Wargaming

Wargaming is a developer and publisher.

Wargaming Webpage

A development studio based in Nicosia, Cyprus. Wargaming has existed since 1998, but it gained worldwide fame only with the release of World of Tanks in 2010. The studio is headed by its founder, Victor Kislyi.

Wargaming's history

Beginning of business

The history of the studio begins in August 1998. The team, based in Minsk, is headed by Victor Kislyi from the very beginning. Wargaming was supposed to specialize in creating strategy games, and its first project was DBA Online released in 2000 - an adaptation of the tabletop De Bellis Antiquitatis system. In 2003, the studio released its next work – Massive Assault – its development dominated Wargaming's activities for the next three years. In 2007, Wargaming acquired the Minsk studio Arise and released Galactic Assault: Prisoner of Power. In December 2008, the studio released an RTS titled Operation Bagration, while in September 2009, Square Enix released their real-time strategy titled Order of War.

World of Tanks era

In August 2010, the studio released World of Tanks – an MMO that allowed players to pilot tanks and engage in thrilling online battles. The project's incredible success led to the relocation of Wargaming's headquarters from Minsk to Nicosia, Cyprus, in 2011. Furthermore, in July 2011, they established Wargaming Europe, headquartered in Paris. In August, the company established an American branch based in San Francisco. At E3 2011, Wargaming announced another similar game, World of Warplanes, and at Gamescom 2011, they revealed yet another project - World of Warships.

In the following years, Wargaming focused on the development of its three flagship titles, which regularly received new content and improvements, and were released on new platforms. Moreover, the company was constantly developing, opening new offices (including in Seoul and Tokyo), acquiring new entities (such as the Australian company BigWorld Technology, Day 1 Studios and Gas Powered Games) and finally acquiring the rights to iconic brands – Total Annihilation and Master of Orion.

In July 2015, the company decided to try its hand at publishing, creating the WG Labs division. Their first published game was Master of Orion: Conquer the Stars, developed by the Argentine team at NGD Studios. In the following years, WG Labs released projects such as Hybrid Wars (2016) and Pagan: Absent Gods (2019). In November 2016, Wargaming, Creative Assembly, and SEGA entered into a partnership that resulted in the Total War: Arena project. In 2017, Wargaming created another division; Wargaming Mobile was to develop projects for smartphones and tablets.

Leaving Russia and Belarus

On February 26, 2022, two days after Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Wargaming's creative director, Sergey Burkatovsky, resigned. The reason for this state of affairs was his support for Russian aggression. On April 4, 2022, the company announced that it was ending its operations in Russia and Belarus; this decision resulted in the closure of the Minsk studio and separation from the St. Petersburg-based Lesta Studio. Due to the major changes, the company was preparing for significant losses.

Project CW and Steel Hunters

In the following years, Wargaming focused on developing its existing projects, as well as on new ventures. The first was Project CW, a new tank game drawing inspiration from the MOBA and hero shooter genres. Besides a significantly lower entry threshold than World of Tanks, this game was distinguished by the presence of agents who were intended to influence player capabilities on the battlefield just as much as tanks.

Wargaming's second project was Steel Hunters, a free-to-play shooter announced in December 2024, in which players would pilot powerful mechs and engage in fierce battles in duos on a post-apocalyptic Earth. Steel Hunters was released in Early Access on April 2, 2025, but failed to generate much interest. To make matters worse, the players it attracted complained about various aspects of the game. Ultimately, in July 2025, the studio decided to shut down the game's servers on October 8.

Wargaming.net

Wargaming.net is a website launched in 2012 that serves as a command center for Wargaming games, especially those from the World of series. The portal allows users to, e.g. create an account, purchase and download individual titles, and transfer gold between them (thanks to a shared economy).