2020 results: Andrey Gruntov and Natalia Pershits from Wargaming about the main thing for the year
About how the outgoing year has passed for Wargaming, they toldAndrey Gruntov, Regional Publishing Director at the World of Tanks Consoles project, and Natalia Pershits, Head of World of Tanks Blitz Operations (MS-1 mobile development studio)
Andrey Gruntov and Natalia Pershits
How did 2020 go for your destinations?
Andrey: It's been a great year for World of Tanks Consoles, both in terms of core metrics and updates. We managed to raise online well (by an average of 10% compared to last year) and bring in quite a large number of newcomers. This became possible, among other things, thanks to the global pandemic, no matter how sad it may sound: in the first wave back in March, people ran headlong to the shops to buy everything they needed before incarceration, not forgetting to grab a PlayStation, Xbox or Switch from the shelf.
But we also put a lot of effort into increasing the audience of the project. This year we added new "seasons" to the game and made cool collaborations. For example, we have started global cooperation with the wrestling organization (WWE) and the toy brand Hot Wheels, familiar from childhood. For the new year, we have prepared a big surprise with nostalgic action heroes of the 80s - Snake Plisken, Braddock and Rambo.
Are you satisfied with the result: We have recorded a lot of interest in various topics from the audience and, of course, an increased demand for themed items in the game.
In parallel, we have been working for a long time on a global update of the game itself, which was released in mid-December. As part of it, we have added support for a new generation of consoles to the game.
As you can see, this year has been very busy for us, albeit difficult: during the pandemic, working from home became a real challenge for many employees.
Natalia: I agree with Andrey and immediately I can't help but recall Semyon Slepakov with his song "It was a difficult year."
In March, our mobile development studio urgently switched to remote work, and, as a result, development became distributed. In a short time, it was necessary to completely rebuild the studio's work without disrupting the current release cycle. Moreover, there is a task to release new content and updates more often.
The lockdown caused an increase in the number of current and new players and their activity. They came not only to play World of Tanks Blitz, but also to distract themselves, let off steam, just to chat. We tried to develop and launch various events and modes as quickly as possible, including thematic ones, for example, a marathon of combat missions with a memorable avatar "I stay at home".
It was a new experience for the operating team. After all, we are used to heated discussions, brainstorms, running around the corridors, when a lot of ideas come at a moment, and difficult issues are solved over coffee in the kitchen. Now you need to organize an online meeting, find a free slot in everyone's schedule, etc. This format does not go well with creativity.
At the same time, for us, this year is primarily notable for the fact that the studio has its own name and identity, which distinguish our team from the rest of the big Wargaming. We have earned a name for ourselves thanks to the mobile game World of Tanks Blitz. This is what we tried to reflect in the name — MS-1, an allusion to the Soviet tank MS-1, from which the USSR technology development tree began at one time. At the same time, the new name is an acronym from Mobile Studio 1, indicating that we were the first team to start developing mobile games for Wargaming.
Yes, Andrey raised the topic of console development a little higher. I will continue it. The real challenge for the team was the launch of the game on the Nintendo Switch. The "remote" caught us just in the middle of development. Launching a new console platform for a mobile product is a huge layer of work: from the need to provide all participants with the right number of devices, studying the requirements for the development and documentation of the platform to building release processes from scratch.
World of Tanks Blitz is the first Wargaming game to be released on Switch. For the team, it was a great pride and responsibility to the whole company. It is very pleasant to realize that we have succeeded. World of Tanks Blitz has become the first truly cross-platform freeplay product where players on mobile devices, PCs and consoles can play together!
Despite all its challenges, 2020 was the best year in the entire six-year history of our product. Blitz has grown both in terms of audience and revenue. We have been steadily growing over the past few years, and now we are developing and implementing new projects.
What new trends in your niche do you consider worthy of attention?
Andrey: If we talk about the niche of MMO on consoles, then the main trend is the unification of players thanks to the crossplay function.
At first glance, what's the big deal? But for us, practicing with tanks turned out to be an important experience. Crossplay allowed many players to return to the game after we announced the merger.
Players say that they like this kind of cross-platform battle, they say, who is cooler. Of course, as a joke. But this allowed many players to stay on the platform that is closer to them. In fact, we have removed restrictions for them, now they do not need to think about buying the same console as their neighbor, with whom he has long wanted to ride in a platoon.
Natalia: We work with a midcore mobile, so I'll focus on it.
Obviously, this area continues to develop actively and attract more and more players. One of the interesting trends is the attention to the mobile midcore of large and established brands: Call of Duty, League of Legends and others. The technical capabilities of mobile devices are growing and creating conditions for the implementation of complex game mechanics, atmospheric gameplay and graphics on phones and tablets that we love so much on stationary platforms. I think that soon we will see more than one familiar PC title that will make noise on mobile phones.
What new trends in the market as a whole would you note?
Andrey: a) Consoles have caught up with PCs in terms of graphics. At the same time, they turned out to be more attractive in terms of price. Today, it will not be possible to purchase a PC comparable in power to the latest generation for comparable money. A computer will cost much more. This is how console gaming becomes more attractive, more affordable financially.
I'm waiting for the new version of VR for PlayStation. I think this will be a breakthrough in the virtual reality market.
b) Every year it becomes more and more difficult to come up with something new, so something old will come to the rescue, but in a new wrapper. And it's not bad. There are a lot of games waiting for reincarnation. Resident Evil is a good example: it turned out to resurrect, and earn money too. This means that emotional involvement at the level of nostalgia can be well used for the benefit of all. Mafia has also made this journey quite successfully. I think we should expect even more "resurrected" masterpieces in the near future.
NATALIA: I will also note several trends at once, but already in mobile.
Firstly, mobile game developers are increasingly actively cooperating with various celebrities. The forms of integration are very different: Conor McGregor became the ambassador of the game Dystopia: Contest of Heroes; Coin Master made a noise this year with an advertisement with a whole scattering of stars. We also lit up properly: in October we had a very cool collaboration with the KORN group — they took part in our new Halloween game mode. The event itself formed the basis for the plot of the band's new music video for the song Finally Free.
Secondly, we are watching with interest how the situation with advertising creatives and mislides is developing. Will they suffer the same fate as the loot boxes, or is there a balance somewhere between a joke and realism?
The answer to this question can greatly affect the strategies for attracting new users and the variability of advertisements.
Thirdly, what will definitely change the mobile advertising market by 100% is Apple's rejection of IDFA. All mobile developers were preparing for this back in September, but the changes have shifted to the next year. Now no one can predict what new tools will appear, how the behavior of the largest market players will change. Everyone is waiting. It is unclear, for example, whether there will be any similar steps on the part of Google.
What will be the stake in the development of Wargaming in 2021?
Andrey: In this case, I can only say about console tanks: in December 2020, we radically updated the game and now it needs to be improved in every sense. In other words, we have now made a new base that requires both polishing and superstructure. Next, we will increase the features, introduce new interesting tanks, adapt the game to a new generation of consoles that offer many innovations, both technological and software.
NATALIA: If we talk about mobile, we feel that we are on the right track, so we will continue our current strategy: to grow our community and develop our project together with it. We focus mainly on player engagement: we actively improve the graphics, UI, and come up with new fan modes. I can also promise that we will continue to delight users with new interesting collaborations.
Which third-party game releases are you interested in this year? Which ones did you pay attention to?
Andrey: I was looking forward to Cyberpunk 2077, but for now I had to put it aside (I haven't played on PC for a long time, and the console version requires patches, without which I can't really enjoy the game yet). The guys put a lot of effort into the game, they were obviously tired, but they still need to work hard, make sure that the game could deliver to all the players the emotions they expected.
I really liked The Last of Us Part II. This is a masterpiece in every sense. It seems to me that this game should become a benchmark for the quality of console game production.
I enjoyed the remaster of Resident Evil 3. Once again, I would like to note that I personally really like the story of the cardinal update of old games. This is a great opportunity to look at them in a new way.
The next game on my list is Mafia. The game conveys the incredible atmosphere of prohibition-era America. But I will play it during the winter holidays only with the original voice acting (I made this decision after getting acquainted with the reviews of the game on YouTube).
Now I'm happy to race in SnowRunner. I love the theme with SUVs and trucks. I think that the guys managed to raise the game to a new level after Spintires/Mudrunner.
Natalia: Probably the most anticipated answer right now is Cyberpunk 2077. But I have been a devoted fan of the Final Fantasy series for many years. The release of the Final Fantasy VII Remake was a real gift for me this year.
