"We haven’t announced the release date of the game because of the balance and the tuning of the controls,” Kislyi told GamesIndustry. “We have two or three parallel control scheme groups developing their own variants. You need to make the controls perfect. You have to find the right balance between making the game historically accurate, and at the same time, fun.

“I can tell you that this game is going to have a development budget probably bigger than all previous flight simulators combined,” he said. “We've pumped millions into this. If we do make mistakes with controls, it will piss off millions of players instantly."

It would be “easier” on Wargaming.net to make a realistic flight model and have that be the game, says Kislyi - but they aren’t shooting for simulation: "We are shooting for tens of millions of players across the world, so this is a dilemma. The flight model is very sophisticated; it is our choice to what extent we let it happen."

"That's what we do every day,” he added. “Marry the unmarryable: The brutal reality of fighting and entertainment for millions of players across the world."

Release date or no, World of Warplanes is tentatively penned in for unholy matrimony in the first quarter of 2013. Will you be waiting at the altar with a handlebar moustache and encouraging grin?