Gamescom: World of Tanks May ‘Eventually’ Come to Xbox One

Wargaming says a next-gen version of World of Tanks is likely to come “eventually” once Xbox One’s install base grows.

In an interview at Gamescom, Wargaming CEO Victor Kislyi explained that World of Tanks is certainly possible on Microsoft’s new console, but free-to-play requires more players before next-gen makes sense.

“I see no reason why we won’t eventually do next-gen,” Kislyi told IGN. “But first, let them come out. Second, let them get to a meaningful user base. In free-to-play, you have to have millions and millions of players. On the PC, we have 77 million registered users worldwide. More than 75 percent of our players never pay us anything. We monetize only a small percentage who deliberately, from time to time, give us something in the range of the price of a movie ticket. So one million, say, is not enough of a user base for a free-to-play game. However, let them come out. There are no tangible restrictions.”

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Microsoft is obviously excited about Xbox One, just like the whole world. We see no reason not to work with it in the future.

“Microsoft is obviously excited about Xbox One, just like the whole world. We see no reason not to work with it in the future,” he continued. “But we’re going to focus on polishing and releasing this one, see how it goes, see if we have any problems or challenges, and fix them. Free-to-play allows you do very fast iteration on the back end. That’s the beauty of free-to-play. When we nail this, we’ll talk with Microsoft about Xbox One.”

Kislyi added that he's excited about the prospect of console players diving in to World at Tanks and thinks the Xbox Live audience is a perfect fit for the game.

"With 47 million subscribers on Xbox Live, that’s a good market," he said. "Right now we’re in the endless testing phase, with everything from gameplay and usability to sustainability. When it comes to blowing stuff up on the screen with this controller, the guys in Chicago did a fantastic job. We moved from an experience on the computer screen to an experience in this more relaxed position on the couch. It works. The tests are showing us that it’s good. Shooting games are a huge success on consoles, and you can call it a shooting game. It’s just a little slower. It’s for older guys. It still calls for a lot of brainpower to work on tactical and strategic positioning and communicating with your comrades. The voice service XBLA has is a fantastic addition to the whole experience. We don’t have that for the PC. The platform has a lot of features that we’re incorporating whenever possible."

Wargaming announced World of Tanks for Xbox 360 at E3 in June. This week, beta servers for World of Tanks on Xbox 360 went live in North America, Canada and Europe, with access available via Wargaming's official site.

Look for more from our interview with Kislyi in the days to come.

Andrew Goldfarb is IGN’s news editor. Keep up with pictures of the latest food he’s been eating by following @garfep on Twitter or garfep on IGN.

Source : ign[dot]com