World of Tanks (WoT) is a massively multiplayer online game developed by Belarusian company Wargaming, featuring mid-20th century (1930s–1960s) era combat vehicles. It is built upon a freemium business model where the game is free-to-play, but participants also have the option of paying a fee for use of “premium” features. The focus is on player vs. player gameplay with each player controlling an armored vehicle.
World of Tanks has been ported to multiple gaming consoles. The PlayStation 4, Xbox 360 and Xbox One version, called World of Tanks Mercenaries, was developed by studio Wargaming West. World of Tanks has also expanded to mobile platforms under the title World of Tanks Blitz, in addition to a board game titled World of Tanks Rush and a collectible card game titled World of Tanks: Generals. World of Tanks was followed by World of Warplanes and World of Warships.
The player takes control of a single armored vehicle of their choice, and is placed into a battle on a random map. The player has control over the vehicle's movement, firing, and can communicate with allied players through typed or voice chat. A simple random match is won either by destroying all vehicles on the opposing team or capturing the opposing team's base. There are other game modes that change the rules of the battle, but gameplay mechanics remain the same. World of Tanks contains multiple game mechanics such as camouflage, shell ricochets, and module damage.
The players in World of Tanks can choose six primary types of battles: random battles, team-training battles, tank-company battles, team battles, stronghold battles and special battles. Historical Battle and Rampage are former options but have since been taken down for improvement upon its poor reception following its release. Within random battles, players can also participate in platoons, groups of two to three players who are put into the same team. There are also missions to be completed in the game modes for varying amounts of rewards.
