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War Thunder is a free-to-play vehicular combat multiplayer video game developed and published by Gaijin Entertainment. Announced in 2011, it was first released in November 2012 as an open beta with a worldwide release in January 2013; it had its official release on December 21, 2016.[11][7] It has a cross-platform format for Microsoft Windows, macOS, Linux, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, Oculus, and Vive. A spinoff game called War Thunder Mobile (also known as War Thunder Edge[12]) was released in May 2023 for Android, with an iOS version released in August 2023. -
Developed as a "flying simulation game", it was previously named War Thunder: World of Planes,[13] but due to its similarity with Wargaming's World of Warplanes, it was changed to its present name in 2012.[14][15] Initially, Gaijin claimed after the game was announced that it was an April Fools joke before confirming its existence in June that same year.[16] -
War Thunder won several awards following its release, winning Best Simulation Game at the Gamescom 2013 Awards as well as winning Best Game, Best Developer, Best Technology and Best Sound at the KRI 2013 Awards.[17][18] In 2019, War Thunder was among the most played games on Steam with over 25,000 concurrent players on Steam only.[19] In 2023, the number of people playing War Thunder simultaneously on Steam only, was over 75,000 on average and peaked at 114,806 on Nov 05, 2023.[20] These numbers do not include console players or PC players using the Gaijin.net service. -
As of November 1, 2022, War Thunder had over 70 million registered players on all platforms combined, out of which 160,000 play concurrently.[21] In February 2024, War Thunder set a new record of over 250,000 concurrent players.[22] +
War Thunder is a 2013 free-to-play vehicular combat multiplayer video game produced by Gaijin Entertainment for Microsoft Windows, macOS, Linux, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, Oculus, and Vive. It was first released in November 2012 as an open beta with a worldwide release in January 2013; it had its official release on December 21, 2016.[12][7] A spinoff game called War Thunder Mobile (also known as War Thunder Edge[13]) was released in 2023 for Android and iOS. +
Developed as a "flying simulation game", it was previously named War Thunder: World of Planes,[14] but due to its similarity with Wargaming's World of Warplanes, it was changed to its present name in 2012.[15][16] Initially, Gaijin claimed after the game was announced that it was an April Fools joke before confirming its existence in June that same year.[17] +
War Thunder won several awards following its release, winning Best Simulation Game at the Gamescom 2013 Awards as well as winning Best Game, Best Developer, Best Technology and Best Sound at the KRI 2013 Awards.[18][19] In 2019, War Thunder was among the most played games on Steam with over 25,000 concurrent players.[20][a] As of November 1, 2022, War Thunder had over 70 million registered players on all platforms combined, out of which 160,000 play concurrently.[21] In February 2024, War Thunder set a new record of over 250,000 concurrent players.[22]
War Thunder is based around combined arms battles on air, land, and sea.[23] Vehicles range from pre-World War I (ships only)[24] to modern day,[25] with an emphasis on World War II,[26][27] the Vietnam War, and the Cold War.[28] Players can control aircraft, ground vehicles, and warships from ten nations with a set of technology trees attached to them: United States, Germany, Russia, Britain, France, Japan, Italy, China, Sweden and Israel. The game also incorporates other nations, including Argentina, Australia, Austria, Bangladesh, Belarus,[29] Canada, Czechoslovakia, Finland, Hungary, India, Kazakhstan,[29] North Korea, Norway, Oman, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Syria, South Africa, Spain, Switzerland, Turkey, Vietnam and Saudi Arabia. These nations are included either as "sub-trees" (parts of the research trees of bigger nations being dedicated to a smaller nation) or premium vehicles, purchasable with real money or in-game currency. -
Vehicles are divided into three main categories: aviation, ground, and fleet, while game modes are divided between arcade, realistic, and simulator.[30] Aviation is divided between fixed-wing aircraft and helicopters, fleet is divided between "Bluewater", ships from the size of destroyers to battlecruisers and battleships and "Coastal", smaller ships and boats such as motor torpedo boats, motor gunboats, submarine chasers, and frigates.[31] A single-player mode that focuses on historical battles, and a co-op wave survival mode for battling AI ground vehicles and aircraft, are also available.[30] +
War Thunder is based around combined arms battles on air, land, and sea.[23] Vehicles range from pre-World War I (ships only)[24] to modern day,[25] with an emphasis on World War II,[26][27] the Vietnam War, and the Cold War.[28] Players can control aircraft, ground vehicles, and warships from nations with a set of technology trees attached to them. The game also incorporates other nations. These nations are included either as "sub-trees" (parts of the research trees of bigger nations being dedicated to a smaller nation) or premium vehicles, purchasable with real money or in-game currency. +
Vehicles are divided into three main categories: aviation, ground, and fleet, while game modes are divided between arcade, realistic, and simulator.[29] Aviation is divided between fixed-wing aircraft and helicopters, fleet is divided between "Bluewater", ships from the size of destroyers to battlecruisers and battleships and "Coastal", smaller ships and boats such as motor torpedo boats, motor gunboats, submarine chasers, and frigates.[30] A single-player mode that focuses on historical battles, and a co-op wave survival mode for battling AI ground vehicles and aircraft, are also available.[29]
Events in War Thunder provide custom missions, usually based on one of the three main game modes, but with alternative settings regarding allowed vehicles, mission specifics, etc. Examples are the recreation of historical battles by restricting available vehicles (e.g., Battle of Britain).
Traditionally, the developers prepare unconventional events for April Fools' Day. These events are used to test planned game mechanics before their broader release to the player base.[citation needed]
Other notable examples include "March to Victory", introducing playable mecha composed of tank parts;[42] "The Pony Nation", introducing the world of My Little Pony, Equestria, as a sixth playable faction (2013);[43] and "Gaijilla", featuring a battle against a giant Godzilla-like snail (2014).[44] -
In August 2020, the game had a tank biathlon-style event featuring select Russian and Chinese tanks performing tasks on a tank range map, with the objective to finish in 1st place after navigating obstacles and destroying targets. The event was partnered with the Information Systems Department of the Russian Ministry of Defense.[45] Logos advertising the game also appeared during the event, notably painted on the side of the tanks during the real biathlon. The event was teased on August 17 with a YouTube video posted to the game's official YouTube Channel, as well as on the official website.[46] +
Other notable examples include "March to Victory", introducing playable mecha composed of tank parts;[44] "The Pony Nation", introducing the world of My Little Pony, Equestria, as a sixth playable faction (2013);[45] "Gaijilla", featuring a battle against a giant Godzilla-like snail (2014);[46] and Atomic Thunder, featuring vehicles from the video game Atomic Heart (July 2023). +
In August 2020, the game had a tank biathlon-style event featuring select Russian and Chinese tanks performing tasks on a tank range map, with the objective to finish in 1st place after navigating obstacles and destroying targets. The event was partnered with the Information Systems Department of the Russian Ministry of Defense.[47] Logos advertising the game also appeared during the event, notably painted on the side of the tanks during the real biathlon. The event was teased on August 17 with a YouTube video posted to the game's official YouTube Channel, as well as on the official website.[48]
The development of the game, then under the name World of Planes, began in 2009. Gaijin Entertainment used its experience with its previous combat flight simulator games, such as IL-2 Sturmovik: Birds of Prey, Apache: Air Assault, and Birds of Steel, in the development. The title was changed to War Thunder during the closed beta due to confusion with competitor World of Warplanes.[47] +
The development of the game, then under the name World of Planes, began in 2009. Gaijin Entertainment used its experience with its previous combat flight simulator games, such as IL-2 Sturmovik: Birds of Prey, Apache: Air Assault, and Birds of Steel, in the development. The title was changed to War Thunder during the closed beta due to confusion with competitor World of Warplanes.[49]
Open beta testing started on November 1, 2012 (for users from the Russian Federation; the global beta launched January 28, 2013) for Windows PC with about 200 aircraft and 600,000 players. On May 15, 2014, at 6 million registered players, the first ground forces for Germany and the Soviet Union were introduced.[48] Later added were the American,[49] British,[50] and Japanese ground forces.[51] -
In 2017, Italy was added as a playable faction.[52][53] At Gamescom 2018, the planned addition of helicopters into the game was announced, and by late 2018, helicopters were fully implemented.[54][55] -
In 2022, Tencent announced that the Chinese version of the game published by Tencent would be discontinued on October 17.[56] +
Open beta testing started on November 1, 2012 (for users from the Russian Federation; the global beta launched January 28, 2013) for Windows PC with about 200 aircraft and 600,000 players. On May 15, 2014, at 6 million registered players, the first ground forces for Germany and the Soviet Union were introduced.[50] Later added were the American,[51] British,[52] and Japanese ground forces.[53] +
In 2017, Italy was added as a playable faction.[54][55] At Gamescom 2018, the planned addition of helicopters into the game was announced, and by late 2018, helicopters were fully implemented.[56][57] +
In 2022, Tencent announced that the Chinese version of the game published by Tencent would be discontinued on October 17.[58]
In January of 2021 the publisher of War Thunder was accused[57] in indirect financing of pro-russian separatists during Donbass war through fact, that game logotypes appeared in a video on a separatists-supporting (pro-russian) Youtube channel High Caliber Mayhem. The video with the War Thunder add was deleted during the following days. The channel itself got deleted and recreated after some time. -
In response to the dispute, the publisher stated: «We do not provide political support to anyone anywhere. We know nothing about politics and prefer not to get involved in it. Our agency, which commissioned the advertisement in the mentioned video, removed it when it became clear that they could drag us into a political discussion». +
In January 2021, after the logos of War Thunder were seen in a video by Donbas YouTube channel "High Caliber Mayhem", Gaijin was accused of indirectly financing pro-Russian separatists in the war in Donbas.[59][60] High Caliber Mayhem has denied any links to the separatist armed forces and published an explanation claiming that all the money from all advertisements on that channel were spent on humanitarian aid for civilians. The video showing the War Thunder advertisement was removed from High Caliber Mayhem's YouTube channel. +
In response to the controversy, Gaijin stated "We do not provide political support to anyone anywhere. We know nothing about politics and prefer to stay out of it. Our agency that ordered an ad in the video in question took it down when they realized they might drag us into a political discussion."[61]
Following an in-game economic change in May 2023, a large amount of War Thunder players began revolting against the developers by review bombing the game on multiple platforms, such as Steam and Google.[58] Since the changes have been announced, there have been over 65,000 negative reviews on Steam, dropping the overall rating from "Mostly Positive" to "Mixed" and the recent rating from "Mostly Positive" to "Overwhelmingly Negative", as of May 22.[59][60] In response, Gaijin has since reverted the planned economic change, posted statements regarding the issue and player progression,[61][62] announced a revision of the economy for mid-summer 2023[63] and issued an apology for the initial controversial changes.[64] Both overall and recent ratings on Steam got back to "Mostly Positive", as of April 2024.[65] +
Following an in-game economic change in May 2023 which drastically reduced rewards given for battle actions and an increase in post-battle costs, a large amount of War Thunder players began revolting against the developers by review bombing the game on multiple platforms, such as Steam and Google.[62] In response, Gaijin has since reverted the planned economic change, posted statements regarding the issue and player progression,[63][64] announced a revision of the economy for mid-summer 2023[65] and issued an apology for the initial controversial changes.[66]
In 2020, Task & Purpose reported[66] that the US 1st Cavalry Division tankers were using War Thunder for training during COVID-19 quarantine. After looking at several games including World of Tanks, the soldiers found that War Thunder best met their needs. In 2022 and 2024, the National Military College of Argentina have published photos and videos showing their cadets using a "military simulator" that turned out to be War Thunder.[67][68][69] In 2021, a video of Republic of Korea's 3rd Armored Brigade using War Thunder for the Command & Control training session was made public.[70] -
In January 2024, a Ukrainian M2 Bradley IFV gunner Serhii of the 47th Brigade took down a heavily armored Russian T-90M tank by hitting the weak spots and claimed that videogames taught him where to shoot exactly.[71] According to media,[72][73] War Thunder is the only game that matches this description. Task & Purpose said:[74] "People know War Thunder for leaking classified documents, but now it might actually be known as the game that has the first confirmed kill." +
In 2020, Task & Purpose reported[67] that the US 1st Cavalry Division tankers were using War Thunder for training during COVID-19 quarantine. After looking at several games including World of Tanks, the soldiers found that War Thunder best met their needs. In 2021, a video of Republic of Korea's 3rd Armored Brigade using War Thunder for the Command & Control training session was made public.[68] +
In January 2024, a Ukrainian M2 Bradley IFV gunner of the 47th Brigade, referred to only as Serhiy, took down a Russian T-90M main battle tank by shooting specific weak points in the tank's armor, claiming that videogames taught him exactly where to shoot.[69] According to media,[70][71] War Thunder is the only game that matches this description. Task & Purpose said:[72] "People know War Thunder for leaking classified documents, but now it might actually be known as the game that has the first confirmed kill." +
In May 2025, a drone operator from New Zealand, referred to as Cass, destroyed[73] a T-72 tank in a weak spot he knew from his game experience, as "the modelling of tank armour" in War Thunder "is quite realistic".
On several occasions, users on the War Thunder forum have shared restricted and/or classified documents during discussions about the accuracy of the vehicles depicted. In all cases, offending posts are removed by the moderators, and users are warned against sharing such documents. Anton Yudintsev, founder of Gaijin Entertainment, has stated that the development team is never exposed to the contents, reminding users that "it's both illegal and pointless, so they should never do that".[75] In January 2023, Raytheon denied media reports that security clearance background checks for jobs at the defense contractor investigate whether applicants play War Thunder.[76][77] +
On several occasions, users of the War Thunder forum have shared restricted and/or classified documents during discussions about the accuracy of the vehicles depicted. In all cases, offending posts are removed by the moderators, and users are warned against sharing such documents. Anton Yudintsev, founder of Gaijin Entertainment, has stated that the development team is never exposed to the contents, reminding users that "it's both illegal and pointless, so they should never do that".[74] Gaijin's policy regarding technical information is +
IN BRIEF: You are prohibited from publishing any Classified information, Export-restricted military-technical data, or other defense-related information...
— Gaijin, Gaijin Community Guidelines: Military Restrictions
Although users disclose non-public information to win an argument or persuade Gaijin to make changes to War Thunder vehicles, doing so prevents the company from implementing such changes.[75] In January 2023, Raytheon denied media reports that security clearance background checks for jobs at the defense contractor investigate whether applicants play War Thunder.[76][77]
At release, War Thunder was well-received with generally positive reviews. GameSpot praised it for its variety of airplanes and visuals,[96] whereas IGN criticized the user interface for being "overly abundant and cumbersome" in contrast to the "sparse in-battle HUD".[97] +
At release, War Thunder was well-received with generally positive reviews. GameSpot praised it for its variety of airplanes and visuals,[99] whereas IGN criticized the user interface for being "overly abundant and cumbersome" in contrast to the "sparse in-battle HUD".[100]
We are proud to announce the official release of our game. As we have completed all the goals we set ourselves in the early stages of development, the open beta-testing of War Thunder ends with update 1.65 'Way of the Samurai', an update which also brings Japanese ground forces, cockpits for all aircraft, and heaps of improvements and bugfixes.
There was a lot of confusion between Gaijin's World of Planes and Wargaming.net's World of Warplanes. Thankfully, Gaijin decided to rename their title and it's now called War Thunder: World of Planes.
Gaijin's press release calls World of Planes a 'flying simulation game', and the company will be drawing on its previous genre experience thanks to titles like Wings of Prey and Wings of Luftwaffe.
They all laughed back on April 4, when PC Gamer posted a story on World of Planes, an exciting massively multiplayer WWII flight sim from Wings of Prey developer Gaijin Entertainment ... which Gaijin revealed on their forums to be a joke. Yeah yeah, we fell for it. Very funny. Well, who's laughing now? That's right: Gaijin checked in today to say that World of Planes [update: not to be confused with Wargaming.net's just-announced World of Warplanes] is not, in fact, an April Fools joke, but a real game about planes and the wonderful world they fly in.
The Winner – War Thunder: The demo of the PlayStation 4 launch title War Thunder was lauded at Gamescom 2013 for its explosive World War II aerial battles.
War Thunder gets four prizes of the Russia's biggest gaming conference KRI 2013 (Russian Game Developer's Conference)! War Thunder and Gaijin Entertainment have been awarded in four nominations of KRI 2013: Best Game, Best Game Developer, Best Technology, Best Sound.
Most Played Steam Games - Over 25K Concurrent Players: War Thunder
Yes, there are other standalone games about World War 2 era tanks or about modern jets or about one specific helicopter. We have made these types of games before. But War Thunder is the only game that encompasses all of these gameplay experiences. It allows you to jump from a tank to a fighter jet in one gameplay session.
Players can take part in different styles of battles depending on their preferences, including Arcade, Realistic, and Simulation matches.
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