World of Tanks and World of Warplanes developer Wargaming has released a five minute video highlighting some of the early development work done on their third World War II combat simulator, World of Warships. The game, which was announced at Gamescom 2011 in Germany, had since flown mostly under the radar while Wargaming’s development efforts were directed at the other two titles in the series until today’s release of their first in a set of videos detailing its development.
The video touts the upcoming game’s lineup of available ships, which includes a variety of international cruisers, destroyers, and battleships from the first half of the twentieth century. World of Warships’ official site promises that “each machine has its unique realistic combination of firepower, speed, armor, and endurance” and that “all technical specifications are historically accurate” – attention to detail on which Wargaming has built much of its reputation as a military-themed game developer, so much so that the company sent a handful of its development staff from St. Petersburg, Russia to the United States in order to visit WWII-era ships in person.
In addition to naval combat, Wargaming has also announced plans for the title to include aerial combat in the form of scout and fighter planes as well as torpedo bombers launched from aircraft carriers. Whether this indicates a potential future tie-in with sister game World of Warplanes or simply a replication of some of its combat mechanics on a completely separate platform is yet to be seen.
Notably absent from the game’s lineup of WWII military vehicles are submarines. According to Nicholas Moran, Wargaming’s Director of Militaria Relations, they “just don’t fit with the gameplay.” Moran goes on say that the development team “understands how important” submarines were in the Second World War and isn’t “ignoring the historical reality” but cites their devastating stealth attacks and relatively minimal defenses as elements which couldn’t be included in the game without risking ruining the combat experience for players.
Early expectations from gamers are mixed; with World of Tanks having been massively successful and launching Wargaming onto the world stage being followed by the much more lukewarm reception for World of Warplanes, this is understandable. The ultimate fate of Wargaming’s World War II trilogy may well be decided by this last entry in the series.
If you’re interested in watching the development of World of Warships, you can follow the developer’s blog or watch the video below.