Results of 2021: Evgeny Kryshtapovich, Andrey Gruntov and Natalia Pershits from Wargaming about the main thing for the year

We continue to summarize the results of 2021 together with top managers and experts of the gaming industry (and related ones). Next up are interviews with representatives of Wargaming: Evgeny Krishtapovich, regional publishing Director of World of Tanks, Andrey Gruntov, regional publishing Director of World of Tanks Console, and Natalia Pershits, head of World of Tanks Blitz (MS-1 mobile development studio).

Evgeny Kryshtapovich, Andrey Gruntov and Natalia Pershits

How did 2021 go for the company and the product?

Evgeny: This year we celebrated the 11th birthday of the game. Single projects can boast of such an achievement.

A big event for the whole team was the release of the game on Steam. Also, 2021 was a full-fledged year of operating (together with our partner) of the product in China.

Today we continue to develop the game in close cooperation with our players, we believe that this is the right way. We showed a number of important and major changes to the players on the Sandbox test server, collected feedback, which is a critical element of the success of new ideas. We have launched the “Combat Exploration” mechanism, where we are working together with the players to improve new maps that can be added to Random Battles.

Andrey: It was a great year for console tanks: we launched the “Cold War” mode, within which several new branches of tanks, new equipment and consumables, as well as new, larger maps appeared.

At first, the players approached the study of the new mode with curiosity, but many “oldies” were not particularly inspired at the start. As a result, at first only 10% of users played the new mode. But slowly — with the introduction of new equipment and fresh mechanics — even experienced players began to catch up in the mode. Today, over 30% of players are actively pumping Cold War tanks.

I would also like to note the introduction of native support for consoles of the current generation (PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X). Not all chips are supported yet (for example, PS5 triggers), but it’s a matter of time. But new shadows, surround sound, ray tracing are already working and getting flattering ratings from players.

This year we have returned a lot of old maps in a redesigned form. They were taken out last year because they were outdated graphically and clearly asked for revision. New versions of maps have become brighter, juicier. The developers have done a good job of detailing them.

At some point, they even experimented with cinematic filters. As a result, they refused, many eyes were tired because of them.

Well, I would like to note the great rebalance of technology, which started this year. Many models were sent for “remelting” (they looked weak against the background of new tanks). Now everything is different and, for example, even the IS-7 is ready to give a head start to any modern tank, not to mention its brethren.

Natalia: The year was quite stressful, but also very productive.

Perhaps the most important thing was the final realization of the fact: it won’t be the same as before. First of all, I mean the office culture, the usual processes at work and the like. Therefore, we focused on adapting to the new realities of remote/combined and distributed work.

We have also significantly increased our offices in Moscow and Vilnius. And we don’t plan to stop. Now more than ever we are actively searching for new talents and fresh blood.

For our flagship product — World of Tanks Blitz — the year was also very successful. We consider the main achievement to be that we were able not to lose our positions after the general surge in indicators in 2020. We continue to increase our turnover. For Blitz, 2021 was the most successful year both financially and from the point of view of the audience.

We focused mainly on retaining and returning our users. An interesting experience was the introduction of the concept of OKR (Objects and Key Results) into our processes, which helps to visualize key goals.

We also continued our experiments with collaborations. This year we decided to work with the growing idol of Generation Z in America and a representative of the already new media space — Oliver Tree.

And by the end of the year, esports finals were traditionally held for 6 times in all regions. Unfortunately, this year we were forced to do it again in an online format, but we really hope that next year we will return to everyone’s favorite offline.

What event or trend of 2021 do you consider central within your niche?

Evgeny: I’ll start, perhaps, with the fact that we see an increasing trend towards the isolation of the Internet. Already now we can say that we have passed the point of maximum openness of the global network. Further, new regional features and restrictions will appear (these processes are taking place in China, Russia, and Europe). All this affects the operation of global products. This is a new challenge that needs to be taken into account.

The second trend is the ongoing pandemic. We see that people’s habits continue to undergo changes – the focus on the online sphere continues to intensify, and the competition for a person’s attention on the web is becoming more serious.

The third point is, of course, working in a remote format. Today, this is not only a security issue, but also a labor market demand that should be taken into account.

Andrey: The low availability of new-generation consoles has affected our plans to attract a new audience. We really hope that the problem with the lack of components will be solved soon, and the consoles will be freely available.

We have long been accustomed to fluctuations of an active audience. Every time we see a drop in activity, we can associate it with some events, for example, with the release of a new big game (a la Cyberpunk 2077 or God of War) or events of a nationwide nature.

The specifics of consoles imply constant volatility in the interests of players. They often try new games, games from sales or new titles in subscriptions. At such moments, we prepare for the return of players: we plan promotions, prepare new chips, support, and so on.

Natalia: From the very beginning of 2021, the main topic of discussion for the entire industry was, of course, Apple‘s planned rejection of IDFA. Everyone was actively preparing, sharing their expectations and fears. And when this happened, all the attention and resources of analytics were thrown into trying to navigate the new realities as quickly as possible. For World of Tanks Blitz, probably the most significant changes as a result was the redistribution of the budget towards the ASA channel for iOS.

The next peculiar intrigue was the lawsuit between Apple and Epic Games. Everyone was looking forward to the denouement, because in the future it could greatly change the approaches to operating and monetization of mobile products. It would seem that the announced solution opens up new horizons for mobile developers, but so far there is not much active movement towards the use of alternative payment systems for mobile applications. Perhaps 2022 will be a turning point in this regard.

More and more restrictions related to access to games for children and minors have been introduced in countries. The most stringent and comprehensive ones were introduced, of course, in China in September 2021, but active processes in this direction are also underway in Europe. In the UK, it is already necessary to confirm your age, and we expect that restrictions will be tightened further.

Certain disadvantages of the past year can probably be attributed to the fact that there were no major releases in mobile gaming, no new interesting IP appeared. Rather, on the contrary, many companies announced the postponement of release plans. We will be watching with interest the planned entry into the mobile market of another well—known IP – Battlefield. At the same time, the leading titles continue the trend of cooperation with various celebrities and IP (for example, Zemfira and Homescapes, the new Matrix and Fortnite).

And, of course, it is impossible to ignore the release of the Arkane series from Riot Games on Netflix, which once again very vividly demonstrated how much the boundaries between platforms are blurring now, when the creation of entertainment content and the struggle for the user’s free time comes first. It’s very interesting to follow the news from Netflix. And it will be no less interesting to do it next year (a little earlier they announced their plans to develop the gaming direction). I think we are waiting for interesting announcements.

What will be the stake in the development of the company in 2022?

Evgeny: In addition to adapting and working within the framework of the trends that I have already mentioned, I would note our plans for close interaction with the players. We plan to continue discussing new initiatives, changes in mechanics and further development of the game with them.

We also plan to continue looking for solutions to the accumulated problems that are present in the game.

Andrey: Considering some issues with attracting the audience, we will try to focus on the involvement and return of players. We will add a lot of new and interesting things so that they want to come back more often.

This year we started experimenting with three-dimensional commanders. The first ones were not interesting enough. But already the commanders prepared for Halloween turned out to be much better, more attractive. So the plans are to improve this direction.

There are also plans to develop existing game modes, add new equipment and maps. We have also already identified some interesting areas in terms of cooperation with well-known brands, so we are waiting for new interesting partner projects.

We also hope for a significant growth of the local console market. On the territory of the post-Soviet space, the percentage of console penetration is still small compared to the West.

Natalia: There are a lot of plans! We will continue to increase the pace of content release for World of Tanks Blitz, we plan a lot of interesting features and a big graphic update. We really hope that we will be able to see our players offline at various events, and we are also starting to make plans for the 10th anniversary of the product.

And, of course, we are working hard on new projects and, perhaps, we will please everyone with the announcement of one of them in 2022!