At a conference in Minsk, Belarus today, Wargaming.net’s CEO Victor Kislyi has fleshed out some of the developer’s plans for the recently acquired licenses for both the Total Annihilation and Masters of Orion IPs. Both games were seminal RTS games, and Kisyli hopes to give them the return that they deserve.
“Whatever we do, and whatever games we make with those franchises, they will be big triple-A, massive titles with all of Wargaming’s power behind them.” He stated at the event, before saying that he’d been keen to work with both titles since before Wargaming was even a company, fifteen years ago.
Reported by Develop, this comes with the news that Wargaming.net is going to open a sixteenth studio in Austin, Texas, which has the remit to work on Wargaming’s engine technology, which could be pretty significant for the company as they continue to expand at an almost alarming rate.
World of Tanks has experienced stratospheric success, which could only be the first pebble in an avalanche if their move to Xbox is properly successful. With World of Warplanes on the horizon, there’s no sign that they’re even getting close to slowing down, either.
What’s particularly interesting about the acquisition of Total Annihilation and Masters of Orion, however, is that they’re at the other end of the strategy spectrum to the games that Wargaming has so far put out. Instead of being multiplayer focused, they’re full releases in their own right, complete with comprehensive single player components. It’s going to be interesting to see if Wargaming can complete the circle, then, and produce a single player game to match their already accomplished multiplayer achievements.