Victor Sour creator World of Tanks. Founder Wargaming - RBC: "The Golden Tank is a request of Chinese comrades. On the conduct of international business in the countries of the former USSR and work in various offices of the company

The wargaming team is constantly working to ensure that World Of Tanks is not only high quality gameBut all the time evolved. For continuous improvement, Viktor Sisser, founder and CEO Wargaming stands for continuing. There are difficulties in the development of games, but in our hands - the best tools for solving them, namely the players, such as you.

New course

Update 10.0, "Rubikon", has become a signal that we must reconsider our approach to the development of games. Despite our ambitions, it became clear that many planned gaming solutions would not work so fortely as we expected. After that, large changes occurred in the development team, including important permutations in the governing positions. This was done in order to rethink our views on the development of World of Tanks and it is better to understand what to players.

As a result, a new approach to development was adopted, based on the reviews of the game community. The first results of this approach can already be seen in Update 9.14, which added more realistic physics and sound effects to the game, as well as many other innovations.

Future games

The development of World of Tanks does not stop from the moment the game appears six years ago. Radical changes can be a serious test for a game in which millions of players spend daily. But changes are necessary, and they will result in careful analysis and testing so that all the corrections make the game more comfortable and had a value for players.

The most notable change will be the full-scale overbalance of technology. This process will pass gradually. We consider all aspects of balancing, including improvement of premium machines and disabling the "Excellence" mode. And this is only the top of the iceberg!

Victor sour. Screenshot from video interview about business

What happens to the company when the number of employees becomes more than 2.5 thousand. Why is the leader-optimist in the team, people who know how to "spoil a party." How will wargaming will develop in the future. What will give Belarus a new decree on PVT. Which books are worth reading each leader. About this and many other things - in our big skype interview with the founder and CEO wargaming, the developer of the legendary computer computer world Games Of Tanks, Victor sour. We publish the most interesting quotes and full video version Our conversation.

On the entrepreneurship and the task of the entrepreneur

Entrepreneurship for me is to create something big and bright what people need. It can be a product or service. It should be beautiful, comfortable, bring obvious benefits. We are in the field of entertainment, and in our case the computer game should be beautiful, fascinating and should develop some skills - in the case of World of Tanks we are talking about teamwork on the battlefield, the ability to think strategically, to cooperate.

At the same time, any big business requires a lot of people to create this value, provide it to the consumer, buyer, client. And the main task for the leader, the entrepreneur, besides the idea to conceive, to think about its details, is to organize an enno number of people. Sometimes it is measured tens, sometimes hundreds, thousands, tens of thousands or as in the case of Walmart - millions (according to data for 2016, the number of employees of the Walmart trading network was 2.3 million people - approx. "About business").

About the difficulties of growth

You need to get used to work a lot, and when success comes, it starts to come, you make a choice for yourself: this is enough, is it possible to stop here, somehow fix it or go further? In my case, after the first success of WORLD OF TANKS, I told myself, and my colleagues were in many ways supported: why stop? Let's go further - the world is big!

Today we have about 4.5 thousand people in the company. At the same time, they are scattered geographically. Our offices work in Sydney, Singapore, Tokyo, Seoul, Kiev, Minsk, Moscow, St. Petersburg, Nicosia, Paris, Helsinki, Prague, San Francisco, Texas, Austin, Chicago, Seattle. All these are different cultures, different legislation. And there are already completely different management principles.

Our Chief Head of Strategy, Shief Strategy Officer, Matthew Haradon. We invited him to us from the NEW York Times, one of the largest and most successful newspapers not only America, but also in the world. In addition, Matthew also teaches at the university, in his century he has seen many different companies. So he says the following: While the company has not grown to 2.5 thousand employees, it is possible to control it, leaning on personal charisma, family or start-up values, be constantly aware of what is happening in different divisions. If 100-150 people are in the company - then you can manage it in full growth.

But as the number of people grows and overtakes for 2.5 thousand - on one charisma, it will not work successfully. Other management principles are required.

Yes, probably, this concept of "corporate governance" has already nubily soldered, but without him at some stage there is no way.

I am talking about the Board of Directors, the management team of top managers who are responsible for very large directions, and they themselves do nothing by "hands". Under them, people, if the company is big, who, too, nothing "hands" do not, and are responsible for directions, a little less within a large direction. And may already be on the third, in the fourth level - people who are doing something hands.

This is managed by Walmart, this is managed by Apple, so Google is managed - I met with Eric Schmidt (Chairman of the Board of Directors and in the past Google CEO, also in the past member of the Board of Directors of Apple - approx. "About business"), we communicated with him on these issues. We read books, we go to the conference, in Stanford - conclusion: unfortunately, and maybe, fortunately, it is impossible to avoid this corporate level of management.

About the leader's dilema

There is always a dilemma: how much are you as a leader, as a leader, you want and you can delve into the details and advise something. On the one hand, the people you drive do not like you intervene. They say - I exaggerate, but about such a conversation it turns out: "Well, wait, my buddy, you gave me direction. Do you trust me? Let me do it. TRUST ME. I will do everything in best of sight. If there are problems, I will ask you, but leave it to me, do not go to my people, do not tell them what to do. You undermine my leader's authority. " This is on the one hand.

And on the other hand, it is still necessary to find mechanisms where things are critical for the company in which it is easy to make a mistake, somehow checked or coordinated. Errors in the gaming industry, unfortunately, dear and very painful. And the leader's task today is to be very competently balancing between delegation and mentoring, a certain cooperation in order to minimize the risk of errors.

On the features of a multinational team

Wargaming growth was indeed very fast, just instantaneous. Literally in a couple of years, we grew up with a five hundred people to three to four thousand.

Plus, we have a very diverse team, multinational. In the main managing authority, Wargaming is Finn, Korean, Greek, a couple of Russians, Belarusians, German, Briton, Americans - such a culture boiler is obtained. And yet still so hot! But we have a national, cultural diversity is necessary. Because we produce and distribute our products, games, literally around the world. And different people bring knowledge of different territories where our consumers have, our developers.

For the manager, this means more communications. This is an unceasing work with the team. Imagine, for example, that I, like CEO, I will write my strategy and okay. And people in the team will say: "Wait, you didn't consult with us. Here there will be no work in general ... ". Therefore, it is necessary not to be lazy to communicate with people, discuss the strategy, important moments. Moreover, each conversation should be concrete, you need to look into the numbers, in graphics, understand in each case (it is clear that to some extent) the subject of the conversation.

Why in the company need pessimists

The first month of the success of World of Tanks in the Russian market was a period of a certain euphoria. But, since we, in our company, among my associates, in addition to such "guys", "Hurray, we will break all", like me, there were conditional pessimists or, as they call themselves, are realists. These people, who, with a general joy, always "spoil the party" by phrases like: "Wait, wait, well, what if suddenly it's just a splash due to novelty? Wait, well, okay Russia is good, and what if in the West it will not go? Wait, and if the fashion on the "tanks" will soon end, what will we continue to show, sell? ". Such people should also be.

The leader's pessimist itself should not be, the leader should shine before employees with optimism.

Because people want to see success not only now, but also in the future. But in your team a couple of such pessimists, it is necessary that the team be balanced. Fortunately, pessimists are enough!

You need to listen to them, see signals, risks and calculate the possible plan B and plan C in case that something goes wrong. In war as in war: not always battles pass on an anti-plane, sometimes you have to prepare spare airfields, retreat, regroup, maneuver. Over the years, Wargaming, we have already seen a lot of things and put the plans in, and the plan S.

Can the company stay "forever young"

There is no law about the company's wilting, if you act correctly. The company is what you are doing from your company. That is, I think there is no such an universal force that would have led the company from youth to fading. If you are the Director General, a member of the Board of Directors, you and your team and there is that universal force, which moves the company to the left, right, up, down, to America, to Russia, China, etc.

Yes, when success comes, a certain euphoria occurs, seduced to sit in big leather chairs, smoke an expensive cigar and pour martini. Naturally, this is the way to nowhere. Well, just do not do it and everything! Be in the saddle, be on horseback with a checker.

Know what is happening, keep the team, if necessary - update it, watch the market trends, talk to employees, speak with consumers. For example, I am very often meeting with players, with video blocks that have millions of audiences. If you watch the video clips, read the press, collect information from players, conduct polls, then your consumers will tell you where your company goes, sometimes better than, for example, your financial director.

About the Decree on PVT 2.0

As part of our membership in the high-tech park, the company "Game Stream" was asked - Mr. Yanchevsky Park leader - to submit his proposals [on the development of IT in Belarus]. And our specially trained people, lawyers, people who understand how this is all arranged, sent their proposals. These are quite obvious, simple and understandable things, but decorated by a legal language.

I believe that if the decree will be accepted in this form, which is now talking about, it will be a colossal, just a fundamental step forward.

How business can develop an ecosystem in Belarus

I think, first of all, by creating incubators. I remember how the business itself was started in the bedroom 20 years ago ... The entrepreneurial initiative very often comes from young people, students who, by definition, there is no extra million in his pocket. Therefore, incubators - infrastructure in the form of premises, computers, Internet, some financial assistance is important. Well, of course, in the incubators there should be a mentorion, conference, training, library. That is, all these things are accumulated in one place, and in terms of one participant it turns out cheap and angrily, at the same time, as world practice shows, in such incubators can grow businesses that become billiona.

About books that are worth reading entrepreneurs and top managers

There is such author Patrick Lensioni - it's just a bomb! He has a series of books, I read them in English. The first is called "The Five Temptations of A CEO" ("five temptations of the head" in Russian translation), the second - "The Five Dysfunctions of A Team" ("Five Team Vices"), the third - "The Four Obsessions of An Extraordinary Executive" ("Four Mania of Extraordinary Officers").

These books are obliged to read these books. This is about what the leader, CEO, CEO should actually be engaged. I am the only thing that sorry that I did not work out everything that was written there, fulfill. Partly made, but something did not "hes." And on many problems that we, like any company, have - I see where the legs grow from. From the fact that I did not follow the advice of Lension.

Patrick Lensione. Photo: TheSweenAgency.com.

And two more books that, I think it is necessary to read - this is a "funky business style" Ciella Nordstroma and Jonas Ridderstral, this book is becoming more and more relevant over time, and "from good to the great" Jim Collins.

About the future wargaming

It is actually simple - we make games, online, conditionally free, free-to-play, and we have to turn these games into a hobby for people and for themselves. I myself play computer games on average seven hours a week ... To create a hobby, you need to be a very pumped company. These are ideas, it is a creative, this is an artistic, it is experiments and plus it is very heavy streaming so that all this beauty is in the market.

We are working a lot about updating graphs world. Of Tanks. I recommend it to everyone who played before and threw a little bit, trace for our news. There is already quite a Hollywood!

And people need Hollywood, people love to walk and watch, for example, the cool films of James Cameron. True, they have production budgets in half a billion dollars, a billion. But we begin to approach this slowly. The account [attachments to the production of games] is tens of millions. And all this just needs to be done well. There is no magic recipe or slogan. Our current games are demonstrated. Look, World of Tanks is already more than seven years old, but the game lives all this time not by itself. We are already approaching a hundred updates.

And every update is essentially a separate such mini-game with improved schedule somewhere, somewhere physics, new tanks, new cards, new game ModeSomething there is "subbalanced", the interface was corrected, etc. Plus to all this location, accounting of national features in the same Korea, in the same China.

If you watch videos of seven years ago, then the game looks like some kind of kinderballet. If you look at what we work on now, then the feeling is practically such that you are playing inside the film.

And here we must learn to update the cellular composition of games that have already been launched. Do it on the stream.

And think about new products - this world is not "tanks" alone. For this we created the R & D division. We want from wargaming, let's say, once a year some kind of chit product went out.

Wish young entrepreneurs

To hold and create! Of course, everyone chooses himself than in life to do. You can leake yourself somewhere, finding yourself a job from 9 am to 6 pm and in principle there is a happy person, there is nothing token. But entrepreneurs, people to whom I relate and myself, and our team - we are not for these cases.

We get up in the morning, drink the first cup of coffee, run to the gym - and already right at that moment the brain starts to work: what else should it be done, how to improve how to expand, where something else to read or collect the team and "death".

The entrepreneur is a man with an inquisitive mind.

An inquisitive mind is good. It develops in chess, physics, mathematics, the game in "Civilization" - by the way, I recommend it to everyone to play "Civilization".

It is important to train your brain, load it with complex thinking activities, be inquisitive. Well, apply your mind for the benefit of yourself, your friends and loved ones, colleagues and in the end - for the benefit of all mankind.

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They literally shake all users. This is now the truth of life in the market: Even if the game is very good, this is still not enough. It is necessary to have about the same kind of budgets and several million a day to pour into advertising. How much exactly they spend - $ 2 million or 5 million, I would, for example, I really wanted to know. But I do not know. It is important to know each other's numbers to all. Therefore, everything is hiding everything at the maximum.

- What is the most part of the company's expenses - after all, on advertising or on employees who are already 4 thousand people?

- Staff pulls a lot. It is clear that salaries in America and Minsk differ slightly. On the other hand, the level of preparation that we need suggests very large salaries even from developers and programmers in Belarus.

After employees go to rent and advertising. I do not know exact distribution, but it does not change much. As I have already mentioned, when you enter the mobile direction, advertising will most likely drag. We have not yet fully turned around, preparing. Gaming companies have been buying in a row for several years, for example, advertising during the broadcast of the finals on American football Super Bowl. This is a number one event for them. Just in the break between the two matches the most "tasty" advertising time, where the creators of commercials are also competing. Who will win - San Francisco or Denver, this is a good question, but even more important question, who will be worse advertising. Advertising must be the level of "Cannes Lviv".

- Your Competitor Mail.Ru Group actively promotes his game about tanks " Armored Warfare.: The project "Armat" and mentions you in your advertising campaigns. For example, they used the Make Love Not Wot slogan, while WOT is the abbreviated name of the World of Tanks game. Ka do you feel about this?

- The industry is small, everyone knows each other. Games that are similar to each other, a lot on the market. In this regard, it is nice to realize that when you begin to copy, it means that you did something right, without it anywhere. IN lately We stopped paying attention to it.

Our most important boss and investor player. The project develops according to the Free-to-Play model, that is, 70-75% of our players play for free, investing time and interest. There were cases when we did something wrong, and irrelevant competitors we had a drop in the audience. We made mistakes, releasing unsuccessful updates. We managed to spit and fix it, but such mistakes are painfully hitting us. If you continue to produce good updates, carry out cybersport tournaments, we will be fine. Old players will stay in the game, new - come and bring friends.

- Is there any partnership between you andMail.Ru Group.?

- In the company there is a business development department - specially trained people who go around the world. Every friend know each other, intersect in exhibitions, in the sidelines. Some kind of dialogue in principle always goes between everyone, with companies on all continents. Conversations, quite possible, somewhere were, but in such cases there should be mutually beneficial interest, some particular specifics. At the moment I can not say that we do something with them, it is not.

- Are you reinvesting all profit?

- Games - a very investment industry, if you want to be ahead and keep up. Most of our profits are in development. Projects like World of Warships ["World of Ships"] and World of Warplanes ["The world of aircraft"] is the years of developing a team in several hundred people. Therefore, yes, while we have to engage in harsh reinvestment.

- How are World of Warplanes and World of Warships develop?

- World of Warplanes, unfortunately, was not a popular project as world of tanks. The reasons we have repeatedly explained publicly. At the same time, I have a personal explanation like a player who is not necessarily true: man like creature Created by evolution to walk on the ground, the maximum climb on the tree, but not to fly in a three-dimensional space with six degrees of freedom at a speed of 400 km / h, and on the move also shoot. Few on the planet can fly by plane: pilots - unique people who are chosen for a long time and teach. Therefore, World of Warplanes have a small but loyal community, which, despite all the peripetics, plays this game. With each update, the audience grows quietly. But the mass product of the World of Warplanes did not. We will not close the project, this is my clear solution. Because the closure will make unhappy those who already play.

World of Warships has about 7 million registrations, and this is a wonderful tempo. It is clear that ships are slightly hard in the shadow of tanks. If you take the same Russia, everyone is playing tanks. Personally, I have, for example, a little time remains on the ships, all updates I try to personally, but more often I play tanks on the PC and in World of Tanks Blitz with my eight-year-old sin.

Victor sour

Born on April 30, 1976 in Minsk, in the family of a scientist. Since childhood, he was interested in computer games: in the laboratory of his father there were monochrome computers, and in the late 1980s, the future creator wargaming first tried to play. Acne graduated from the Faculty of Physics of the Belarusian State University in the specialty "Laser Physics and Spectroscopy": his father insisted at the choice of the faculty.

Together with other students from BSU, Victor Soly and his brother Eugene came up with the first version of the online game - Iron Age's step-by-step strategy: as a child, the brothers created her paper version. In addition, sour wrote letters to the CIVILIZATION CIDMER CREATOR, in which he told you to fix in the game. Victor sour is still playing - not only in its own tanks, but also in the same Civilization. In 2011, he headquartered Wargaming headquarters from Minsk to Cyprus, where he also moved with his family.

"Our global strategy is similar to football"

- How are Wargaming income distributed in different countries - the CIS still brings most of the revenue?

- Because of the fall of the ruble exchange rate, approximately half of the revenue is now, perhaps a little less, falls on the CIS. Success in the Russian-language region was obvious, but how life will turn in the future, you never know. Therefore, we have been very active since 2010-2011 and found all over the world and found ways to launch the game in countries and North America, and Europe, and Southeast Asia. Thanks to this strategy, which made it possible to go beyond the Russian-speaking world, we are tightly standing on your feet, despite the difficult situation in the last 12-15 months.

- What countries outside the CIS bring you the most significant income and how much is in the structure of revenue? Did you manage to conquer the American market?

- We consider Europe as one country. Naturally, there are most of the Germans and Poles - and in the population, and for interest.

The United States is the heaviest market for sale in total: both for chewing gum, and for soft drinks. There is a severe competition everywhere, especially in video games. The largest American checkers - publishers of Activision, Microsoft, Blizzard - tightly hold their own market and know how to do it. In the US, they play less on computers, more on consoles. Under Xbox, we came out 1.5 years ago, on PlayStation 4 - a few months ago. Now our share will naturally grow up. Now the number of registrations on Xbox One. and Xbox 360 - 8 million on PlayStation 4 - 2 million.

Photo: Andrey Kovalev for RBC

- About the Chinese market is usually also saying that he is heavy. At the same time you are in China. How did you go there and what are the successes?

- China for us now the third market, after the CIS and Europe. We started to negotiate about the exit to China back in 2010, that is, before the World of Tanks released in Russia. Printed a suitcase brochures, sat on the plane and flew to Shanghai to personally meet with potential partners. According to Chinese legislation, you must work through the local publisher. The game itself should get a special license, so we had to make some changes: for example, in China it is impossible to produce a game with symbols of countries - instead of the original flags in the game, visually similar images and colors are used in the game.

Now we have 10% of Kongzhong [Publisher of Wargaming Games in China]. This is a friendly agreement on a strategic partnership. There is a notion of "the right of the first refusal": when it became clear that there were good chances of success in China, we have already prepared aircraft and ships. Any publisher wants to have the right to see the first to see next game Developer. Kongzhong handed us some options that we had to buy. It is considered now that we are brothers forever: we have no reason to quarrel, but it makes sense to negotiate in some controversial moments that inevitably arise between the publisher and the developer.

- You said I had to change the game a little for China. As far as I know, in the Chinese version of World of Tanks there is, for example, a golden tank worth $ 400. Is this also the wishes of the local?

- Yes, it [Golden Tank] was a great request of our Chinese comrades. Local could not without a golden tank. If you look at clean chinese games, there you just can't buy for money - it is necessary to show chic. You can, for example, buy the right to throw people from your team. We are forced to know and understand these features in all countries where they are present and implement them. In our work, we adhere to the principle "Think globally, act locally."

- Wargaming is now 15 offices around the world - in Paris, San Francisco, Seattle, Tokyo, etc. There was an office in Moscow. How long did he work and why did you refuse him?

- It was more likely several people who represented wargaming. We decided to abandon it, because some important functions did not carry this office: just a few people could talk about the company, carried out a marketing function. Mainly carried out work with museums, with Cuba for example. Moscow is not the cheapest city, and modern business conditions allow everyone to do remotely.

- Do you separately work out the development and promotion strategy separately?

- Our global strategy is similar to football: its rules are the same throughout the planet, but the football federations have their own characteristics in each country. In our case, these features are particularly strong: Japanese players need to be conditionally anime - pictures in this style, the corresponding information support of our activities; Americans love to play a little more relaxed and rather having fun than strain and compete; And the Russian-speaking players have a strong competitive spirit - they need to go into battle and break all.

We have a lot of funny stories worthy National Geographic. For example, when the Japanese office opened, his staff began a cat, sewed special clothes for him and called Hellcat [in honor of the anti-tank self-propelled installation, which is in the game]. I brought him a page in local social networks, players copied with him, and he "answered." In Korea, for example, at the opening of the office, everyone was in national costumes. There is a tradition loudly fasten the shell from the fetus - empty melon or pumpkins, so that it spreads into small pieces, otherwise there will be no happiness. I also came to one of them.

I am now a sense of a citizen of the world. Almost every continent I have an office where I can go, and I will be happy to me there. It is exciting.

About company

The first Wargaming office was located in the apartment of Victor Success in Minsk - he and his brother Eugene moved to one room, the second was released for work and put five computers in it. The founding date of the company is considered on August 2, 1998 (then it was called "Game Stream"). Now Wargaming is an international company with offices on all continents, except Antarctica. Before the launch of World of Tanks, Wargaming has released several games - in particular, DBA Online, Massive Assault, Operation "Bagration", "Initious Island". In the second half of the 2000s, the developer for about a year worked on the online game in the fantasy genre, which was to become a competitor of popular World of Warcraft, role-playing game About the orcs and elves from the American Blizzard Entertainment.

However, at the end of 2008, the sour and partners decided to create a MMO game about tanks, since it was in this niche then there were no popular products. In May 2009, the first vocabulary of the future world of tanks was released, in which the orcs fight with elves, and at the end the tank moves. A few months later the first test of the game was held - familiar employees of Wargaming took part in it. Since the spring of 2010, World of Tanks has passed into open beta test mode, and in August the game officially launched in Russia.

In 2013, Wargaming bought 30% of Hellenic Cypriot Bank and a high-rise building in Nicosia for € 20 million.

"In the coming year we restructure business»

- Today, thousands of people work in wargaming, the company has opened more than a dozen offices around the world. At the same time, you started 18 years ago with ten people. What condition is a comfortable startup or corporation?

- The success of tanks and other projects really made us spread around the world in terms of production and publishers. You can, of course, open an office somewhere in an American agricultural outback, and it will be cheaper, but there are no programmers, marketing specialists of the proper level, the necessary infrastructure is a little developed. We are obliged to go there where talent, and our colleagues on the workshop are also assieved in Los Angeles, Seattle, Silicon Valley.

A large number of people and offices on the fact make us a corporation. We can pretend that no, but it will be consequences. It is clear that you need to engage in boring things related to taxes, laws, various jurisdictions. But for this we have specially trained people, I do not have a lot of it.

At the same time, lately we have become aware that in a large number of employees there are both pros and cons.

- What are the minuses?

- Due to the size of the company, bureaucracy inside, difficulties with communications sometimes occurs misunderstanding. We cannot pay attention to this. Until now, we spread the world, fled quickly and not everyone did effectively. It's time to collect stones: in the last and coming years we restructure business. The task is to increase efficiency.

It is important to act here without inflection. We are all creative cereals and fans of games, and if forget about it, then you will not lead to anything good. We should not for all these building structures forget our main value - player. Through the numbers and speakers in the databases, we should not lose his face. The search for this balance occurs every day.

- In March, you reported that the company enters the distributed structure of the development: now the staff will work on a particular project regardless of geography. Why was it done?

- This is a completely logical technical concept. In Eastern Europe there are no strong development specialists in consoles. We do not have this culture - everything is associated with graphics, as there are no relevant institutions, no Hollywood. In California, for obvious reasons, the advertising industry is highly developed. Therefore, there and I need to look for artists or video clubs.

The heart of the game - the engine was and will be Australian. So the development of our definition is already distributed. Now we enshrine this phenomenon as a rule. For example, Airbus A380 is assembled in Toulouse, and the items to it are brought from all over the world. And we will have no matter where a piece of code or picture is written, the final product is important.

Yes, such a system, on the one hand, a little complicates the overall process, on the other, it disciplines, because everyone needs to be followed. But if you do everything right, great freedom will appear. If you take tanks with such a huge number of distributed users, they want a lot of different things. Chinese need to celebrate Chinese New Year, we - May 9th. Without a new system, we will do something for the Chinese, but do not do for Russian-speaking. And in fact, all these blocks are needed here and now at the same time.

- Do you give greater preference to foreign managers?

- Wargaming by definition has already become an international company. We produce games in Australia, Eastern Europe and the United States, distribute and publish them all over the world - in Tokyo, Seoul, San Francisco and other cities. It would be unreasonable to make a slope into some one national side. Yes, we originated in Eastern Europe, so the Belarusians, Russians and Ukrainians were largely ruled by the ball.

Now in our Leadership Team [Analogue of the Board of Directors in the Company] Several Russian-speaking people, Americans, Briton, Greek Cypriot, French, Korean and Finn. Over the years, we learned how to coexist and understand the cultural features - here is Korean, the American, and here is the Porn Englishman, and these are different types. In our headquarters in Cyprus, more than 200 employees work - half of the local, such as accountants, but in general this is the Salonian team. In all this, by the way, there is also a huge challenge - how to make multinationality work for us. I think this is all better and better.

"I was lucky: my passion flowed to work"

- You said that "boring things" almost do not do. Why do you personally answer the company?

- The structure of the company involves the distribution of the zones of responsibility on the geographical principle or on the principle of products. Without me, there is no discussion and approval of strategic initiatives, large new projects. Naturally, I must approve the investment in some new location. I approve the development of a strategy - what we do, where we go, whether we remain within the framework of the military-historical setting [themes] or make single-user games. For example, [Restarting Space Strategy] Master of Orion - it was my personal initiative. Return lost approximately 20 years ago legends back to the game community - practically as a gift.

The company has certain levels: there is a head of global development, the head of the global publishing house, head of the research unit and further on the list. They are my subordinates, although we have more teamwork, I do not use directive methods. My key task is to ignite them, to melt, show some way off just a separate person, but also the whole team.

You have to read smart books, [Monthly magazine] Harvard Business Review - How to manage, delegate, without it is impossible. And I have to study constantly: for example, in April, I and 60 of our managers went for a week in Stanford, where the course was specially created under us on the subject of leadership in innovation of a rapidly changing world.

- Why do you need this?

- The world is changing rapidly, and the playing industry, show business and IT - even faster. About many things, such as virtual realitynor me nor you have heard a couple of years ago. Or about what can be played in such a heavy, photorealistic game, like World of Tanks, on a mobile device. By and large, the iPhone appeared recently, and there was life and without iPhone, and without cellular communication, and without Wi-Fi. I still remember life without the Internet.

The rate of change increases, and it is impossible to live in this and create, stay afloat if you are not improving yourself in different areas. We have a lot of different specialties: artists, programmers on databases, game designers - the list is huge.

The higher the level, the more stronger the leadership qualities - management, management. If you do not care about it, I will hope hopelessly.

- You mentioned that you yourself play tanks ...

- Yes, my nickname is Victorkis. I play computer games, since I remember myself. My dad is now working with me, but in 1989 he was a scientist and in his laboratory I saw the first computer. Played in a simple game on such not black and white, and the monochrome screen, and I struck me like a zipper: "Smart piece of iron" played against me, she thought and made me thinking me. Then the games began to quickly become more beautiful: Civilization, Starcraft, Warcraft, Simcity appeared, and so on. Now they practically interrupt the cinema - both on the budget, and in the picture, and on involvement, and by distribution.

When I play our tanks, it allows me to see that it is not so, so I give recommendations responsible for the game-design - they are taken or not, they criticize or say "no, we will not do this because we will not do that then. " I also play "Civilization", the favorite game of all times and peoples. As soon as you add up, I will play for a long time in Master of Orion - returns childhood memories. I was lucky, my passion flowed to work. In this regard, I am a happy person.

- Tanks will soon turn six years. How much more game will "shoot"?

- This is a very long story: for a few more decades they will last, 10-20 years old for sure. The battle battle lasts about seven minutes, in the most 15 minutes. There are many people who played 100 thousand battles, that is, an average of a million minutes. They do not bother them, they continue to play.

All this happens because we will continue to work and release updates. We have already released more than 60 large updates - This is a new content, new models of tanks, cards, locations, constantly improve graphics, physics, effects, that is, we do everything that brings the game to more photorealistic, to military cinema from Stephen Spielberg or George Lucas.

- Is there a wargaming secret project - seey new tanks?

"So far, we will not fully confident in the success of the future project, including tests in secret laboratories, we do not spare karma, otherwise players and developers are upset. This dictates the laws of show business. Therefore, I will say this: in different stages of development now there is a significant number of ideas.

The founder and general director of the playing company Wargaming Victor sour gave an interview with the "Vedomosti" edition - how on the company's revenue was reflected in the course of the ruble and euro, about the erect and doing business in the countries of the former USSR.

CPU publishes excerpts from an interview.

Wargaming was founded in 1998. In the asset of the studio - such popular GamesAs WORLD OF TANKS, World of Warplanes and others. Offices of the organization are located in Minsk, Kiev, St. Petersburg, Seattle and other cities of the world. According to the publication "Vedomosti", only the World of Tanks Taitle brought the studio in 2015 more than $ 500 million.

The founder of the company Victor Solya talked about how the crisis affects the earnings, and the development of the studio business.

On the audience of World of Tanks and work in the crisis

As the editorial office of the Vedomosti believes, because of the crisis, World of Tanks users have spent less time in the game, and also began to pay less. Acne notes that residents of the countries of the former Soviet Union did not have less played. The Wargaming CEO of Wargaming's spent audience calls Japanese - players from this country, according to him, is not enough, but if the Japanese fascinated some game - he plays it for a very long time.

Now Wargaming is engaged in promoting World of Tanks to new markets for yourself - the team commends new version Games for Xbox One, which, according to sour, should attract a greater number of residents of America, studies the features of Brazil's markets, Korea, America, and so on.

Now we have the audience of the game is distributed about 50:50. Half is Russia and the countries of the former USSR, the other half is the rest of the world. That is, the speaker is still in the direction of increasing the international audience, which is logical - after all, the population of the whole world is more than the former USSR.

The revenue of the game in Russia, according to Victor sour, decreased in dollar equivalent - due to the fall of the ruble and euro. The game has 25% of paying users - and less because of the crisis began to pay, mostly schoolchildren and students who have fallen by purchasing power. At the rest of the audience, according to sour, the difference in payments did not arise - including, because the game is built in such a way that there are no particularly expensive slots in it, and "spending $ 1,000 per month is nothing."

One of the most expensive purchases that the user can do in World of Tanks is the Golden Tank for $ 400, which developers have introduced into the game at the insistence of Chinese partners.

On average, according to the general director of the company, one paying user spends about $ 25 per month in the game.

About Wargaming Revenue

As noted by the "Vedomosti" edition, Superdata analytical company estimated the wargaming revenue in 2014 at $ 505 million. Victor sour refused to comment on such an assessment - explained only that the real revenue is really measured by hundreds of millions of dollars.

It is clear that because of the fall of the Russian ruble, our dollar revenue, to put it mildly, did not grow. As far as it did not grown, it is not very important. We still expect that the situation will improve, the world will come and everything will enter the same direction.

In this case, the drop in revenue, according to sour, is associated not only with economic reasons, but also with technical. So, in 2014, the company released update World. Of Tanks with several technical errors - and the number of simultaneously playing users has fallen by 20% in two months.

About other studios games

Wargaming has other games - for example, World of Warplanes or World of Warships, which is currently in the closed beta test. According to Victor Success, World of Warplanes is not so popular, because the studio has hurried with its output to the market. WORLD OF WARSHIP "All statistical parameters on a closed beta are excellent, and in all regions."

About the future of cyberports and cyber export competition

Victor sour session tournaments see another way development world. Of Tanks. In April 2015, one of these competitions, organized by Wargaming, passed in Poland - and the final, according to the general director of the company, came twice the visitors than the year before.

It has now become clear that the cyberport is growing so rapidly that it can already be assumed that it will soon be very large - both from the point of view of the audience and, possibly, for money. But the whole question is in content. It seems to me that this is quite possible to compare with ordinary sports that people with great pleasure are watching on TV.

According to acid, successful business projects are already beginning to appear on the popularity wave of cybersport - as, for example, Twitch, redeemed by Amazon for $ 970 million. Such services are interested in advertisers - the region is developing rapidly, which no one could assume: "Everyone seemed to That this is such a purely Korean chip and she will not go anywhere. "

The sour believes that cyberport could become a "new media reality", which is still at the beginning of its path.

On the conduct of international business in the countries of the former USSR and work in various offices of the company

In post-Soviet countries, progress in creating favorable conditions for business is huge. Wargaming combines under one roof of the studio from Kiev, St. Petersburg, Minsk, as well as offices in Europe, Asia and the United States, and we can compare the conditions that we provide different countries. In the countries of the former USSR, we feel support and interest in the company, to our recovery initiatives military equipment, promoting history.

According to Victor Success, the main office of Wargaming was and remains in Minsk - it is there that the WORLD OF TANKS and World of Tanks Blitz (mobile version of the game) are fully underway. There are also financial and legal departments, the global UX-design team and so on. Work on World of Warplanes leads the Kiev branch of the company, and over World of Warships - Petersburg. In Seattle, work is underway on a new until an announced project.

On the distribution of mobile platforms

As Victor Acne notes, "Universal Mobilization" - a trend that can not be taken into account. There is, in his opinion, and other unconditional trends: the introduction of cloud technologies, active promotion of streaming and virtual reality.

Belorus and a resident of Cyprus Victor sour for 17 years has been led by Wargaming, which was able to create one of the most popular in Russia and the former USSR multiplayer games - World of Tanks. Recently "Vedomosti" with him.
WOT always rapidly gains users, and they actively pay for objects inside the game. In 2012, World Of Tanks brought Wargaming $ 218 million, and last year her revenue was more than doubled: according to Superdata, the company earned more than $ 500 million on Tanks. The crisis did the excitement of players - they began to spend less time and They began to pay less. Wargaming plans to compensate for the fall of revenues with growth in international markets, new projects and promotion of the game in competitions on cybersport (competitions in computer games), which, according to sour, can grow into new media reality.

- To crisis the main market for you was Russia and the CIS countries, and now?

- The structure of the players has not changed very much. We all understand that in the Russian man's DNA, the tank is "sewn" (laughs) and you will not do anything about it. Residents of the former Soviet Union play a lot in tanks and did not less do it. Americans are more spoiled, they need everything to be beautiful, they need to show everything. They play the consoles more, and we only start the World of Tanks a year ago on consoles, and that old version. Now we make a new version for Xbox One, and then, probably, there will be some kind of an increase in the number of users in the United States.

For example, in Japan, there are few computers, the Japanese play mostly on the Play Station. But if the Japanese loved some kind of game, he will not climb out of it. And this is the rapid audience. But in terms of the number of their few, if compared with other countries.

It is clear that we started with the proportion of 0: 100. That is Russia-Mother, the CIS. True, on the first week of closed testing began to actively join the Poles, the Czechs - they also love tanks very much. Icelanders for some reason play a lot, in general the scandinals.

We made efforts to spread our game in the world. To do this, we localized World Of Tanks, brought support in different languages.

Now we have the audience of the game is distributed about 50:50. Half is Russia and the countries of the former USSR, the other half is the rest of the world. That is, the speaker is still in the direction of increasing the international audience, which is logical - after all, the population of the whole world is more than the former USSR. Although the density of "tankers" is less, but the population and the territory (laughs).

We work scenario to improve our understanding of the same America, Europe, Korea. There are several unlocked stains, such as Brazil, we began to work quite recently there. Middle East Countries We are not covered yet. There is a feature: Arabic liking is written on the right left, this means that we actually have the whole game you need to "fill".

- at such a noticeable share of Russian players world Of Tanks Is the crisis in Russia affect the Wargaming business? Will people have to pay less than the artifacts in the game? During the crisis of 2008-2009. Many gaming companies saw the influx of players: people stopped going to the cinema, fly on vacation, but they did not play less.

- Of course, Russia is a large country in which the crisis of a geopolitical scale occurred. It is clear that these movements of the ruble and the euro were not in our favor and led to a decrease in the dollar equivalent of revenues.

We have a very heterogeneous audience. In addition, the game does not force the players to pay money. In the game, you can spend money comparable to several tickets to the movies, and the schoolboy can play for free.

We have 25% of paying users, and this is a very good indicator compared to other games. In the Game Industry, there is the concept of "KIT" - this is a senior manager who drives on black "Mercedes" and whose salary is measured by numbers with a large number of zeros. He doesn't care how much to pay. But World of Tanks is built in such a way that there can not be spent $ 1,000 per month. I would have to spend such an amount, but I don't know what (laughs). The game is made in such a way that there is no product on this amount per month. $ 10 There is a premium account plus a pair of tens, well, hundred dollars on collectible tanks ($ 5-40) or internal currency.

So these "whales" do not feel the difference - spend several dozen dollars in the game or a couple of hundreds. Therefore, among this audience, we did not notice changes in payments. Schoolchildren and students, of course, began to pay less - it can be seen that purchasing power fell.

Games love silence

- SuperData analysts rated Wargaming revenue in 2014 at $ 505 million. How true is this assessment?

- Companies, especially large, do not like to give direct assessments of their business. Therefore, I would not want to comment on this assessment.

This is primarily due to a competitive struggle. We are not alone on this glade, there are others similar games, There are full copies. This is a very competitive industry. And if you know how many competitors have money, you can roughly predict their maneuvers. Therefore, it's good if competitors have no idea how flexible you are in your maneuvers.

I can only say that Wargaming revenue is measured by hundreds of millions of dollars. It is clear that because of the fall of the Russian ruble, our dollar revenue, to put it mildly, did not grow. As far as it did not grown, it is not very important. We still expect the situation to improve, the world will come and everything will enter the same direction.

But other factors can affect the revenue, not necessarily macroeconomic. For example, some changes in the game itself. Example: Last year we released a new wORLD version of tanks in which we made a few technical errors: The storyboard in the game became slower due to the fact that something was bad there was drawn. The speed fell on average by 10%. And we released vague historical battles: what we did, not to the end answered the expectations of users. And these two factors instantly affected our results, since the number of simultaneously playing users in two months fell by 20%. Well, then we entered the autumn - and the prices of oil fell, the ruble fell. Again there was a drop.

- Fall and audience, and in revenue?

- And so and so. Play, but do not pay, pay, but do not play. It became worse, we felt it. It is clear that we have taken some measures. For example, in the case of the ruble, we offered to buy users at a lower course: you liked it. Therefore, such jumps for last year There were twice with us: an unsuccessful technical patch and the economic situation of the end of the year.

- Do you reveal how much you will pay one World of Tanks on average, something like arpu? How much is it in Russia and in the world?

- To be honest, I do not know the exact number. It seems to me that it does not make sense to talk about ARPU, as this is the average temperature in the hospital. When the game reaches such sizes that countries are already capturing and continents, talking about ARPU meaningless. In addition, they play very different in age groups of the population - from seven years and above. I believe that it is necessary to introduce segmentation: it is necessary to watch separately ARPU "Whale" and "Schoolboy", ARPU Russian and Japanese.

Although our game is built in such a way that there can be no large ARPU. I can call the exemplary digit - $ 25 from a paying person per month, although I can be wrong. But it does not mean anything. We built our game so that a person voluntarily pays as much as he can afford. And it is very important. There are games where you, without paying, do not pass further. Such games make people perform impulsive purchases - it is especially conveniently done through mobile devices. We even have to pay, you need to go to some terminal, some form to fill. Moroka in general.

- So you make it difficult for yourself?

- No, well, it is on computers - there is just such an infrastructure. On smartphones easier.

ARPU in $ 25 consists of a premium account and a little of the rest. And often this is not because a person can not afford to pay, it just does not consume.

Therefore, in such a cheap entertainment as world of tanks, the percentage of "whales" is very small. Moreover, it is interesting that in Japan, one "whales" is completely. In Russia, they also have, but in comparison with the population, their percentage is very small.

Of course, we could immediately make some kind of diamond tank for $ 10,000. But here such a factor is already included - the people will not understand (laughs). We were able to afford it only in China. Our Chinese partner just told it: they say, give a golden tank - you need to gifts, etc. Made, cost $ 400.

- Gold Iphons, say, in China are very popular ...

- Yes. But you need to understand that we have an international game. As soon as you enter something in one country, it starts to be intensively discussed all over the world - on the forums, in social networks. And for this golden tank, which we did at the request of Chinese workers, our workers told us: "Not good." And such conversations spoil our reputation, and this is very important. So we will not do any more.

Lines attack

- In addition to the most popular World of Tanks, you have other games - World of Warplanes, World of Warships. How popular are they?

- With the World of Warplanes, we probably hurried, made a mistake in some places. Now we study it, try to fix something. With World of Warships, everything seems to be very good. Now there is a closed test phase: we use the behavioral mechanisms with might and main, to understand if you like the game and what and where to change. So far, all statistical parameters on the closed beta are excellent, and in all regions.

- Last year, Wargaming reached the American market. How successful is this output? How does wargaming develop in international markets?

- To say that the "states we took", of course, it is impossible. There is very high competition in this market, and not only in games - in all areas. But we got there some kind of audience. These are older men who water children in tank museums, watch Discovery Channel. The next task was to cover the audience. But it is already much more difficult: they already need shooters, they like to play consoles.

In Europe and the US, we still have to grow. But in Russia there was a saturation of the market. Find a man in Russia who did not hear about World of Tanks, probably no longer possible, except in the taiga.

- Are there ideas that could help win new markets? Do not plan to do, for example, your shooter?

- On this occasion, I have nothing to say yet. Of course, we are discussing in the company different variants, different new games. But on the shooters, we have no position yet. Yes, and there is no shooter. And since there is no shooter, then there is no position (laughs).

As I said, we do not look at this middle ARPU user. You can make $ 27.7, but for this you can handle the reputation. It is possible to sharply earn a lot of money in briefly, but then the scorched earth will remain. We saw such an effect - when you strongly twist the nuts, then there is a decline. It is advantageous to us that the revenue is stable or grew a little. For several years, we have identified this socially acceptable figure that a person from his pocket can get. And we do not want to change it significantly. Business type of our need to lead calmly.

- And other ideas of products or ways to promote?

- In general, we act dynamic analysis: there is some possibility to promote something, we try. For example, there is an idea of \u200b\u200bcybersport, we conduct competitions. If successful, then increase. Also with advertising. In different countries, it acts in different ways. For example, it is believed that TV advertising for games is ineffective. But this is not always so - somewhere is very effective. For example, the same Clash of Clans gave advertisement during the break between Super Bowl football matches, at the most expensive advertising time. Everyone was very surprised. But they counted that it was profitable, and we thought that there was no. In general, all this is a painstaking job.


As I said, we do not look at this middle ARPU user. You can make $ 27.7, but for this you can handle the reputation. It is possible to sharply earn a lot of money in briefly, but then the scorched earth will remain. We saw such an effect - when you strongly twist the nuts, then there is a decline. It is advantageous to us that the revenue is stable or grew a little. For several years, we have identified this socially acceptable figure that a person from his pocket can get. And we do not want to change it significantly. Business type of our need to lead calmly.

"Building" and "pokatushki"

- In April, you spent in Poland on World of Tanks competitions. Similar events are carried out by other game developers. How do you generally appreciate the prospects for cybersport? Is this a tool for moving the game or in the future he can become a new big media competing, for example, with television broadcasts of ordinary sports?

- It is impossible to predict the future for 5-6 years ahead. But while cyberport develops very well. In general, cybersport originated in South Korea from Starcraft television broadcast, and it seemed to everyone that this is such a purely Korean chip and she would not go anywhere. When we spent the final last year, the people were twice as fewer than in this.

It has now become clear that the cyberport is growing so rapidly, which one can already assume that soon it will become very large - both from the point of view of the audience and, possibly, for the money. But the whole question is in content. It seems to me that this is quite possible to compare with ordinary sports that people with great pleasure are watching on TV.

- That is, in 20 years, we will watch cyberolympic games?

- Quite possible. Celebrate is actually born in our eyes, its rules have not yet been established. This is a completely new phenomenon at the junction of media, streyment, advertising.

Celebrate is primarily a show. Last year, 300,000 players participated in competitions, and looked even more - tens of millions. In order for the show for them to be exciting, you need a beautiful and dynamic picture. That is, this is a new type of visual art - cinema, only interactive. There are already elements of the beautiful show business in the cybersport: fighting commented, there are prizes, "dance", all this is live in many languages. In show business should always be some intrigue, and in erects we fully observe it. It is also difficult to predict here who will win, as in ordinary sport: here, for example, in this league [in Poland], the Chinese beat the Russians. It used to seemed unthinkable. So the cyberport is the same sport, only a little more youth.

- Is it possible to count the cybersport?

- Let's say this wave is already doing business. Take the same Twitch - the application that "Stream" games. It's incredible: someone plays the games, and others look, and there is already a huge audience. Recently, Amazon bought Twitch for $ 1 billion, and no longer heard about this startup. This demonstrates how quickly everything in this area can grow. So in cybersport, with a high probability there will be the same as in other media. Content appears, the views grow - and after some time advertising appears.

- Advertisers are already interested in eSports?

- And big advertisers are interested in this phenomenon? For example, the consumer sector companies?

- No, but they can come, because here advertisers can be offered a very attractive type of advertising. In the usual Internet, they deal with traditional advertising in which the audience is determined by age, place of residence, etc. But there are still behavioral advertising, which is based on how man behaves. In games, people are engaged in the behavior - well, yes, in difficult conditions, when the enemies on all sides (laughs), but they somehow lead themselves: they buy something, something is considered. And all this information accumulates gaming companiesAnd in large numbers it can work very well. Using such data, you can send advertising much more accurately.

- For Wargaming, the advertising model in the future can be a source of income along with in-game payments and subscription?

- It is still difficult to say, but we carefully learn this topic. The same cybersport for us is still a marketing tool that helps to attract the audience. But everything moves to the fact that all this - games, competitions - will become a new media reality. She is funny, cool: it is funny pokatushki, shootings. Minecraft Here people look for some reason - there are funny "Building" (laughs).

In all this, of course, there is already an element of Hollywood. Normal new media reality. She also makes the first steps, but very quickly develops together with the development of new technologies, mobile devices. Because people basically look like things on smartphones and tablets. Right in a taxi - can watch a couple of battles.

In the crisis area

- Why did Wargaming in 2014 decide to leave the Cyprus Exchange?

- In 2012, we decided to go to the Cyprus Exchange, because they began to build a company headquarters in Cyprus and manage it completely from there. Shares on the stock exchange were not sold. According to the rules of this exchange, it is possible. It was a placement that imposed all the same limitations and requirements as with a classic IPO. We plunged ourselves in the pitchin of this responsibility so that we did not have a chance to break it. For several years we did it. What we had to have from this, we got: we got some kind of name, they grew a bit and felt more confident in this raging sea of \u200b\u200bfinancial instruments (laughs). We don't need it more.

- In the future, do not plan to go on the stock exchange?

- Well ... never say "never." Now business in terms of this bureaucracy is in good condition: in the same way he was when we were on the stock exchange. Since we learned how to live in the rules of the public company for several years.

- Last year you said that Wargaming suffered from the Cyprus crisis, as a result of which the company became a shareholder of Hellenic Bank and acquired a building in Limassol. How much did the company lose?

- Wargaming is the largest technological company in Cyprus, we are actively involved in the economic and social life of the country, and therefore the past crisis was not just an unpleasant moment for our corporate interests, but a problem for all employees of the company living here. We regularly pay all taxes, actively promoting the reputation of Cyprus, we contribute to the development of this country, so it's not entirely true to talk about any losses. Of course, we went through certain difficulties, but, as in the case of the purchase of Hellenic Bank's shares, the crisis discovered for us and new opportunities.

Our company is one of the existing shareholders in Hellenic, there are people who represent our interests there, with our participation in its work limited. Wargaming is primarily the developer and publisher of games known all over the world, therefore activity in other areas is not so important for us.

The economy of Cyprus in the first quarter of 2015 increased by 1.6%, the country gradually restores its financial and investment attractiveness. Local authorities very accurately and consistently conducted a reform program, which was recommended by the eurozone and IMF countries, and in the long run, we look at the economic situation in the country with great optimism.

- What do you think, will the countries of the former USSR be able to in some foreseeable future, too, be convenient for doing international business, what should I do for this?

- In the post-Soviet countries, progress in creating favorable conditions for business is huge. Wargaming combines under one roof of the studio from Kiev, St. Petersburg, Minsk, as well as offices in Europe, Asia and the United States, and we can compare the conditions that various countries provide us. In the countries of the former USSR, we feel support and interest in the company, to our initiatives to restore military equipment, popularizing history. Of course, to attract international companies, there are still many steps to improve the business climate and the introduction of predictable and effective law enforcement, but in the future any country can become a place where the business will be convenient and comfortable.

- How does Belarus relate to the fact that such a major company moved to another country and pays taxes there?

- Minsk was and remains the heart of wargaming, so it's not entirely true to talk about moving. The largest office of the company is located in Minsk, where the World Hit World Of Tanks is fully created: from writing code to the organization of cyber speaking competitions and project promotion. The Minsk office is also developed by the mobile version of the game World of Tanks Blitz, there are also global teams UX, BI, financial and legal departments. In general, the office fully occupies a 16-storey building and employs about 2,000 people.

- After the start of the crisis in Russia, many technological companies moved to other countries to the Baltic States for example. Do you see from this process of migration, do our programmers ride?

- As far as I know, we began to get a little more responses to vacancies from programmers from Russia, but it is worth considering the fact that Minsk, like, however, at Kiev and St. Petersburg, there is a worthy reputation for the Expertise Center in the development of games. Wargaming has become a brand in HR, so our vacancies are actively interested in Russia and in Europe and in the United States.

Our Minsk development team is engaged in World of Tanks for PC and mobile versions Games, Kiev is working on World of Warplanes, the Studio in St. Petersburg is preparing for the WORLD OF WARSHIPS, the team in Chicago is working on updates for World of Tanks Xbox 360 and develops a version of the game for Xbox One, and Seattle creates a new until an announced project .

In the global plan, the struggle between companies for talents is only gaining momentum. Talents on gold weight everywhere, it is they who dictate the conditions, and business has to adapt. Geography is not the most important factor, professionals can break through their way in all regions of the world.

Pursuit of new emotions

- What is new for us in technology, what do you think about universal "mobilization" - transition to smartphones and tablets?

- The main trends for the next five years are obvious: the introduction of cloud technologies, active promotion of streaming, universal tabletization and miniaturization, virtual reality. The mobile game market will continue to grow in a huge pace, while mobile devices will become less and more powerful, and their cost will fall.

Mobile platform games Others. Quantum player attention is very small game session Can be completed at any time. For developers, it is important to take into account these conditions and adapt to them. At the same time, the industry leaves from the development of games exclusively under the platform. We focus on creating an exciting gaming experience Regardless of the device. Good story, communication, the game universe, in which the player is nice to be, develop and receive new emotions, are becoming more important than the platform.

Very soon we will come to the fact that good games will be available anywhere at any time. In such a situation, the one who will give players a pleasant and exciting experience, interactive Mir with great opportunities.

- What do you think virtual reality will be the Next Big Thing technology? Does Wargaming plan to do something in this area?

- Virtual Reality Technologies made a real breakthrough over the past three years. Prospects for using the Oculus Rift helmet in games are simply impressive, this device can change dramatically gaming industry. I was struck by the first test version of the helmet, which I experienced more than a year ago: picture, sound, emotions - you are immersed in another dimension, and therefore I look forward to the release of the commercial version of the product. Our team actively experiments with the device, and we have already developed and released a special game mode for Oculus. It allows the player in a different way to take a look at the gameplay, enjoy the effect of presence and get new sensations from tank battles. By the way, the introduction of technology turned out to be a very time-consuming process. It took us to rebuild the in-game menu, to radically remake the gameleyl UI and create a specific control system.

We are not tied to one platform and constantly develop games for new devices. If the technology becomes a mass, global, accessible, our games will definitely appear on it.
Thanks for the interview and good luck in the battles!