World of Tanks rolls steadily onward toward its official launch on the Xbox 360 as Wargaming today announces a deployment date of Feb. 12 for the free-to-play online battle game.
Announced last year at E3 and earning additional buzz with the regular release of new trailers, updates and the recent beta, World of Tanks will make the transition from PC to home console with a version of the hugely popular game built specifically with the Xbox 360 in mind, offering up “team-based tactical online tank warfare action” to anyone with a Gold account at no additional charge, according to today’s announcement from Wargaming.
It makes a heck of a lot of sense for Wargaming to bring World of Tanks to consoles, growing its forces in an effort to become one of the most successful free-to-play games on the market. A couple of weeks ago we announced the top online games producing the most revenue in 2013 and World of Tanks was positioned in a snug position near the top, taking up the fourth place spot with $372 million earned over the past 12 months. The Xbox 360 has a massive audience, many of which have no intention of ever booting up a computer to play a game. By bringing World of Tanks to that crowd, I’d be surprised if we don’t see Wargaming’s juggernaut move up a peg or two by 2015.
For those unfamiliar with World of Tanks, it’s all pretty much right there in the title. There are no on-foot soldiers, buzzing helicopters or lumbering ships in this particular outing. It’s all about the tanks, many of which are available through regular play and most of which can be purchased early for a nominal fee. Once you’ve picked a favorite rolling death machine, it’s time to party up with some friends or randos and hit the field of battle. Victory usually goes to the squad that can best communicate, work together and utilize their various tanks’ strengths to their advantage. It’s also pretty fun just blowing stuff up, too.
“World of Tanks: 360 Edtion will be digitally downloadable and freet-to-play for Xbox Live Gold account holders, with an additional seven-day timed trial for all other Xbox Live account holders,” reads a statement from the developer. “The title will feature revamped controls, matchmaking, a new user interface and other components to take advantage of the Xbox 360’s technological capabilities and online features.”
Premium tanks, consumables and premium account boosts will also be up for purchase, just like in the PC game, just in case you want to throw a little money at the folks who built the game and will keep it running. Expect more than 100 tanks from the US, Germany and the UK at launch with more to come in future updates. Get in on the action Feb. 12.
