Nicholas is the general manager of Wargaming, in the Asia-Pacific region, a place where Wargaming has just begun to engage in some kind of a breakthrough. His portfolio includes Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Australia and New Zealand.
The company’s most popular product is World of Tanks, an online tank battle game, which is free to play and with battles running around 15 minutes. Other two new sister products are out in some countries but not yet in Australia. These are World of Warplanes, recently out and World of Warships, which is to be released soon.
Nicholas explained how, about two years back, the CEO of Wargaming, Victor Kislyi, went to Japan and began reading about tank battles on the shores of Samar in the Philippines. He then realized how much development and strategy went into building the Japanese tanks. He was amazed by the Type 10 he saw in a museum in Tokyo, one of those released in 2010 and which he considered to be one of the smartest tanks ever made. “The network hub, the infrared capabilities, the satellite positioning, touch-screen controls, auto-loader… The ammunition payload that it carries is just amazing,” he said.
Because they couldn’t use diesel fuel, due to low temperatures, Germany and Russia had to build petrol-powered tanks during the Second World War. As Japan was a much warmer country, they were free to use diesel fuel.
14 Japanese tanks are now to be added to World of Tanks, among other light and medium tanks and some lightweight tank destroyers. And maybe, someday, you might see an Aussie in there as well.
They have already studied Australian tanks and are now planning a multinational tank release. Other countries included in the project are Taiwan and Italy. There is also a tutorial that has only recently been released for new people to get a taste of what the game is really about and of course, to learn how to play it.
“And when you undergo that tutorial it lets you experience, with very specific directions, how to move the tank, rotate the turret, aim properly, and shoot properly,” explained Nicholas, the Sydney Morning Herald reports.
He talked about his very first experience with the game. At the beginning, it took him at least 30 battles to get to a level where he wouldn’t feel like a newbie any longer. He was slowly learning the game but then it took him over 500 battles before he could say that he knows how the game actually works.