No, playing War Thunder won’t cost you your job, says Raytheon

War Thunder, the vehicle-based free Steam game which has seen military secrets shared on forums, is not considered a security risk by Raytheon, despite reports.

No, playing War Thunder won't cost you a job, says Raytheon. A tank rolls over a hill in free Steam game War Thunder.

On various occasions, fans of the vehicle-based free Steam game  and multiplayer hit War Thunder have taken to the game’s official forums to share specifications of real military equipment. In June 2022, a supposed member of a Chinese tank crew shared details of the types of anti-vehicle rounds used by China’s military. Just this month, another War Thunder fan allegedly posted a scan of the operations manual for the United States’ F-15 fighter jet.

Based on these reports, a story has recently circulated that Raytheon, which manufactures radars and other electronic equipment for US military use, will investigate whether or not a person plays War Thunder if they are applying for a job, supposedly over security concerns that they may leak official information. A Raytheon spokesperson however confirms to PCGamesN that this is not true.

The story that Raytheon checks whether or not potential hires play War Thunder originated from a now-deleted post by a user on the game’s Reddit forum. They claim that a friend of theirs had applied for a job at Raytheon, and that they – the Redditor – had been contacted by Raytheon as part of a standard background check. Raytheon reportedly asked a series of routine questions, before inquiring whether or not their friend played War Thunder.

Speaking to PCGamesN, a Raytheon spokesperson confirms that this did not happen. “Though it’s a great story, it’s not true,” Raytheon’s spokesperson says. “We only look at a person’s education, employment and criminal history when hiring. We’ve never looked into a person’s videogame habits and I can’t imagine a case in which we’d have a concern with any game.”

The Redditor has since returned to the War Thunder threads, admitting that the story is false. “Yes the story was made up,” they write. “I lied on the internet as everyone else does. Firstly, I made the story up because my friend was telling me about his friend who works at Lockheed for a work study.

“The discussion of War Thunder was brought up by a co-worker and that was that. I do have a friend who works at Raytheon, to which I heard they have a P.I. talk to friends and such, so I just took both stories and ran with it. Want to apologise to the one person who asked me if he was at risk playing War Thunder. Sorry for the anxiety that must have brought you.”

So, if you’re a big War Thunder fan, don’t worry. It’s not considered a security risk by Raytheon and won’t affect your chances of getting a job.

Check out our War Thunder beginner’s guide if you want to ace those aerial battles. You might also want to try some of the other best free games, or maybe the absolute best war games on PC.