There's something about war that makes for some incredible movies and games. Most tackle this controversial topic with all the subtlety of a meat hammer, bludgeoning users with action, gore, and death.
But one gaming company looks to elevate the genre.
Images courtesy: Wargaming
Wargaming, the guys behind the trifecta of 'World of Tanks', 'World of Warplanes', and 'World of Warships', are now coming to India. They have a special India-centric re-launch for World of Warships, bringing in a host of new features, including a revised pricing structure, bundled offers with tech and esports companies, a partnership with ACT Fibernet, and exclusive India-focused content.
So we sat down with Rajeev Girdhar, the Regional Publishing Director for World of Warships, to figure out what the company has in mind.
A Russian ship with one of the Indian camo options exclusive to Indian customers
For those of you that don't know, Wargaming is a Belarusian game studio that's been around since 1998. Founded by Victor Kislyi and his brother Eugene, it was a tiny affair that started in their basement in Minsk. For a little over a decade after, the company grew off the backs of some fairly popular wartime strategy games, including 'Order of War' published by Square Enix in 2009.?
The real game-changer for them though was their first online title, 'World of Tanks', released in August 2010.
World of Tanks is a free-to-play massively multiplayer online game (MMO) set during World War I and World War II. To clarify, it's an action-strategy game where you pilot vehicles from those wars in battle instances, either against bots or other players. And all of these vehicles are historically accurate renditions of combat vehicles from the mid-20th century era.
World of Tanks was immensely popular to say the least. They started with a mere 200,000 players a month after launch, and today claim over 200 million. It's still available in a freemium model, meaning it's free-to play but you can pay for "premium" features. The game was so successful, that Wargaming eventually branched out into 'World of Airplanes' in 2013 and 'World of Warships' in 2015.?
But Rajeev insists Wargaming is not your average game studio, and they don't make your average war game either.
"It's not just about games," he says. "We're into education and restoration. Our games are based around World War I and II, and we allow our players to relive those moments without blood or gore."?
"There aren't even people in the game. We're socially responsible. A variety of generations enjoy our titles, even kids play them and come to conventions. Their parents are comfortable making us a domestic product in their homes, he adds.
And he's right, Wargaming's titles traditionally play out from a more macro level than a single soldier's point of view. There's no body in your crosshairs here. With WoWS, it's just another ship you're flanking and firing torpedoes at. There are explosions, but no blood spatters, flying bodies, or corpses by the wayside. Their focus is specifically on clean fun.
"We have two kinds of players, one slice being between 16-22, a mostly male-dominated audience," Rajeev says. "The other spectrum is very casual gamers." Their average player though is a 32-year-old male, he says, usually one with a family and a balanced lifestyle. And In India they're targeting players 25-years-old and up.
What's intriguing though, is that Wargaming isn't happy just making games. Because of the kind of audience they attract, they want to help educate people about the history behind the vehicles of the World Wars.
"We collaborate with different organisations in the government and public sector to recreate historical military vessels," Rajeev says excitedly. And indeed, a quick scan of news mentions over the years proves that. They reportedly helped recover the world's last remaining Dornier Do 17 warplane used by Nazi Germany, which is now on display at the Royal Air Force Museum in the UK. They currently help sponsor the USS Iowa, a World War II battleship permanently docked at the Port of Los Angeles in California, to serve as a floating museum. They're also partnered with a few governments on historical military restoration projects, as well as various charities aimed at war veterans.
In India, Rajeev says the World of Warships team is trying to work with the?likes of the Naval Academy in Kerala, as well as one of our naval museums. It's unclear yet whether this will involve contributing to their historical efforts in any way, but that's very likely. For their own purposes though, this will help Wargaming gain access to the archives and info they need to bring some of that exclusive content to India.
One addition from these partnerships is the Indian cruiser? INS Mysore, the historical likeness of which will be in World of Warships next year. The other planned introduction is a similar digital reconstruction of the INS Delhi. However Rajeev admits they're not as far along on that one. They're "struggling for material" with it, so it's possible the cruiser may never arrive. And even if they get all the information they need, he confides that building a warship like that into the game could take anywhere between four to eight months.
At the end of the day, Rajeev seems proud of what Wargaming has built, and indeed he should be. He credits the company's balance of revenue and user experience for that. "You shouldn't have to always be online," he says emphatically, when asked about modern day DRM policies on games. In his opinion, the free-to-play model has proven that it works, and it should be the future of the industry.
"Wargaming's titles are free to play. We make money from the customers that buy content on our online stores. But even when the free-to-play gamers are online, they're providing value to the paying customers," he adds. That, he says, is what's kept World of Tanks popular for nine years.
Moreover, he believes gaming is ready to step onto the main stage as a universal phenomenon. I asked him whether he believes esports deserves a spot in the Olympics lineup, and his answer was the most succinct I've received so far.
"In a few years' time, they'll have to refresh the Olympics portfolio," he says. For instance MMA could be included soon he points out, so why shouldn't esports be added as a new category as well?
That of course comes with pitfalls of its own. For one, MMA or other sports like gymnastics or swimming have never been classified as addictive by any stretch of imagination. So in order to be inducted into the premier sporting event in the world, gaming might have to shake that bad rap first.
"There's no right answer to this (addiction)," Rajeev says, "But that's why we at Wargaming don't just make games, we make content that's educational. We have historical programmes, and even educational TV documentaries on war."