Wargaming "helped" Microsoft realise the business model's importance.
From Babel UA: "With the beginning of the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine, sanctions against the aggressor also affected the video game industry. The largest game publishers — Ubisoft, EA Games, Rockstar — have limited sales of their products in Russia and Belarus. And Steam, GOG and Epic Games stores have stopped accepting payments in rubles. But Russian players have already learned to circumvent the bans of publishers and shops — there are many instructions about how to do this on the Internet. The situation with the game developers of the aggressor countries is even more complicated. Many of them are not officially Russian or Belarusian, but have long opened offices in Europe and work from Britain, Hungary, and other countries. Russian developers usually donʼt comment on Russiaʼs aggression against Ukraine, continue to cooperate with Western companies and sell their games to Western players. Babel tells about the games Escape from Tarkov, World of Tanks, and War Thunder, which are popular in Europe and the United States, and about the behavior of their developers, who deliberately do not publicly state their position on the war or order advertising from outspoken supporters of the Putin regime."
This is an interesting update to the game. World of Tanks is more than just pure steel and firepower; it’s about tactics and strategy, and the latest event takes this up a gear! Players can master the Art of Strategy from today until early May.
WAR IS FOREVER! World of Tanks welcomes G.I. Joe & Cobra onto the battlefield. FIGHT TO SAVE THE DAY!
"Free to play on Xbox" is not free.
Free-to-play my behind. You are being remeinded all the time that you should buy this and buy that.
And in the end you have to pay up to be competitive and end up paying way more then a standalone game.
Developers are not launching these F2P games because they want to be nice and give free stuff around. They know people will end up using more money then normal.
F2P is cancer in the gaming industry.
Dunno why people have a problem having to pay for live it is totally worth it and only costs £25 a year.
I feel sorry for poor people when it's time for next gen releases.
It's easy, if MS wants to sell hardwear they must have some games like WORLD OF TANKS to be playable with XboxLive silver and they can keep games like COD or BATTLEFIELD remain the same.
How is it "free to play" when the games are locked behind a paywall? If I'm a casual gamer planning on getting a next gen console, I'm looking for one that's gonna save me the most money. There are lots of people who have no plans for buying Xbox live gold or PS+ right away. What can they use on the console without having those? Sony's business model is very compelling to the everybody consumer. Basic features shouldn't be locked behind a paywall. If I'm already paying for Hulu, Netflix, Crunchyroll and basic internet, I should be able to use those apps, not have to pay for xbox live gold.
Anyway, its not free to play that gamers hate. Its' Pay TO Win that we hate. The way warframe does it, is fair and not intrusive to the overall game.