, Wargaming set sights on the console market by acquiring Day 1 Studios,[17] [18] developer of the F.E.A.R. franchise. Renamed Wargaming West, the studios are currently developing World of Tanks Xbox 360 Edition—the standalone console MMO game, based on the World of Tanks IP announced at E3 2013.[19]

On February 12, 2013, Wargaming announced its own eSports league,[20] the Wargaming.net League.

On February 14, 2013, the company acquired Gas Powered Games, the establishment behind the gaming classics Total Annihilation and Supreme Commander.

On March 26, 2013 Wargaming announced World of Tanks Blitz[21]—the mobile MMO game centered around tank combat available on smartphones and tablets.

On May 29, 2013, Wargaming branched into the Japanese games market by opening an office in Tokyo.[22]

On July 22, 2013, the company bought Total Annihilation and Master of Orion IPs from the Atari bankruptcy proceedings.[23]

Strategic partners and studios

  • BigWorld Pty Ltd—Sydney, Australia
  • Wargaming West (former Day 1 Studios)—Chicago, Illinois (USA), Baltimore, Maryland (USA)
  • Wargaming Seattle (former Gas Powered Games)—Redmond, Washington (USA)
  • Game Stream—Minsk, Belarus
  • Persha Studia—Kiev, Ukraine
  • Lesta Studio—Saint-Petersburg
  • Dava Consulting—Minsk, Belarus

Games

Main article: List of Wargaming projects

Wargaming has created more than 15 titles; most popular being MMO action game World of Tanks.

The company currently has several projects in the pipeline being developed for multiple platforms. Its flight combat MMO action game World of Warplanes was released in November 2013. The naval action MMO title World of Warships will enter a Global Alpha phase in 2014. Other projects in the works include the CCG World of Tanks: Generals, mobile MMO game World of Tanks Blitz and World of Tanks Xbox 360 Edition.

Wargaming Seattle is engaged in the development of an unannounced project.

Wargaming.net

Main article: Wargaming.net

Announced in 2012, the service provides a unified access point to all Wargaming projects.

Awards

  • Best Game Developer Award at GDC Russia 2009 (KRI-2009).[24]
  • Media Award at GDC Russia 2009 (KRI-2009).[24]
  • Best Game Developer Award at GDC Russia 2010 (KRI-2010).[25]
  • Special Award from the Industry at GDC Russia 2011 (KRI-2011).[26]
  • Industry Excellence Award at GDC Russia 2012 (KRI-2012).[27]
  • Best Game Developer Award at GDC Russia 2012 (KRI-2012).[28]
  • Best MMO Award for World of Tanks at the Golden Joystick Awards 2012.[29]
  • Best Booth Award from Massively at E3 2012.[30]
  • Best Publisher Award from MMORPGITALIA.[31]
  • Best Action Download MMO 2012 Award for World of Tanks in the MMO of the Year awards.[32]
  • Best Classic Download MMO 2013 Award for World of Tanks in the MMO of the Year awards.[33]

External links

References

  1. ↑ Joystiq Staff. Hit List Q&A: Wargaming CEO Victor Kislyi. Joystiq.com January 2013. Retrieved 2013-09-17
  2. ↑ Scott Parrino. Interview: Massive Assault In-Depth. Wargamer.com August 2003. Retrieved 2013-09-17.
  3. ↑ Elisabeth Cardy. How Wargaming.net launched itself to the top. Joystiq.com September 2012. Retrieved 2013-09-17.4. Nicholas Yanes.
  4. ↑ Wargaming’s Sergey Burkatovskiy on World of Tanks and Working in the F2P MMO Market. Gamesauce.org July 2013. Retrieved 2013-09-17.
  5. ↑ Wargaming history. Wargaming.com Retrieved 2013-09-17.
  6. ↑ Joe Martin.World of Warplanes announced. Bit-tech.net June 2011. Retrieved 2013-09-17.
  7. ↑ Jim Rossingnol.Full Ahead: World of Battleships Announced. Rockpapershotgun.com August 2011. Retrieved 2013-09-17.
  8. ↑ Wargaming.net Expands to Europe. Ign.com July 2011. Retrieved 2013-09-17.
  9. ↑ Wargaming.net and DAVA Join Forces. Ign.com June 2011. Retrieved 2013-09-17.
  10. ↑ Justin Olivetti.World of Tanks iOS app rolls off the factory line. Massively.joystiq.com February 2012. Retrieved 2013-09-17.
  11. ↑ Craig Chapple. Wargaming.net continues growth with Seoul office. Develop-online.net May 2012. Retrieved 2013-09-17.
  12. ↑ Jef Reahard. Wargaming.net to unify all its titles in a 'single MMO battle realm'. Massively.joystiq.com June 2012. Retrieved 2013-09-17.
  13. ↑ Press Release posted by Curtis Szmania. Wargaming.net announces a global battle portal. Wargamer.com June 2012. Retrieved 2013-09-17.
  14. ↑ Craig Chapple. Wargaming.net acquires BigWorld for $45m. Develop-online.net August 2012. Retrieved 2013-09-17.
  15. ↑ Dean Takahashi. Wargaming acquires BigWorld middleware firm for $45M (exclusive). Venturebeat.com August 2012. Retrieved 2013-09-17.
  16. ↑ Strategies for playing at war: World of Tanks revenues have soared from €18m in 2011 to €218m last year. Bambooinnovator.com June 2013. Retrieved 2013-07-16.
  17. ↑ Ben Maxwell. Wargaming acquires Fracture dev Day 1, opens Chicago studio. Edge-online.com January 2013. Retrieved 2013-09-17.
  18. ↑ Dave Tach. Wargaming.net acquires FEAR 3 developer Day 1 Studios to form Wargaming West. Polygon.com January 2013. Retrieved 2013-09-17.
  19. ↑ Charlie Hall. World of Tanks Xbox 360 Edition: Wargaming's phenomenon comes to the console. Polygon.com June 2013. Retrieved 2013-09-17.
  20. ↑ Tori McGrath. Wargaming.net League Announced for World of Tanks. Gamebreaker.tv February 2013. Retrieved 2013-09-17.
  21. ↑ Laura Parker. World of Tanks Blitz coming to smartphones and tablets. Gamespot.com March 2013. Retrieved 2013-09-17.
  22. ↑ Wargaming expands with new Tokyo office. Destructoid.com May 2013. Retrieved 2013-09-17.
  23. ↑ Adam Solo. Wargaming Takes Master of Orion, Stardock Gets Star Control. Spacesector.com July 2013. Retrieved 2013-09-17.
  24. ↑ 24.0 24.1 PhoeniX_Arseny.Белорусская компания Wargaming.net получила престижную премию на КРИ 2009. Maxigame.by май 2009. Архивировано из первоисточника 2013-09-18.
  25. ↑ IGN Staff. Wargaming.net Wins Best KRI 2010 Game Developer Award from Critics in Russia. Ign.com May 2010. Retrieved 2013-09-18.
  26. ↑ КРИ 2011. Обзор от Goha.ru. Worldoftanks.ru May 2011. Retrieved 2013-09-18.
  27. ↑ Suzie Ford. World of WarPlanes News Wargaming.net Scores Big Awards at Russian GDC. Mmorpg.com May 2012. Retrieved 2013-09-18.
  28. ↑ Suzie Ford. World of WarPlanes News Wargaming.net Scores Big Awards at Russian GDC. Mmorpg.com May 2012. Retrieved 2013-09-18.
  29. ↑ Jef Reahard. World of Tanks claims Golden Joystick's best MMO award. Massively.joystiq.com October 2012. Retrieved 2013-09-18.
  30. ↑ Jef Reahard. Massively's E3 2012 awards and impressions. Massively.joystiq.com June 2012. Retrieved 2013-09-18.
  31. ↑ Paolo Davide. MMORPGITALIA Editor's Choice Awards 2011. Mmorpgitalia.it January 2012. Retrieved 2013-09-18.
  32. ↑ World of Tanks has won a total of 3 MMO of the Year awards. Mmooftheyear.com 2013. Retrieved 2013-09-18.
  33. ↑ World of Tanks has won a total of 3 MMO of the Year awards. Mmooftheyear.com 2013. Retrieved 2013-09-18.

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