War Thunder

Did You Know?

• War Thunder was initially claimed by Gaijin to be an April Fools joke before its existence was confirmed in June 2012.
• In 2019, War Thunder was among the most played games on Steam with over 25,000 concurrent players.

Gameplay

War Thunder focuses on combined arms battles across air, land, and sea, with vehicles ranging from pre-World War I ships to modern-day fighting vehicles, including some not yet in service. The game emphasizes World War II, the Vietnam War, and the Cold War. Players control aircraft, ground vehicles, and warships from nations organized into technology trees, with some nations appearing as sub-trees or premium vehicles. Players begin at Rank 1 with interwar and early World War II vehicles and progress to Rank 8, which includes modern military vehicles. There are no restrictions on bringing lower-rank vehicles into higher-rank battles. Vehicles are divided into aviation, ground, and fleet categories. Aviation includes regular aircraft and helicopters; fleet is split into Bluewater ships (destroyers to battleships) and Coastal vessels (motor torpedo boats, frigates, and similar). Game modes are arcade, realistic, and simulator. A single-player mode focuses on historical battles, and a co-op wave survival mode pits players against AI ground and air vehicles. The objective in most battles is to accumulate points by destroying enemy vehicles or capturing strategic positions. Events offer custom missions, often recreating historical battles with restricted vehicles, and April Fools' Day events are used to test planned mechanics before broader release.

Mobile

War Thunder Mobile, originally called War Thunder Edge, is a mobile version publicly released on August 15, 2023. It features Ground, Air, and Naval modes with vehicles from World War II to the present day, using a tech tree system similar to the main game. Players can create lineups mixing different nations within Aviation and Ground modes, but cannot mix game modes; however, they can spawn bombers or fighters based on their score in battle. Ground vehicle trees are available for the United States, Soviet Union, Germany, China, and Japan, with miscellaneous vehicles from Italy, Sweden, France, the United Kingdom, and a few other countries. Ships are available from the USA, UK, Germany, USSR, Japan, and a few other countries. Planes are available from the USA, Germany, USSR, and UK, along with a few from other countries. A gacha system, updated monthly, allows players to unlock vehicles for all three modes. Missed rewards from previous updates can be obtained through a separate seven-day gacha after the leaderboard ends. Trophies include a big trophy containing premium versions of the two top-tier vehicles, and a medium trophy containing common versions of those vehicles. Other rewards include supplies, in-game currency, and warbonds used to open trophies. The open beta began on March 27, 2023, with the first major update called Symphony of Fire adding a new map, vehicles, and UI customization. The final beta update, Warzone Alliance, added squad play and a crew system. Upon global launch, players could receive a French M4A4 medium tank and the USS Nicholas during the first week.

History

Development began in 2009 under the name World of Planes, drawing on Gaijin Entertainment's experience with previous combat flight simulators such as IL-2 Sturmovik: Birds of Prey, Apache: Air Assault, and Birds of Steel. The title was changed to War Thunder during closed beta to avoid confusion with World of Warplanes. Open beta testing started on November 1, 2012 for Russian users, with a global beta on January 28, 2013, featuring about 200 aircraft and 600,000 players. Ground forces for Germany and the Soviet Union were introduced on May 15, 2014, when the game had 6 million registered players. American, British, and Japanese ground forces were added later. Italy became a playable faction in 2017. Helicopters were announced at Gamescom 2018 and fully implemented by late 2018. In 2022, Tencent announced that the Chinese version of the game would be discontinued on October 17.

Controversies

In January 2021, War Thunder logos appeared in a video by the pro-separatist YouTube channel High Caliber Mayhem, leading to accusations that Gaijin indirectly financed Russian-backed separatist forces in the war in Donbas. High Caliber Mayhem denied links to separatists, stating that all advertising revenue was spent on humanitarian aid for civilians, and the video was removed. Gaijin responded that they do not provide political support and that their advertising agency removed the ad when they realized it could involve the company in political discussion. In May 2023, an in-game economic change that reduced battle rewards and increased post-battle costs prompted a large player revolt, including review bombing on Steam and Google. Gaijin reverted the change, issued statements on player progression, announced a mid-summer 2023 economy revision, and apologized. In 2020, Task & Purpose reported that US 1st Cavalry Division tankers used War Thunder for training during COVID-19 quarantine, finding it best met their needs among several games considered. In 2021, a video showed the Republic of Korea's 3rd Armored Brigade using War Thunder for command and control training. In January 2024, a Ukrainian M2 Bradley gunner disabled a Russian T-90M by shooting specific armor areas, crediting video games for teaching him where to aim; media identified War Thunder as the only matching game. In May 2025, a New Zealand drone operator serving in Ukrainian forces destroyed a T-72 tank using knowledge of weak spots gained from War Thunder's realistic tank armor modeling.