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Dota 2 is a multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) video game in which two teams of five players compete to destroy a large structure defended by the opposing team known as the “Ancient” whilst defending their own. As in Defense of the Ancients, the game is controlled using standard real-time strategy controls, and is presented on a single map in a three-dimensional isometric perspective. Ten players each control one of the game’s 126 playable characters, known as “heroes”, with each having their own design, strengths, and weaknesses. Heroes are divided into two primary roles, known as the core and support.

Cores, which are also called carries, begin each match as weak and vulnerable, but are able to become more powerful later in the game, thus becoming able to “carry” their team to victory. Supports generally lack abilities that deal heavy damage, instead having ones with more functionality and utility that provide assistance for their cores, such as providing healing and other buffs. Players select their hero during a pre-game drafting phase, where they can discuss potential strategies and hero matchups with their teammates. Heroes are removed from the drafting pool and become unavailable for all other players once one is selected, and can not be changed once the drafting phase is over. All heroes have a basic attack in addition to powerful abilities, which are the primary method of fighting. Each hero has at least four of them, all of which are unique. Heroes begin each game with an experience level of one, only having access to one of their abilities, but are able to level up and become more powerful during the course of the game, up to a maximum level of 30. Whenever a hero gains an experience level, the player is able to unlock another of their abilities or improve one already learned. The most powerful ability for each hero is known as their “ultimate”, which requires them to have an experience level of six in order to use.

In order to prevent abilities from being overused, a magic system is featured in the game. Activating an ability costs a hero some of their “mana points”, which slowly regenerates over time. Using an ability will also cause it to enter a cooldown period, in which the ability can not be used again until a timer resets. All heroes have three attributes: strength, intelligence, and agility, which affect health points, mana points, and attack speed, respectively. Each hero has a primary attribute which adds to their basic non-ability damage output and other minor buffs—with four attributes including Universal, which rewards extra damage for attribute points. Heroes have an ability augmentation system known as the “Talent Tree”, which allow players more choices on how to develop their hero. If a hero runs out of health points and dies, they are removed from active play until a timer counts down to zero, where they are respawned in their base with only some gold lost.

The two teams—known as the Radiant and Dire—occupy fortified bases in opposite corners of the map, which is divided in half by a crossable river and connected by three paths, which are referred to as “lanes”. The lanes are guarded by defensive towers that attack any opposing unit who gets within its line of sight. A small group of weak computer-controlled creatures called “creeps” travel predefined paths along the lanes and attempt to attack any opposing heroes, creeps, and buildings in their way. Creeps periodically spawn throughout the game in groups from two buildings, called the “barracks”, that exist in each lane and are located within the team’s bases. The map is permanently covered for both teams in fog of war, which prevents a team from seeing the opposing team’s heroes and creeps if they are not directly in sight of themselves or an allied unit. The map features a day-night cycle, with some hero abilities and other game mechanics being altered depending on the time of the cycle. Present on the map are “neutral creeps” that are hostile to both teams, and reside in marked locations on the map known as “camps”. Camps are located in the area between the lanes known as the “jungle”, which both sides of the map have.

Neutral creeps do not attack unless provoked, and respawn over time if killed. The most powerful neutral creep is named “Roshan”, who is a unique boss that may be defeated by either team to obtain special items, such as one that allows a one-time resurrection if the hero that holds it is killed. Roshan will respawn around ten minutes after being killed, and becomes progressively harder to kill as the match progresses over time.] Runes, which are special items that spawn in set positions on the map every few minutes, offer heroes temporary, but powerful power-ups when collected, such as double damage and invisibility.

In addition to having abilities becoming stronger during the game, players are able to buy items from set locations on the map called shops that provide their own special abilities. Items are not limited to specific heroes, and can be bought by anyone. In order to obtain an item, players must be able to afford it with gold at shops located on the map, which is primarily obtained by killing enemy heroes, destroying enemy structures, and killing creeps, with the latter being an act called “farming”. Only the hero that lands the killing blow on a creep obtains gold from it, an act called “last hitting”, but all allies receive a share of gold when an enemy hero dies close to them. Players are able to “deny” allied units and structures by last hitting them, which then prevents their opponents from getting full experience from them. Gold can not be shared between teammates, with each player having their own independent stash. Players receive a continuous, but small stream of gold over the course of a match.

Dota 2 features multiple game types which mainly alter the way hero selection is handled; examples include “All Pick”, which offer no restrictions on hero selection, “All Random”, which randomly assigns a hero for each player, “Captain’s Mode”, where a single player on each team selects heroes for their entire team and is primarily used for professional play, and “Turbo”, an expedited version of All Pick featuring increased gold and experience gain, weaker towers, and faster respawn times. Matches usually last around 30 minutes to an hour, although they can last forever as long as both Ancients remain standing. In Captain’s Mode games, an additional “GG” forfeit feature is available to end games early. Dota 2 occasionally features limited-time events that present players with alternative game modes that do not follow the game’s standard rules. Some of these included the Halloween-themed Diretide event, the Christmas-themed Frostivus event, and the New Bloom Festival, which celebrated the coming of spring. Other special game modes have been created by Valve, including a ten-versus-ten mode, a Halloween-themed capture point mode “Colosseum”, a combat arena mode “Overthrow”, “Siltbreaker”, a story-driven cooperative campaign mode, and “The Underhollow”, a battle royale mode.

The move to the Source 2 engine in 2015 added the “Arcade” feature, which allows for community-created game modes, with the more popular ones having dedicated server hosting by Valve. One popular example, known as Dota Auto Chess, had over seven million in-game subscribers by April 2019. Owing to its popularity, Valve met with the mod’s developers, the Chinese-based Drodo Studio, to discuss directly collaborating on a standalone version. However, the two companies were unable to come to an agreement, with them both stating that it was in their best interest to develop their own separate games. Valve’s version, Dota Underlords, was released in February 2020 and continued to use the Dota setting, while Drodo’s game, Auto Chess, was developed using no Dota 2 assets.

Dota 2 is a 2013 multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) video game by Valve. The game is a sequel to Defense of the Ancients (DotA), a community-created mod for Blizzard Entertainment’s Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos. Dota 2 is played in matches between two teams of five players, with each team occupying and defending their own separate base on the map. Each of the ten players independently controls a character known as a hero that has unique abilities and differing styles of play. During a match, players collect experience points (XP) and items for their heroes to defeat the opposing team’s heroes in player versus player (PvP) combat. A team wins by being the first to destroy the other team’s Ancient, a large durable structure located in the center of each base.

Development of Dota 2 began in 2009 when IceFrog, lead designer of Defense of the Ancients, was hired by Valve to design a standalone remake in the Source game engine. It was released for Windows, OS X, and Linux via the digital distribution platform Steam in July 2013, following a Windows-only open beta phase that began two years prior. Dota 2 is fully free-to-play with no heroes or any other gameplay element needing to be bought or otherwise unlocked. Valve supports the game as a service, selling loot boxes and a battle pass subscription system called Dota Plus that offer non-gameplay altering virtual goods in return, such as hero cosmetics and audio replacement packs. The game was ported to the Source 2 engine in 2015, making it the first game to use it.

Dota 2 has a large esports scene, with teams from around the world playing in various professional leagues and tournaments. Valve organizes the Dota Pro Circuit, which are a series of tournaments that award qualification points for earning direct invitations to The International, the game’s premier tournament held annually. Internationals feature a crowdfunded prize money system that has seen amounts in upwards of US$40 million, making Dota 2 one of the most lucrative esports. Media coverage of most tournaments is done by a selection of on-site staff who provide commentary and analysis for the ongoing matches similar to traditional sporting events. In addition to playing live to audiences in arenas and stadiums, broadcasts of them are also streamed over the internet and sometimes simulcast on television, with several million in viewership numbers.

Despite criticism going towards its steep learning curve and overall complexity, Dota 2 was praised for its rewarding gameplay, production quality, and faithfulness to its predecessor, with many considering it to be one of the greatest video games of all time. It has been one of the most played games on Steam since its release, with over a million concurrent players at its peak. The popularity of the game has led to merchandise and media adaptations, including comic books and an anime series, as well as promotional tie-ins to other games and media. The game allows for the community to create their own gamemodes, maps, and cosmetics, which are uploaded to the Steam Workshop. Two spinoff games, Artifact and Dota Underlords, were released by Valve. Dota 2 has been used in machine learning experiments, with a team of bots known as the OpenAI Five showing the capability to defeat professional players.

Dota 2 is a multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) video game in which two teams of five players compete to destroy a large structure defended by the opposing team known as the “Ancient” whilst defending their own. As in Defense of the Ancients, the game is controlled using standard real-time strategy controls, and is presented on a single map in a three-dimensional isometric perspective. Ten players each control one of the game’s 126 playable characters, known as “heroes”, with each having their own design, strengths, and weaknesses. Heroes are divided into two primary roles, known as the core and support.

Cores, which are also called carries, begin each match as weak and vulnerable, but are able to become more powerful later in the game, thus becoming able to “carry” their team to victory. Supports generally lack abilities that deal heavy damage, instead having ones with more functionality and utility that provide assistance for their cores, such as providing healing and other buffs. Players select their hero during a pre-game drafting phase, where they can discuss potential strategies and hero matchups with their teammates. Heroes are removed from the drafting pool and become unavailable for all other players once one is selected, and can not be changed once the drafting phase is over. All heroes have a basic attack in addition to powerful abilities, which are the primary method of fighting. Each hero has at least four of them, all of which are unique. Heroes begin each game with an experience level of one, only having access to one of their abilities, but are able to level up and become more powerful during the course of the game, up to a maximum level of 30. Whenever a hero gains an experience level, the player is able to unlock another of their abilities or improve one already learned. The most powerful ability for each hero is known as their “ultimate”, which requires them to have an experience level of six in order to use.

In order to prevent abilities from being overused, a magic system is featured in the game. Activating an ability costs a hero some of their “mana points”, which slowly regenerates over time. Using an ability will also cause it to enter a cooldown period, in which the ability can not be used again until a timer resets. All heroes have three attributes: strength, intelligence, and agility, which affect health points, mana points, and attack speed, respectively. Each hero has a primary attribute which adds to their basic non-ability damage output and other minor buffs—with four attributes including Universal, which rewards extra damage for attribute points. Heroes have an ability augmentation system known as the “Talent Tree”, which allow players more choices on how to develop their hero. If a hero runs out of health points and dies, they are removed from active play until a timer counts down to zero, where they are respawned in their base with only some gold lost.

The two teams—known as the Radiant and Dire—occupy fortified bases in opposite corners of the map, which is divided in half by a crossable river and connected by three paths, which are referred to as “lanes”. The lanes are guarded by defensive towers that attack any opposing unit who gets within its line of sight. A small group of weak computer-controlled creatures called “creeps” travel predefined paths along the lanes and attempt to attack any opposing heroes, creeps, and buildings in their way. Creeps periodically spawn throughout the game in groups from two buildings, called the “barracks”, that exist in each lane and are located within the team’s bases. The map is permanently covered for both teams in fog of war, which prevents a team from seeing the opposing team’s heroes and creeps if they are not directly in sight of themselves or an allied unit. The map features a day-night cycle, with some hero abilities and other game mechanics being altered depending on the time of the cycle. Present on the map are “neutral creeps” that are hostile to both teams, and reside in marked locations on the map known as “camps”. Camps are located in the area between the lanes known as the “jungle”, which both sides of the map have.

Neutral creeps do not attack unless provoked, and respawn over time if killed. The most powerful neutral creep is named “Roshan”, who is a unique boss that may be defeated by either team to obtain special items, such as one that allows a one-time resurrection if the hero that holds it is killed. Roshan will respawn around ten minutes after being killed, and becomes progressively harder to kill as the match progresses over time.] Runes, which are special items that spawn in set positions on the map every few minutes, offer heroes temporary, but powerful power-ups when collected, such as double damage and invisibility.

In addition to having abilities becoming stronger during the game, players are able to buy items from set locations on the map called shops that provide their own special abilities. Items are not limited to specific heroes, and can be bought by anyone. In order to obtain an item, players must be able to afford it with gold at shops located on the map, which is primarily obtained by killing enemy heroes, destroying enemy structures, and killing creeps, with the latter being an act called “farming”. Only the hero that lands the killing blow on a creep obtains gold from it, an act called “last hitting”, but all allies receive a share of gold when an enemy hero dies close to them. Players are able to “deny” allied units and structures by last hitting them, which then prevents their opponents from getting full experience from them. Gold can not be shared between teammates, with each player having their own independent stash. Players receive a continuous, but small stream of gold over the course of a match.

Dota 2 features multiple game types which mainly alter the way hero selection is handled; examples include “All Pick”, which offer no restrictions on hero selection, “All Random”, which randomly assigns a hero for each player, “Captain’s Mode”, where a single player on each team selects heroes for their entire team and is primarily used for professional play, and “Turbo”, an expedited version of All Pick featuring increased gold and experience gain, weaker towers, and faster respawn times. Matches usually last around 30 minutes to an hour, although they can last forever as long as both Ancients remain standing. In Captain’s Mode games, an additional “GG” forfeit feature is available to end games early. Dota 2 occasionally features limited-time events that present players with alternative game modes that do not follow the game’s standard rules. Some of these included the Halloween-themed Diretide event, the Christmas-themed Frostivus event, and the New Bloom Festival, which celebrated the coming of spring. Other special game modes have been created by Valve, including a ten-versus-ten mode, a Halloween-themed capture point mode “Colosseum”, a combat arena mode “Overthrow”, “Siltbreaker”, a story-driven cooperative campaign mode, and “The Underhollow”, a battle royale mode.

The move to the Source 2 engine in 2015 added the “Arcade” feature, which allows for community-created game modes, with the more popular ones having dedicated server hosting by Valve. One popular example, known as Dota Auto Chess, had over seven million in-game subscribers by April 2019. Owing to its popularity, Valve met with the mod’s developers, the Chinese-based Drodo Studio, to discuss directly collaborating on a standalone version. However, the two companies were unable to come to an agreement, with them both stating that it was in their best interest to develop their own separate games. Valve’s version, Dota Underlords, was released in February 2020 and continued to use the Dota setting, while Drodo’s game, Auto Chess, was developed using no Dota 2 assets.

Dota 2 is a 2013 multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) video game by Valve. The game is a sequel to Defense of the Ancients (DotA), a community-created mod for Blizzard Entertainment’s Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos. Dota 2 is played in matches between two teams of five players, with each team occupying and defending their own separate base on the map. Each of the ten players independently controls a character known as a hero that has unique abilities and differing styles of play. During a match, players collect experience points (XP) and items for their heroes to defeat the opposing team’s heroes in player versus player (PvP) combat. A team wins by being the first to destroy the other team’s Ancient, a large durable structure located in the center of each base.

Development of Dota 2 began in 2009 when IceFrog, lead designer of Defense of the Ancients, was hired by Valve to design a standalone remake in the Source game engine. It was released for Windows, OS X, and Linux via the digital distribution platform Steam in July 2013, following a Windows-only open beta phase that began two years prior. Dota 2 is fully free-to-play with no heroes or any other gameplay element needing to be bought or otherwise unlocked. Valve supports the game as a service, selling loot boxes and a battle pass subscription system called Dota Plus that offer non-gameplay altering virtual goods in return, such as hero cosmetics and audio replacement packs. The game was ported to the Source 2 engine in 2015, making it the first game to use it.

Dota 2 has a large esports scene, with teams from around the world playing in various professional leagues and tournaments. Valve organizes the Dota Pro Circuit, which are a series of tournaments that award qualification points for earning direct invitations to The International, the game’s premier tournament held annually. Internationals feature a crowdfunded prize money system that has seen amounts in upwards of US$40 million, making Dota 2 one of the most lucrative esports. Media coverage of most tournaments is done by a selection of on-site staff who provide commentary and analysis for the ongoing matches similar to traditional sporting events. In addition to playing live to audiences in arenas and stadiums, broadcasts of them are also streamed over the internet and sometimes simulcast on television, with several million in viewership numbers.

Despite criticism going towards its steep learning curve and overall complexity, Dota 2 was praised for its rewarding gameplay, production quality, and faithfulness to its predecessor, with many considering it to be one of the greatest video games of all time. It has been one of the most played games on Steam since its release, with over a million concurrent players at its peak. The popularity of the game has led to merchandise and media adaptations, including comic books and an anime series, as well as promotional tie-ins to other games and media. The game allows for the community to create their own gamemodes, maps, and cosmetics, which are uploaded to the Steam Workshop. Two spinoff games, Artifact and Dota Underlords, were released by Valve. Dota 2 has been used in machine learning experiments, with a team of bots known as the OpenAI Five showing the capability to defeat professional players.

Dota 2 is a multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) video game in which two teams of five players compete to destroy a large structure defended by the opposing team known as the “Ancient” whilst defending their own. As in Defense of the Ancients, the game is controlled using standard real-time strategy controls, and is presented on a single map in a three-dimensional isometric perspective. Ten players each control one of the game’s 126 playable characters, known as “heroes”, with each having their own design, strengths, and weaknesses. Heroes are divided into two primary roles, known as the core and support.

Cores, which are also called carries, begin each match as weak and vulnerable, but are able to become more powerful later in the game, thus becoming able to “carry” their team to victory. Supports generally lack abilities that deal heavy damage, instead having ones with more functionality and utility that provide assistance for their cores, such as providing healing and other buffs. Players select their hero during a pre-game drafting phase, where they can discuss potential strategies and hero matchups with their teammates. Heroes are removed from the drafting pool and become unavailable for all other players once one is selected, and can not be changed once the drafting phase is over. All heroes have a basic attack in addition to powerful abilities, which are the primary method of fighting. Each hero has at least four of them, all of which are unique. Heroes begin each game with an experience level of one, only having access to one of their abilities, but are able to level up and become more powerful during the course of the game, up to a maximum level of 30. Whenever a hero gains an experience level, the player is able to unlock another of their abilities or improve one already learned. The most powerful ability for each hero is known as their “ultimate”, which requires them to have an experience level of six in order to use.

In order to prevent abilities from being overused, a magic system is featured in the game. Activating an ability costs a hero some of their “mana points”, which slowly regenerates over time. Using an ability will also cause it to enter a cooldown period, in which the ability can not be used again until a timer resets. All heroes have three attributes: strength, intelligence, and agility, which affect health points, mana points, and attack speed, respectively. Each hero has a primary attribute which adds to their basic non-ability damage output and other minor buffs—with four attributes including Universal, which rewards extra damage for attribute points. Heroes have an ability augmentation system known as the “Talent Tree”, which allow players more choices on how to develop their hero. If a hero runs out of health points and dies, they are removed from active play until a timer counts down to zero, where they are respawned in their base with only some gold lost.

The two teams—known as the Radiant and Dire—occupy fortified bases in opposite corners of the map, which is divided in half by a crossable river and connected by three paths, which are referred to as “lanes”. The lanes are guarded by defensive towers that attack any opposing unit who gets within its line of sight. A small group of weak computer-controlled creatures called “creeps” travel predefined paths along the lanes and attempt to attack any opposing heroes, creeps, and buildings in their way. Creeps periodically spawn throughout the game in groups from two buildings, called the “barracks”, that exist in each lane and are located within the team’s bases. The map is permanently covered for both teams in fog of war, which prevents a team from seeing the opposing team’s heroes and creeps if they are not directly in sight of themselves or an allied unit. The map features a day-night cycle, with some hero abilities and other game mechanics being altered depending on the time of the cycle. Present on the map are “neutral creeps” that are hostile to both teams, and reside in marked locations on the map known as “camps”. Camps are located in the area between the lanes known as the “jungle”, which both sides of the map have.

Neutral creeps do not attack unless provoked, and respawn over time if killed. The most powerful neutral creep is named “Roshan”, who is a unique boss that may be defeated by either team to obtain special items, such as one that allows a one-time resurrection if the hero that holds it is killed. Roshan will respawn around ten minutes after being killed, and becomes progressively harder to kill as the match progresses over time.] Runes, which are special items that spawn in set positions on the map every few minutes, offer heroes temporary, but powerful power-ups when collected, such as double damage and invisibility.

In addition to having abilities becoming stronger during the game, players are able to buy items from set locations on the map called shops that provide their own special abilities. Items are not limited to specific heroes, and can be bought by anyone. In order to obtain an item, players must be able to afford it with gold at shops located on the map, which is primarily obtained by killing enemy heroes, destroying enemy structures, and killing creeps, with the latter being an act called “farming”. Only the hero that lands the killing blow on a creep obtains gold from it, an act called “last hitting”, but all allies receive a share of gold when an enemy hero dies close to them. Players are able to “deny” allied units and structures by last hitting them, which then prevents their opponents from getting full experience from them. Gold can not be shared between teammates, with each player having their own independent stash. Players receive a continuous, but small stream of gold over the course of a match.

Dota 2 features multiple game types which mainly alter the way hero selection is handled; examples include “All Pick”, which offer no restrictions on hero selection, “All Random”, which randomly assigns a hero for each player, “Captain’s Mode”, where a single player on each team selects heroes for their entire team and is primarily used for professional play, and “Turbo”, an expedited version of All Pick featuring increased gold and experience gain, weaker towers, and faster respawn times. Matches usually last around 30 minutes to an hour, although they can last forever as long as both Ancients remain standing. In Captain’s Mode games, an additional “GG” forfeit feature is available to end games early. Dota 2 occasionally features limited-time events that present players with alternative game modes that do not follow the game’s standard rules. Some of these included the Halloween-themed Diretide event, the Christmas-themed Frostivus event, and the New Bloom Festival, which celebrated the coming of spring. Other special game modes have been created by Valve, including a ten-versus-ten mode, a Halloween-themed capture point mode “Colosseum”, a combat arena mode “Overthrow”, “Siltbreaker”, a story-driven cooperative campaign mode, and “The Underhollow”, a battle royale mode.

The move to the Source 2 engine in 2015 added the “Arcade” feature, which allows for community-created game modes, with the more popular ones having dedicated server hosting by Valve. One popular example, known as Dota Auto Chess, had over seven million in-game subscribers by April 2019. Owing to its popularity, Valve met with the mod’s developers, the Chinese-based Drodo Studio, to discuss directly collaborating on a standalone version. However, the two companies were unable to come to an agreement, with them both stating that it was in their best interest to develop their own separate games. Valve’s version, Dota Underlords, was released in February 2020 and continued to use the Dota setting, while Drodo’s game, Auto Chess, was developed using no Dota 2 assets.

Dota 2 is a 2013 multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) video game by Valve. The game is a sequel to Defense of the Ancients (DotA), a community-created mod for Blizzard Entertainment’s Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos. Dota 2 is played in matches between two teams of five players, with each team occupying and defending their own separate base on the map. Each of the ten players independently controls a character known as a hero that has unique abilities and differing styles of play. During a match, players collect experience points (XP) and items for their heroes to defeat the opposing team’s heroes in player versus player (PvP) combat. A team wins by being the first to destroy the other team’s Ancient, a large durable structure located in the center of each base.

Development of Dota 2 began in 2009 when IceFrog, lead designer of Defense of the Ancients, was hired by Valve to design a standalone remake in the Source game engine. It was released for Windows, OS X, and Linux via the digital distribution platform Steam in July 2013, following a Windows-only open beta phase that began two years prior. Dota 2 is fully free-to-play with no heroes or any other gameplay element needing to be bought or otherwise unlocked. Valve supports the game as a service, selling loot boxes and a battle pass subscription system called Dota Plus that offer non-gameplay altering virtual goods in return, such as hero cosmetics and audio replacement packs. The game was ported to the Source 2 engine in 2015, making it the first game to use it.

Dota 2 has a large esports scene, with teams from around the world playing in various professional leagues and tournaments. Valve organizes the Dota Pro Circuit, which are a series of tournaments that award qualification points for earning direct invitations to The International, the game’s premier tournament held annually. Internationals feature a crowdfunded prize money system that has seen amounts in upwards of US$40 million, making Dota 2 one of the most lucrative esports. Media coverage of most tournaments is done by a selection of on-site staff who provide commentary and analysis for the ongoing matches similar to traditional sporting events. In addition to playing live to audiences in arenas and stadiums, broadcasts of them are also streamed over the internet and sometimes simulcast on television, with several million in viewership numbers.

Despite criticism going towards its steep learning curve and overall complexity, Dota 2 was praised for its rewarding gameplay, production quality, and faithfulness to its predecessor, with many considering it to be one of the greatest video games of all time. It has been one of the most played games on Steam since its release, with over a million concurrent players at its peak. The popularity of the game has led to merchandise and media adaptations, including comic books and an anime series, as well as promotional tie-ins to other games and media. The game allows for the community to create their own gamemodes, maps, and cosmetics, which are uploaded to the Steam Workshop. Two spinoff games, Artifact and Dota Underlords, were released by Valve. Dota 2 has been used in machine learning experiments, with a team of bots known as the OpenAI Five showing the capability to defeat professional players.

Dota 2 is a multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) video game in which two teams of five players compete to destroy a large structure defended by the opposing team known as the “Ancient” whilst defending their own. As in Defense of the Ancients, the game is controlled using standard real-time strategy controls, and is presented on a single map in a three-dimensional isometric perspective. Ten players each control one of the game’s 126 playable characters, known as “heroes”, with each having their own design, strengths, and weaknesses. Heroes are divided into two primary roles, known as the core and support.

Cores, which are also called carries, begin each match as weak and vulnerable, but are able to become more powerful later in the game, thus becoming able to “carry” their team to victory. Supports generally lack abilities that deal heavy damage, instead having ones with more functionality and utility that provide assistance for their cores, such as providing healing and other buffs. Players select their hero during a pre-game drafting phase, where they can discuss potential strategies and hero matchups with their teammates. Heroes are removed from the drafting pool and become unavailable for all other players once one is selected, and can not be changed once the drafting phase is over. All heroes have a basic attack in addition to powerful abilities, which are the primary method of fighting. Each hero has at least four of them, all of which are unique. Heroes begin each game with an experience level of one, only having access to one of their abilities, but are able to level up and become more powerful during the course of the game, up to a maximum level of 30. Whenever a hero gains an experience level, the player is able to unlock another of their abilities or improve one already learned. The most powerful ability for each hero is known as their “ultimate”, which requires them to have an experience level of six in order to use.

In order to prevent abilities from being overused, a magic system is featured in the game. Activating an ability costs a hero some of their “mana points”, which slowly regenerates over time. Using an ability will also cause it to enter a cooldown period, in which the ability can not be used again until a timer resets. All heroes have three attributes: strength, intelligence, and agility, which affect health points, mana points, and attack speed, respectively. Each hero has a primary attribute which adds to their basic non-ability damage output and other minor buffs—with four attributes including Universal, which rewards extra damage for attribute points. Heroes have an ability augmentation system known as the “Talent Tree”, which allow players more choices on how to develop their hero. If a hero runs out of health points and dies, they are removed from active play until a timer counts down to zero, where they are respawned in their base with only some gold lost.

The two teams—known as the Radiant and Dire—occupy fortified bases in opposite corners of the map, which is divided in half by a crossable river and connected by three paths, which are referred to as “lanes”. The lanes are guarded by defensive towers that attack any opposing unit who gets within its line of sight. A small group of weak computer-controlled creatures called “creeps” travel predefined paths along the lanes and attempt to attack any opposing heroes, creeps, and buildings in their way. Creeps periodically spawn throughout the game in groups from two buildings, called the “barracks”, that exist in each lane and are located within the team’s bases. The map is permanently covered for both teams in fog of war, which prevents a team from seeing the opposing team’s heroes and creeps if they are not directly in sight of themselves or an allied unit. The map features a day-night cycle, with some hero abilities and other game mechanics being altered depending on the time of the cycle. Present on the map are “neutral creeps” that are hostile to both teams, and reside in marked locations on the map known as “camps”. Camps are located in the area between the lanes known as the “jungle”, which both sides of the map have.

Neutral creeps do not attack unless provoked, and respawn over time if killed. The most powerful neutral creep is named “Roshan”, who is a unique boss that may be defeated by either team to obtain special items, such as one that allows a one-time resurrection if the hero that holds it is killed. Roshan will respawn around ten minutes after being killed, and becomes progressively harder to kill as the match progresses over time.] Runes, which are special items that spawn in set positions on the map every few minutes, offer heroes temporary, but powerful power-ups when collected, such as double damage and invisibility.

In addition to having abilities becoming stronger during the game, players are able to buy items from set locations on the map called shops that provide their own special abilities. Items are not limited to specific heroes, and can be bought by anyone. In order to obtain an item, players must be able to afford it with gold at shops located on the map, which is primarily obtained by killing enemy heroes, destroying enemy structures, and killing creeps, with the latter being an act called “farming”. Only the hero that lands the killing blow on a creep obtains gold from it, an act called “last hitting”, but all allies receive a share of gold when an enemy hero dies close to them. Players are able to “deny” allied units and structures by last hitting them, which then prevents their opponents from getting full experience from them. Gold can not be shared between teammates, with each player having their own independent stash. Players receive a continuous, but small stream of gold over the course of a match.

Dota 2 features multiple game types which mainly alter the way hero selection is handled; examples include “All Pick”, which offer no restrictions on hero selection, “All Random”, which randomly assigns a hero for each player, “Captain’s Mode”, where a single player on each team selects heroes for their entire team and is primarily used for professional play, and “Turbo”, an expedited version of All Pick featuring increased gold and experience gain, weaker towers, and faster respawn times. Matches usually last around 30 minutes to an hour, although they can last forever as long as both Ancients remain standing. In Captain’s Mode games, an additional “GG” forfeit feature is available to end games early. Dota 2 occasionally features limited-time events that present players with alternative game modes that do not follow the game’s standard rules. Some of these included the Halloween-themed Diretide event, the Christmas-themed Frostivus event, and the New Bloom Festival, which celebrated the coming of spring. Other special game modes have been created by Valve, including a ten-versus-ten mode, a Halloween-themed capture point mode “Colosseum”, a combat arena mode “Overthrow”, “Siltbreaker”, a story-driven cooperative campaign mode, and “The Underhollow”, a battle royale mode.

The move to the Source 2 engine in 2015 added the “Arcade” feature, which allows for community-created game modes, with the more popular ones having dedicated server hosting by Valve. One popular example, known as Dota Auto Chess, had over seven million in-game subscribers by April 2019. Owing to its popularity, Valve met with the mod’s developers, the Chinese-based Drodo Studio, to discuss directly collaborating on a standalone version. However, the two companies were unable to come to an agreement, with them both stating that it was in their best interest to develop their own separate games. Valve’s version, Dota Underlords, was released in February 2020 and continued to use the Dota setting, while Drodo’s game, Auto Chess, was developed using no Dota 2 assets.

Dota 2 is a 2013 multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) video game by Valve. The game is a sequel to Defense of the Ancients (DotA), a community-created mod for Blizzard Entertainment’s Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos. Dota 2 is played in matches between two teams of five players, with each team occupying and defending their own separate base on the map. Each of the ten players independently controls a character known as a hero that has unique abilities and differing styles of play. During a match, players collect experience points (XP) and items for their heroes to defeat the opposing team’s heroes in player versus player (PvP) combat. A team wins by being the first to destroy the other team’s Ancient, a large durable structure located in the center of each base.

Development of Dota 2 began in 2009 when IceFrog, lead designer of Defense of the Ancients, was hired by Valve to design a standalone remake in the Source game engine. It was released for Windows, OS X, and Linux via the digital distribution platform Steam in July 2013, following a Windows-only open beta phase that began two years prior. Dota 2 is fully free-to-play with no heroes or any other gameplay element needing to be bought or otherwise unlocked. Valve supports the game as a service, selling loot boxes and a battle pass subscription system called Dota Plus that offer non-gameplay altering virtual goods in return, such as hero cosmetics and audio replacement packs. The game was ported to the Source 2 engine in 2015, making it the first game to use it.

Dota 2 has a large esports scene, with teams from around the world playing in various professional leagues and tournaments. Valve organizes the Dota Pro Circuit, which are a series of tournaments that award qualification points for earning direct invitations to The International, the game’s premier tournament held annually. Internationals feature a crowdfunded prize money system that has seen amounts in upwards of US$40 million, making Dota 2 one of the most lucrative esports. Media coverage of most tournaments is done by a selection of on-site staff who provide commentary and analysis for the ongoing matches similar to traditional sporting events. In addition to playing live to audiences in arenas and stadiums, broadcasts of them are also streamed over the internet and sometimes simulcast on television, with several million in viewership numbers.

Despite criticism going towards its steep learning curve and overall complexity, Dota 2 was praised for its rewarding gameplay, production quality, and faithfulness to its predecessor, with many considering it to be one of the greatest video games of all time. It has been one of the most played games on Steam since its release, with over a million concurrent players at its peak. The popularity of the game has led to merchandise and media adaptations, including comic books and an anime series, as well as promotional tie-ins to other games and media. The game allows for the community to create their own gamemodes, maps, and cosmetics, which are uploaded to the Steam Workshop. Two spinoff games, Artifact and Dota Underlords, were released by Valve. Dota 2 has been used in machine learning experiments, with a team of bots known as the OpenAI Five showing the capability to defeat professional players.

War Thunder is a 2013 free-to-play vehicular combat multiplayer video game produced by Gaijin Entertainment for Microsoft Windows, macOS, Linux, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, Oculus, and Vive. It was first released in November 2012 as an open beta with a worldwide release in January 2013; it had its official release on December 21, 2016. A spinoff game called War Thunder Mobile (also known as War Thunder Edge) was released in 2023 for Android and iOS.

Gaijin Entertainment is a Hungarian video game developer headquartered in Budapest. The company is mostly known for War Thunder, Crossout, Star Conflict, CRSED: Cuisine Royale (formerly known as Cuisine Royale and CRSED: F.O.A.D.) and Enlisted.

Gaijin Entertainment was founded in Russia in 2002 by Anton and Kirill Yudintsev, whose first big project was the PC racing game Adrenaline. After the successful launch of War Thunder in 2012, an office in Germany was established, to manage global operations and marketing. The company moved their distribution business from Moscow to Budapest around 2015, and their development headquarters followed shortly after. According to Hungarian tax records, Gaijin had 42 employees in Hungary by January 2022 and 56 employees by January 2023.

Presently, all Gaijin online games are operated from Germany, Cyprus and Hungary, while the development is scattered across Europe. The company now has six offices in total: in Karlsruhe (Germany), Larnaca (Cyprus), Budapest (Hungary), Riga (Latvia), Dubai (UAE) and Yerevan (Armenia). The company has around 200 employees split between those offices, with 60 of them based at the Hungarian HQ.

Gaijin Entertainment group generated 2.6% of all the Hungarian Software Industry profit in 2020.

While Gaijin have produced a few single-player games in the 2000s, the company is now focused on free-to-play online titles. According to László Perneky, Gaijin’s lead programmer, “Those who can decide on projects at the company mostly like to play multiplayer games”

Gaijin Entertainment name comes from the Japanese word for foreigner. According to Anton Yudintsev, he was dreaming to enter the Japanese market one day while staying true to their roots as a European company and accept their position of an outsider there. Gaijin actually entered the Japanese market with the release of anime-style action game X-Blades in 2009.

Gaijin’s logo features snail that is a reference to Issa Kobayashi’s haiku, translated by R.H. Blyth as:

O snail

Climb Mount Fuji

But slowly, slowly!

(Katatsumuri / sorosoro nobore / Fuji no yama; 蝸牛/そろそろ登れ/富士の山)

Gaijin Entertainment develops and publishes various online games, including the vehicular combat MMOs War Thunder and Crossout, the first-person shooter Enlisted, the nautical adventure Age of Water, and the vehicular warfare sim Modern Warships. Other notable titles include the space combat game Star Conflict and upcoming releases like the VR flight simulator Aces of Thunder.

Developed as a “flying simulation game”, it was previously named War Thunder: World of Planes, but due to its similarity with Wargaming’s World of Warplanes, it was changed to its present name in 2012. Initially, Gaijin claimed after the game was announced that it was an April Fools joke before confirming its existence in June that same year.

War Thunder won several awards following its release, winning Best Simulation Game at the Gamescom 2013 Awards as well as winning Best Game, Best Developer, Best Technology and Best Sound at the KRI 2013 Awards. In 2019, War Thunder was among the most played games on Steam with over 25,000 concurrent players. As of November 1, 2022, War Thunder had over 70 million registered players on all platforms combined, out of which 160,000 play concurrently. In February 2024, War Thunder set a new record of over 250,000 concurrent players.

War Thunder is based around combined arms battles on air, land, and sea. Vehicles range from pre-World War I (ships only) to modern day, with an emphasis on World War II, the Vietnam War, and the Cold War. Players can control aircraft, ground vehicles, and warships from nations with a set of technology trees attached to them. The game also incorporates other nations. These nations are included either as “sub-trees” (parts of the research trees of bigger nations being dedicated to a smaller nation) or premium vehicles, purchasable with real money or in-game currency.

Vehicles are divided into three main categories: aviation, ground, and fleet, while game modes are divided between arcade, realistic, and simulator. Aviation is divided between fixed-wing aircraft and helicopters, fleet is divided between “Bluewater”, ships from the size of destroyers to battlecruisers and battleships and “Coastal”, smaller ships and boats such as motor torpedo boats, motor gunboats, submarine chasers, and frigates. A single-player mode that focuses on historical battles, and a co-op wave survival mode for battling AI ground vehicles and aircraft, are also available.

Events

Events in War Thunder provide custom missions, usually based on one of the three main game modes, but with alternative settings regarding allowed vehicles, mission specifics, etc. Examples are the recreation of historical battles by restricting available vehicles (e.g., Battle of Britain).

Traditionally, the developers prepare unconventional events for April Fools’ Day. These events are used to test planned game mechanics before their broader release to the player base.

For 2015, a new game mode called “Unrealistic Battles” featured inflatable rubber tanks firing potatoes and carrots. The “tanks” also had overall hitpoints instead of the usual separate modules, parodying the gameplay of World of Tanks, a competitor to War Thunder.
For 2016, ahead of the announcement of the naval forces update, War Thunder offered playable 18th-century sailing ships fighting in the Caribbean.
For 2017, War Thunder made playable rank IX main battle tanks and attack helicopters. Available vehicles were the Leopard 2A5, AH-64 Apache (Designated as GM-64 and operated by Germany in-game), Gepard, T-90A, Mi-35 Hind-E and ZSU-23-4 Shilka.
The 2018 event, named “Silent Thunder”, was based underwater in an Arctic Ocean map, with three playable nuclear submarines: the Vanguard-class, Virginia-class, and Yasen-class.
The 2019 event, named “Earth Thunder”, took place in a fictional American city named “Green Hills” and had players use UFOs.
In 2020, Gaijin changed the name of the game to “Space Thunder”, featuring space battles
In 2021, Gaijin held 2 events, “Tailspin” and “Warfare 2077”. Tailspin was a game mode that took place on a map called “Cape Somerset Bay” that had a cartoon art style with aircraft directly inspired by the show TaleSpin; one aircraft was also inspired by Studio Ghibli’s Porco Rosso. Players took control of new planes belonging to the “Republic of Air Pirates” faction. Warfare 2077 was a futuristic game mode that took place on the “Launch Facility” map and allowed the players to take control of futuristic tanks and unmanned aerial vehicles, teasing the September 2022 addition of drones to the game. Its advertising and name were similar to the (at the time) recently released Cyberpunk 2077.
In 2022, Gaijin introduced a Dune-inspired game mode called “Worm Thunder: Children of Arachis” which involved two factions fighting over cinnamon in the desert while also avoiding being eaten by a giant sandworm.
In 2023, Gaijin introduced “Mobile Infantry”, an event involving battles involving infantry wearing combat exoskeletons, main battle tanks, infantry fighting vehicles and attack helicopters. Two nations were playable in the conflict, being the United States and Russia. The event was the first time fire-and-forget ATGMs were featured in the game, as the ATGM operator for the US side was fitted with Spike missiles.
In 2024, Gaijin introduced “Mad Max” style vehicles partially based on Gaijin’s other game Crossout. The event was called “Mad Thunder”. “Mad Thunder” gameplay included “you can find ancient electronics, scrap metal, vehicle parts and armor parts, which are all needed to improve your combat vehicles and to craft new ones.”
In 2025, Gaijin introduced World War One vehicles and aircraft with two playable sides: the Triple Entente and the Central Powers. They also added a map and obtainable World War One vehicles that could be used after the event. The event was a precursor to their next game Aces of Thunder.
Other notable examples include “March to Victory”, introducing playable mecha composed of tank parts; “The Pony Nation”, introducing the world of My Little Pony, Equestria, as a sixth playable faction (2013); “Gaijilla”, featuring a battle against a giant Godzilla-like snail (2014); and Atomic Thunder, featuring vehicles from the video game Atomic Heart (July 2023).

In August 2020, the game had a tank biathlon-style event featuring select Russian and Chinese tanks performing tasks on a tank range map, with the objective to finish in 1st place after navigating obstacles and destroying targets. The event was partnered with the Information Systems Department of the Russian Ministry of Defense. Logos advertising the game also appeared during the event, notably painted on the side of the tanks during the real biathlon. The event was teased on August 17 with a YouTube video posted to the game’s official YouTube Channel, as well as on the official website.

War Thunder is a 2013 free-to-play vehicular combat multiplayer video game produced by Gaijin Entertainment for Microsoft Windows, macOS, Linux, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, Oculus, and Vive. It was first released in November 2012 as an open beta with a worldwide release in January 2013; it had its official release on December 21, 2016. A spinoff game called War Thunder Mobile (also known as War Thunder Edge) was released in 2023 for Android and iOS.

Gaijin Entertainment is a Hungarian video game developer headquartered in Budapest. The company is mostly known for War Thunder, Crossout, Star Conflict, CRSED: Cuisine Royale (formerly known as Cuisine Royale and CRSED: F.O.A.D.) and Enlisted.

Gaijin Entertainment was founded in Russia in 2002 by Anton and Kirill Yudintsev, whose first big project was the PC racing game Adrenaline. After the successful launch of War Thunder in 2012, an office in Germany was established, to manage global operations and marketing. The company moved their distribution business from Moscow to Budapest around 2015, and their development headquarters followed shortly after. According to Hungarian tax records, Gaijin had 42 employees in Hungary by January 2022 and 56 employees by January 2023.

Presently, all Gaijin online games are operated from Germany, Cyprus and Hungary, while the development is scattered across Europe. The company now has six offices in total: in Karlsruhe (Germany), Larnaca (Cyprus), Budapest (Hungary), Riga (Latvia), Dubai (UAE) and Yerevan (Armenia). The company has around 200 employees split between those offices, with 60 of them based at the Hungarian HQ.

Gaijin Entertainment group generated 2.6% of all the Hungarian Software Industry profit in 2020.

While Gaijin have produced a few single-player games in the 2000s, the company is now focused on free-to-play online titles. According to László Perneky, Gaijin’s lead programmer, “Those who can decide on projects at the company mostly like to play multiplayer games”

Gaijin Entertainment name comes from the Japanese word for foreigner. According to Anton Yudintsev, he was dreaming to enter the Japanese market one day while staying true to their roots as a European company and accept their position of an outsider there. Gaijin actually entered the Japanese market with the release of anime-style action game X-Blades in 2009.

Gaijin’s logo features snail that is a reference to Issa Kobayashi’s haiku, translated by R.H. Blyth as:

O snail

Climb Mount Fuji

But slowly, slowly!

(Katatsumuri / sorosoro nobore / Fuji no yama; 蝸牛/そろそろ登れ/富士の山)

Gaijin Entertainment develops and publishes various online games, including the vehicular combat MMOs War Thunder and Crossout, the first-person shooter Enlisted, the nautical adventure Age of Water, and the vehicular warfare sim Modern Warships. Other notable titles include the space combat game Star Conflict and upcoming releases like the VR flight simulator Aces of Thunder.

Developed as a “flying simulation game”, it was previously named War Thunder: World of Planes, but due to its similarity with Wargaming’s World of Warplanes, it was changed to its present name in 2012. Initially, Gaijin claimed after the game was announced that it was an April Fools joke before confirming its existence in June that same year.

War Thunder won several awards following its release, winning Best Simulation Game at the Gamescom 2013 Awards as well as winning Best Game, Best Developer, Best Technology and Best Sound at the KRI 2013 Awards. In 2019, War Thunder was among the most played games on Steam with over 25,000 concurrent players. As of November 1, 2022, War Thunder had over 70 million registered players on all platforms combined, out of which 160,000 play concurrently. In February 2024, War Thunder set a new record of over 250,000 concurrent players.

War Thunder is based around combined arms battles on air, land, and sea. Vehicles range from pre-World War I (ships only) to modern day, with an emphasis on World War II, the Vietnam War, and the Cold War. Players can control aircraft, ground vehicles, and warships from nations with a set of technology trees attached to them. The game also incorporates other nations. These nations are included either as “sub-trees” (parts of the research trees of bigger nations being dedicated to a smaller nation) or premium vehicles, purchasable with real money or in-game currency.

Vehicles are divided into three main categories: aviation, ground, and fleet, while game modes are divided between arcade, realistic, and simulator. Aviation is divided between fixed-wing aircraft and helicopters, fleet is divided between “Bluewater”, ships from the size of destroyers to battlecruisers and battleships and “Coastal”, smaller ships and boats such as motor torpedo boats, motor gunboats, submarine chasers, and frigates. A single-player mode that focuses on historical battles, and a co-op wave survival mode for battling AI ground vehicles and aircraft, are also available.

Events

Events in War Thunder provide custom missions, usually based on one of the three main game modes, but with alternative settings regarding allowed vehicles, mission specifics, etc. Examples are the recreation of historical battles by restricting available vehicles (e.g., Battle of Britain).

Traditionally, the developers prepare unconventional events for April Fools’ Day. These events are used to test planned game mechanics before their broader release to the player base.

For 2015, a new game mode called “Unrealistic Battles” featured inflatable rubber tanks firing potatoes and carrots. The “tanks” also had overall hitpoints instead of the usual separate modules, parodying the gameplay of World of Tanks, a competitor to War Thunder.
For 2016, ahead of the announcement of the naval forces update, War Thunder offered playable 18th-century sailing ships fighting in the Caribbean.
For 2017, War Thunder made playable rank IX main battle tanks and attack helicopters. Available vehicles were the Leopard 2A5, AH-64 Apache (Designated as GM-64 and operated by Germany in-game), Gepard, T-90A, Mi-35 Hind-E and ZSU-23-4 Shilka.
The 2018 event, named “Silent Thunder”, was based underwater in an Arctic Ocean map, with three playable nuclear submarines: the Vanguard-class, Virginia-class, and Yasen-class.
The 2019 event, named “Earth Thunder”, took place in a fictional American city named “Green Hills” and had players use UFOs.
In 2020, Gaijin changed the name of the game to “Space Thunder”, featuring space battles
In 2021, Gaijin held 2 events, “Tailspin” and “Warfare 2077”. Tailspin was a game mode that took place on a map called “Cape Somerset Bay” that had a cartoon art style with aircraft directly inspired by the show TaleSpin; one aircraft was also inspired by Studio Ghibli’s Porco Rosso. Players took control of new planes belonging to the “Republic of Air Pirates” faction. Warfare 2077 was a futuristic game mode that took place on the “Launch Facility” map and allowed the players to take control of futuristic tanks and unmanned aerial vehicles, teasing the September 2022 addition of drones to the game. Its advertising and name were similar to the (at the time) recently released Cyberpunk 2077.
In 2022, Gaijin introduced a Dune-inspired game mode called “Worm Thunder: Children of Arachis” which involved two factions fighting over cinnamon in the desert while also avoiding being eaten by a giant sandworm.
In 2023, Gaijin introduced “Mobile Infantry”, an event involving battles involving infantry wearing combat exoskeletons, main battle tanks, infantry fighting vehicles and attack helicopters. Two nations were playable in the conflict, being the United States and Russia. The event was the first time fire-and-forget ATGMs were featured in the game, as the ATGM operator for the US side was fitted with Spike missiles.
In 2024, Gaijin introduced “Mad Max” style vehicles partially based on Gaijin’s other game Crossout. The event was called “Mad Thunder”. “Mad Thunder” gameplay included “you can find ancient electronics, scrap metal, vehicle parts and armor parts, which are all needed to improve your combat vehicles and to craft new ones.”
In 2025, Gaijin introduced World War One vehicles and aircraft with two playable sides: the Triple Entente and the Central Powers. They also added a map and obtainable World War One vehicles that could be used after the event. The event was a precursor to their next game Aces of Thunder.
Other notable examples include “March to Victory”, introducing playable mecha composed of tank parts; “The Pony Nation”, introducing the world of My Little Pony, Equestria, as a sixth playable faction (2013); “Gaijilla”, featuring a battle against a giant Godzilla-like snail (2014); and Atomic Thunder, featuring vehicles from the video game Atomic Heart (July 2023).

In August 2020, the game had a tank biathlon-style event featuring select Russian and Chinese tanks performing tasks on a tank range map, with the objective to finish in 1st place after navigating obstacles and destroying targets. The event was partnered with the Information Systems Department of the Russian Ministry of Defense. Logos advertising the game also appeared during the event, notably painted on the side of the tanks during the real biathlon. The event was teased on August 17 with a YouTube video posted to the game’s official YouTube Channel, as well as on the official website.

War Thunder is a 2013 free-to-play vehicular combat multiplayer video game produced by Gaijin Entertainment for Microsoft Windows, macOS, Linux, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, Oculus, and Vive. It was first released in November 2012 as an open beta with a worldwide release in January 2013; it had its official release on December 21, 2016. A spinoff game called War Thunder Mobile (also known as War Thunder Edge) was released in 2023 for Android and iOS.

Gaijin Entertainment is a Hungarian video game developer headquartered in Budapest. The company is mostly known for War Thunder, Crossout, Star Conflict, CRSED: Cuisine Royale (formerly known as Cuisine Royale and CRSED: F.O.A.D.) and Enlisted.

Gaijin Entertainment was founded in Russia in 2002 by Anton and Kirill Yudintsev, whose first big project was the PC racing game Adrenaline. After the successful launch of War Thunder in 2012, an office in Germany was established, to manage global operations and marketing. The company moved their distribution business from Moscow to Budapest around 2015, and their development headquarters followed shortly after. According to Hungarian tax records, Gaijin had 42 employees in Hungary by January 2022 and 56 employees by January 2023.

Presently, all Gaijin online games are operated from Germany, Cyprus and Hungary, while the development is scattered across Europe. The company now has six offices in total: in Karlsruhe (Germany), Larnaca (Cyprus), Budapest (Hungary), Riga (Latvia), Dubai (UAE) and Yerevan (Armenia). The company has around 200 employees split between those offices, with 60 of them based at the Hungarian HQ.

Gaijin Entertainment group generated 2.6% of all the Hungarian Software Industry profit in 2020.

While Gaijin have produced a few single-player games in the 2000s, the company is now focused on free-to-play online titles. According to László Perneky, Gaijin’s lead programmer, “Those who can decide on projects at the company mostly like to play multiplayer games”

Gaijin Entertainment name comes from the Japanese word for foreigner. According to Anton Yudintsev, he was dreaming to enter the Japanese market one day while staying true to their roots as a European company and accept their position of an outsider there. Gaijin actually entered the Japanese market with the release of anime-style action game X-Blades in 2009.

Gaijin’s logo features snail that is a reference to Issa Kobayashi’s haiku, translated by R.H. Blyth as:

O snail

Climb Mount Fuji

But slowly, slowly!

(Katatsumuri / sorosoro nobore / Fuji no yama; 蝸牛/そろそろ登れ/富士の山)

Gaijin Entertainment develops and publishes various online games, including the vehicular combat MMOs War Thunder and Crossout, the first-person shooter Enlisted, the nautical adventure Age of Water, and the vehicular warfare sim Modern Warships. Other notable titles include the space combat game Star Conflict and upcoming releases like the VR flight simulator Aces of Thunder.

Developed as a “flying simulation game”, it was previously named War Thunder: World of Planes, but due to its similarity with Wargaming’s World of Warplanes, it was changed to its present name in 2012. Initially, Gaijin claimed after the game was announced that it was an April Fools joke before confirming its existence in June that same year.

War Thunder won several awards following its release, winning Best Simulation Game at the Gamescom 2013 Awards as well as winning Best Game, Best Developer, Best Technology and Best Sound at the KRI 2013 Awards. In 2019, War Thunder was among the most played games on Steam with over 25,000 concurrent players. As of November 1, 2022, War Thunder had over 70 million registered players on all platforms combined, out of which 160,000 play concurrently. In February 2024, War Thunder set a new record of over 250,000 concurrent players.

War Thunder is based around combined arms battles on air, land, and sea. Vehicles range from pre-World War I (ships only) to modern day, with an emphasis on World War II, the Vietnam War, and the Cold War. Players can control aircraft, ground vehicles, and warships from nations with a set of technology trees attached to them. The game also incorporates other nations. These nations are included either as “sub-trees” (parts of the research trees of bigger nations being dedicated to a smaller nation) or premium vehicles, purchasable with real money or in-game currency.

Vehicles are divided into three main categories: aviation, ground, and fleet, while game modes are divided between arcade, realistic, and simulator. Aviation is divided between fixed-wing aircraft and helicopters, fleet is divided between “Bluewater”, ships from the size of destroyers to battlecruisers and battleships and “Coastal”, smaller ships and boats such as motor torpedo boats, motor gunboats, submarine chasers, and frigates. A single-player mode that focuses on historical battles, and a co-op wave survival mode for battling AI ground vehicles and aircraft, are also available.

Events

Events in War Thunder provide custom missions, usually based on one of the three main game modes, but with alternative settings regarding allowed vehicles, mission specifics, etc. Examples are the recreation of historical battles by restricting available vehicles (e.g., Battle of Britain).

Traditionally, the developers prepare unconventional events for April Fools’ Day. These events are used to test planned game mechanics before their broader release to the player base.

For 2015, a new game mode called “Unrealistic Battles” featured inflatable rubber tanks firing potatoes and carrots. The “tanks” also had overall hitpoints instead of the usual separate modules, parodying the gameplay of World of Tanks, a competitor to War Thunder.
For 2016, ahead of the announcement of the naval forces update, War Thunder offered playable 18th-century sailing ships fighting in the Caribbean.
For 2017, War Thunder made playable rank IX main battle tanks and attack helicopters. Available vehicles were the Leopard 2A5, AH-64 Apache (Designated as GM-64 and operated by Germany in-game), Gepard, T-90A, Mi-35 Hind-E and ZSU-23-4 Shilka.
The 2018 event, named “Silent Thunder”, was based underwater in an Arctic Ocean map, with three playable nuclear submarines: the Vanguard-class, Virginia-class, and Yasen-class.
The 2019 event, named “Earth Thunder”, took place in a fictional American city named “Green Hills” and had players use UFOs.
In 2020, Gaijin changed the name of the game to “Space Thunder”, featuring space battles
In 2021, Gaijin held 2 events, “Tailspin” and “Warfare 2077”. Tailspin was a game mode that took place on a map called “Cape Somerset Bay” that had a cartoon art style with aircraft directly inspired by the show TaleSpin; one aircraft was also inspired by Studio Ghibli’s Porco Rosso. Players took control of new planes belonging to the “Republic of Air Pirates” faction. Warfare 2077 was a futuristic game mode that took place on the “Launch Facility” map and allowed the players to take control of futuristic tanks and unmanned aerial vehicles, teasing the September 2022 addition of drones to the game. Its advertising and name were similar to the (at the time) recently released Cyberpunk 2077.
In 2022, Gaijin introduced a Dune-inspired game mode called “Worm Thunder: Children of Arachis” which involved two factions fighting over cinnamon in the desert while also avoiding being eaten by a giant sandworm.
In 2023, Gaijin introduced “Mobile Infantry”, an event involving battles involving infantry wearing combat exoskeletons, main battle tanks, infantry fighting vehicles and attack helicopters. Two nations were playable in the conflict, being the United States and Russia. The event was the first time fire-and-forget ATGMs were featured in the game, as the ATGM operator for the US side was fitted with Spike missiles.
In 2024, Gaijin introduced “Mad Max” style vehicles partially based on Gaijin’s other game Crossout. The event was called “Mad Thunder”. “Mad Thunder” gameplay included “you can find ancient electronics, scrap metal, vehicle parts and armor parts, which are all needed to improve your combat vehicles and to craft new ones.”
In 2025, Gaijin introduced World War One vehicles and aircraft with two playable sides: the Triple Entente and the Central Powers. They also added a map and obtainable World War One vehicles that could be used after the event. The event was a precursor to their next game Aces of Thunder.
Other notable examples include “March to Victory”, introducing playable mecha composed of tank parts; “The Pony Nation”, introducing the world of My Little Pony, Equestria, as a sixth playable faction (2013); “Gaijilla”, featuring a battle against a giant Godzilla-like snail (2014); and Atomic Thunder, featuring vehicles from the video game Atomic Heart (July 2023).

In August 2020, the game had a tank biathlon-style event featuring select Russian and Chinese tanks performing tasks on a tank range map, with the objective to finish in 1st place after navigating obstacles and destroying targets. The event was partnered with the Information Systems Department of the Russian Ministry of Defense. Logos advertising the game also appeared during the event, notably painted on the side of the tanks during the real biathlon. The event was teased on August 17 with a YouTube video posted to the game’s official YouTube Channel, as well as on the official website.

War Thunder is a 2013 free-to-play vehicular combat multiplayer video game produced by Gaijin Entertainment for Microsoft Windows, macOS, Linux, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, Oculus, and Vive. It was first released in November 2012 as an open beta with a worldwide release in January 2013; it had its official release on December 21, 2016. A spinoff game called War Thunder Mobile (also known as War Thunder Edge) was released in 2023 for Android and iOS.

Gaijin Entertainment is a Hungarian video game developer headquartered in Budapest. The company is mostly known for War Thunder, Crossout, Star Conflict, CRSED: Cuisine Royale (formerly known as Cuisine Royale and CRSED: F.O.A.D.) and Enlisted.

Gaijin Entertainment was founded in Russia in 2002 by Anton and Kirill Yudintsev, whose first big project was the PC racing game Adrenaline. After the successful launch of War Thunder in 2012, an office in Germany was established, to manage global operations and marketing. The company moved their distribution business from Moscow to Budapest around 2015, and their development headquarters followed shortly after. According to Hungarian tax records, Gaijin had 42 employees in Hungary by January 2022 and 56 employees by January 2023.

Presently, all Gaijin online games are operated from Germany, Cyprus and Hungary, while the development is scattered across Europe. The company now has six offices in total: in Karlsruhe (Germany), Larnaca (Cyprus), Budapest (Hungary), Riga (Latvia), Dubai (UAE) and Yerevan (Armenia). The company has around 200 employees split between those offices, with 60 of them based at the Hungarian HQ.

Gaijin Entertainment group generated 2.6% of all the Hungarian Software Industry profit in 2020.

While Gaijin have produced a few single-player games in the 2000s, the company is now focused on free-to-play online titles. According to László Perneky, Gaijin’s lead programmer, “Those who can decide on projects at the company mostly like to play multiplayer games”

Gaijin Entertainment name comes from the Japanese word for foreigner. According to Anton Yudintsev, he was dreaming to enter the Japanese market one day while staying true to their roots as a European company and accept their position of an outsider there. Gaijin actually entered the Japanese market with the release of anime-style action game X-Blades in 2009.

Gaijin’s logo features snail that is a reference to Issa Kobayashi’s haiku, translated by R.H. Blyth as:

O snail

Climb Mount Fuji

But slowly, slowly!

(Katatsumuri / sorosoro nobore / Fuji no yama; 蝸牛/そろそろ登れ/富士の山)

Gaijin Entertainment develops and publishes various online games, including the vehicular combat MMOs War Thunder and Crossout, the first-person shooter Enlisted, the nautical adventure Age of Water, and the vehicular warfare sim Modern Warships. Other notable titles include the space combat game Star Conflict and upcoming releases like the VR flight simulator Aces of Thunder.

Developed as a “flying simulation game”, it was previously named War Thunder: World of Planes, but due to its similarity with Wargaming’s World of Warplanes, it was changed to its present name in 2012. Initially, Gaijin claimed after the game was announced that it was an April Fools joke before confirming its existence in June that same year.

War Thunder won several awards following its release, winning Best Simulation Game at the Gamescom 2013 Awards as well as winning Best Game, Best Developer, Best Technology and Best Sound at the KRI 2013 Awards. In 2019, War Thunder was among the most played games on Steam with over 25,000 concurrent players. As of November 1, 2022, War Thunder had over 70 million registered players on all platforms combined, out of which 160,000 play concurrently. In February 2024, War Thunder set a new record of over 250,000 concurrent players.

War Thunder is based around combined arms battles on air, land, and sea. Vehicles range from pre-World War I (ships only) to modern day, with an emphasis on World War II, the Vietnam War, and the Cold War. Players can control aircraft, ground vehicles, and warships from nations with a set of technology trees attached to them. The game also incorporates other nations. These nations are included either as “sub-trees” (parts of the research trees of bigger nations being dedicated to a smaller nation) or premium vehicles, purchasable with real money or in-game currency.

Vehicles are divided into three main categories: aviation, ground, and fleet, while game modes are divided between arcade, realistic, and simulator. Aviation is divided between fixed-wing aircraft and helicopters, fleet is divided between “Bluewater”, ships from the size of destroyers to battlecruisers and battleships and “Coastal”, smaller ships and boats such as motor torpedo boats, motor gunboats, submarine chasers, and frigates. A single-player mode that focuses on historical battles, and a co-op wave survival mode for battling AI ground vehicles and aircraft, are also available.

Events

Events in War Thunder provide custom missions, usually based on one of the three main game modes, but with alternative settings regarding allowed vehicles, mission specifics, etc. Examples are the recreation of historical battles by restricting available vehicles (e.g., Battle of Britain).

Traditionally, the developers prepare unconventional events for April Fools’ Day. These events are used to test planned game mechanics before their broader release to the player base.

For 2015, a new game mode called “Unrealistic Battles” featured inflatable rubber tanks firing potatoes and carrots. The “tanks” also had overall hitpoints instead of the usual separate modules, parodying the gameplay of World of Tanks, a competitor to War Thunder.
For 2016, ahead of the announcement of the naval forces update, War Thunder offered playable 18th-century sailing ships fighting in the Caribbean.
For 2017, War Thunder made playable rank IX main battle tanks and attack helicopters. Available vehicles were the Leopard 2A5, AH-64 Apache (Designated as GM-64 and operated by Germany in-game), Gepard, T-90A, Mi-35 Hind-E and ZSU-23-4 Shilka.
The 2018 event, named “Silent Thunder”, was based underwater in an Arctic Ocean map, with three playable nuclear submarines: the Vanguard-class, Virginia-class, and Yasen-class.
The 2019 event, named “Earth Thunder”, took place in a fictional American city named “Green Hills” and had players use UFOs.
In 2020, Gaijin changed the name of the game to “Space Thunder”, featuring space battles
In 2021, Gaijin held 2 events, “Tailspin” and “Warfare 2077”. Tailspin was a game mode that took place on a map called “Cape Somerset Bay” that had a cartoon art style with aircraft directly inspired by the show TaleSpin; one aircraft was also inspired by Studio Ghibli’s Porco Rosso. Players took control of new planes belonging to the “Republic of Air Pirates” faction. Warfare 2077 was a futuristic game mode that took place on the “Launch Facility” map and allowed the players to take control of futuristic tanks and unmanned aerial vehicles, teasing the September 2022 addition of drones to the game. Its advertising and name were similar to the (at the time) recently released Cyberpunk 2077.
In 2022, Gaijin introduced a Dune-inspired game mode called “Worm Thunder: Children of Arachis” which involved two factions fighting over cinnamon in the desert while also avoiding being eaten by a giant sandworm.
In 2023, Gaijin introduced “Mobile Infantry”, an event involving battles involving infantry wearing combat exoskeletons, main battle tanks, infantry fighting vehicles and attack helicopters. Two nations were playable in the conflict, being the United States and Russia. The event was the first time fire-and-forget ATGMs were featured in the game, as the ATGM operator for the US side was fitted with Spike missiles.
In 2024, Gaijin introduced “Mad Max” style vehicles partially based on Gaijin’s other game Crossout. The event was called “Mad Thunder”. “Mad Thunder” gameplay included “you can find ancient electronics, scrap metal, vehicle parts and armor parts, which are all needed to improve your combat vehicles and to craft new ones.”
In 2025, Gaijin introduced World War One vehicles and aircraft with two playable sides: the Triple Entente and the Central Powers. They also added a map and obtainable World War One vehicles that could be used after the event. The event was a precursor to their next game Aces of Thunder.
Other notable examples include “March to Victory”, introducing playable mecha composed of tank parts; “The Pony Nation”, introducing the world of My Little Pony, Equestria, as a sixth playable faction (2013); “Gaijilla”, featuring a battle against a giant Godzilla-like snail (2014); and Atomic Thunder, featuring vehicles from the video game Atomic Heart (July 2023).

In August 2020, the game had a tank biathlon-style event featuring select Russian and Chinese tanks performing tasks on a tank range map, with the objective to finish in 1st place after navigating obstacles and destroying targets. The event was partnered with the Information Systems Department of the Russian Ministry of Defense. Logos advertising the game also appeared during the event, notably painted on the side of the tanks during the real biathlon. The event was teased on August 17 with a YouTube video posted to the game’s official YouTube Channel, as well as on the official website.

War Thunder is a 2013 free-to-play vehicular combat multiplayer video game produced by Gaijin Entertainment for Microsoft Windows, macOS, Linux, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, Oculus, and Vive. It was first released in November 2012 as an open beta with a worldwide release in January 2013; it had its official release on December 21, 2016. A spinoff game called War Thunder Mobile (also known as War Thunder Edge) was released in 2023 for Android and iOS.

Gaijin Entertainment is a Hungarian video game developer headquartered in Budapest. The company is mostly known for War Thunder, Crossout, Star Conflict, CRSED: Cuisine Royale (formerly known as Cuisine Royale and CRSED: F.O.A.D.) and Enlisted.

Gaijin Entertainment was founded in Russia in 2002 by Anton and Kirill Yudintsev, whose first big project was the PC racing game Adrenaline. After the successful launch of War Thunder in 2012, an office in Germany was established, to manage global operations and marketing. The company moved their distribution business from Moscow to Budapest around 2015, and their development headquarters followed shortly after. According to Hungarian tax records, Gaijin had 42 employees in Hungary by January 2022 and 56 employees by January 2023.

Presently, all Gaijin online games are operated from Germany, Cyprus and Hungary, while the development is scattered across Europe. The company now has six offices in total: in Karlsruhe (Germany), Larnaca (Cyprus), Budapest (Hungary), Riga (Latvia), Dubai (UAE) and Yerevan (Armenia). The company has around 200 employees split between those offices, with 60 of them based at the Hungarian HQ.

Gaijin Entertainment group generated 2.6% of all the Hungarian Software Industry profit in 2020.

While Gaijin have produced a few single-player games in the 2000s, the company is now focused on free-to-play online titles. According to László Perneky, Gaijin’s lead programmer, “Those who can decide on projects at the company mostly like to play multiplayer games”

Gaijin Entertainment name comes from the Japanese word for foreigner. According to Anton Yudintsev, he was dreaming to enter the Japanese market one day while staying true to their roots as a European company and accept their position of an outsider there. Gaijin actually entered the Japanese market with the release of anime-style action game X-Blades in 2009.

Gaijin’s logo features snail that is a reference to Issa Kobayashi’s haiku, translated by R.H. Blyth as:

O snail

Climb Mount Fuji

But slowly, slowly!

(Katatsumuri / sorosoro nobore / Fuji no yama; 蝸牛/そろそろ登れ/富士の山)

Gaijin Entertainment develops and publishes various online games, including the vehicular combat MMOs War Thunder and Crossout, the first-person shooter Enlisted, the nautical adventure Age of Water, and the vehicular warfare sim Modern Warships. Other notable titles include the space combat game Star Conflict and upcoming releases like the VR flight simulator Aces of Thunder.

Developed as a “flying simulation game”, it was previously named War Thunder: World of Planes, but due to its similarity with Wargaming’s World of Warplanes, it was changed to its present name in 2012. Initially, Gaijin claimed after the game was announced that it was an April Fools joke before confirming its existence in June that same year.

War Thunder won several awards following its release, winning Best Simulation Game at the Gamescom 2013 Awards as well as winning Best Game, Best Developer, Best Technology and Best Sound at the KRI 2013 Awards. In 2019, War Thunder was among the most played games on Steam with over 25,000 concurrent players. As of November 1, 2022, War Thunder had over 70 million registered players on all platforms combined, out of which 160,000 play concurrently. In February 2024, War Thunder set a new record of over 250,000 concurrent players.

War Thunder is based around combined arms battles on air, land, and sea. Vehicles range from pre-World War I (ships only) to modern day, with an emphasis on World War II, the Vietnam War, and the Cold War. Players can control aircraft, ground vehicles, and warships from nations with a set of technology trees attached to them. The game also incorporates other nations. These nations are included either as “sub-trees” (parts of the research trees of bigger nations being dedicated to a smaller nation) or premium vehicles, purchasable with real money or in-game currency.

Vehicles are divided into three main categories: aviation, ground, and fleet, while game modes are divided between arcade, realistic, and simulator. Aviation is divided between fixed-wing aircraft and helicopters, fleet is divided between “Bluewater”, ships from the size of destroyers to battlecruisers and battleships and “Coastal”, smaller ships and boats such as motor torpedo boats, motor gunboats, submarine chasers, and frigates. A single-player mode that focuses on historical battles, and a co-op wave survival mode for battling AI ground vehicles and aircraft, are also available.

Events

Events in War Thunder provide custom missions, usually based on one of the three main game modes, but with alternative settings regarding allowed vehicles, mission specifics, etc. Examples are the recreation of historical battles by restricting available vehicles (e.g., Battle of Britain).

Traditionally, the developers prepare unconventional events for April Fools’ Day. These events are used to test planned game mechanics before their broader release to the player base.

For 2015, a new game mode called “Unrealistic Battles” featured inflatable rubber tanks firing potatoes and carrots. The “tanks” also had overall hitpoints instead of the usual separate modules, parodying the gameplay of World of Tanks, a competitor to War Thunder.
For 2016, ahead of the announcement of the naval forces update, War Thunder offered playable 18th-century sailing ships fighting in the Caribbean.
For 2017, War Thunder made playable rank IX main battle tanks and attack helicopters. Available vehicles were the Leopard 2A5, AH-64 Apache (Designated as GM-64 and operated by Germany in-game), Gepard, T-90A, Mi-35 Hind-E and ZSU-23-4 Shilka.
The 2018 event, named “Silent Thunder”, was based underwater in an Arctic Ocean map, with three playable nuclear submarines: the Vanguard-class, Virginia-class, and Yasen-class.
The 2019 event, named “Earth Thunder”, took place in a fictional American city named “Green Hills” and had players use UFOs.
In 2020, Gaijin changed the name of the game to “Space Thunder”, featuring space battles
In 2021, Gaijin held 2 events, “Tailspin” and “Warfare 2077”. Tailspin was a game mode that took place on a map called “Cape Somerset Bay” that had a cartoon art style with aircraft directly inspired by the show TaleSpin; one aircraft was also inspired by Studio Ghibli’s Porco Rosso. Players took control of new planes belonging to the “Republic of Air Pirates” faction. Warfare 2077 was a futuristic game mode that took place on the “Launch Facility” map and allowed the players to take control of futuristic tanks and unmanned aerial vehicles, teasing the September 2022 addition of drones to the game. Its advertising and name were similar to the (at the time) recently released Cyberpunk 2077.
In 2022, Gaijin introduced a Dune-inspired game mode called “Worm Thunder: Children of Arachis” which involved two factions fighting over cinnamon in the desert while also avoiding being eaten by a giant sandworm.
In 2023, Gaijin introduced “Mobile Infantry”, an event involving battles involving infantry wearing combat exoskeletons, main battle tanks, infantry fighting vehicles and attack helicopters. Two nations were playable in the conflict, being the United States and Russia. The event was the first time fire-and-forget ATGMs were featured in the game, as the ATGM operator for the US side was fitted with Spike missiles.
In 2024, Gaijin introduced “Mad Max” style vehicles partially based on Gaijin’s other game Crossout. The event was called “Mad Thunder”. “Mad Thunder” gameplay included “you can find ancient electronics, scrap metal, vehicle parts and armor parts, which are all needed to improve your combat vehicles and to craft new ones.”
In 2025, Gaijin introduced World War One vehicles and aircraft with two playable sides: the Triple Entente and the Central Powers. They also added a map and obtainable World War One vehicles that could be used after the event. The event was a precursor to their next game Aces of Thunder.
Other notable examples include “March to Victory”, introducing playable mecha composed of tank parts; “The Pony Nation”, introducing the world of My Little Pony, Equestria, as a sixth playable faction (2013); “Gaijilla”, featuring a battle against a giant Godzilla-like snail (2014); and Atomic Thunder, featuring vehicles from the video game Atomic Heart (July 2023).

In August 2020, the game had a tank biathlon-style event featuring select Russian and Chinese tanks performing tasks on a tank range map, with the objective to finish in 1st place after navigating obstacles and destroying targets. The event was partnered with the Information Systems Department of the Russian Ministry of Defense. Logos advertising the game also appeared during the event, notably painted on the side of the tanks during the real biathlon. The event was teased on August 17 with a YouTube video posted to the game’s official YouTube Channel, as well as on the official website.

War Thunder is a 2013 free-to-play vehicular combat multiplayer video game produced by Gaijin Entertainment for Microsoft Windows, macOS, Linux, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, Oculus, and Vive. It was first released in November 2012 as an open beta with a worldwide release in January 2013; it had its official release on December 21, 2016. A spinoff game called War Thunder Mobile (also known as War Thunder Edge) was released in 2023 for Android and iOS.

Gaijin Entertainment is a Hungarian video game developer headquartered in Budapest. The company is mostly known for War Thunder, Crossout, Star Conflict, CRSED: Cuisine Royale (formerly known as Cuisine Royale and CRSED: F.O.A.D.) and Enlisted.

Gaijin Entertainment was founded in Russia in 2002 by Anton and Kirill Yudintsev, whose first big project was the PC racing game Adrenaline. After the successful launch of War Thunder in 2012, an office in Germany was established, to manage global operations and marketing. The company moved their distribution business from Moscow to Budapest around 2015, and their development headquarters followed shortly after. According to Hungarian tax records, Gaijin had 42 employees in Hungary by January 2022 and 56 employees by January 2023.

Presently, all Gaijin online games are operated from Germany, Cyprus and Hungary, while the development is scattered across Europe. The company now has six offices in total: in Karlsruhe (Germany), Larnaca (Cyprus), Budapest (Hungary), Riga (Latvia), Dubai (UAE) and Yerevan (Armenia). The company has around 200 employees split between those offices, with 60 of them based at the Hungarian HQ.

Gaijin Entertainment group generated 2.6% of all the Hungarian Software Industry profit in 2020.

While Gaijin have produced a few single-player games in the 2000s, the company is now focused on free-to-play online titles. According to László Perneky, Gaijin’s lead programmer, “Those who can decide on projects at the company mostly like to play multiplayer games”

Gaijin Entertainment name comes from the Japanese word for foreigner. According to Anton Yudintsev, he was dreaming to enter the Japanese market one day while staying true to their roots as a European company and accept their position of an outsider there. Gaijin actually entered the Japanese market with the release of anime-style action game X-Blades in 2009.

Gaijin’s logo features snail that is a reference to Issa Kobayashi’s haiku, translated by R.H. Blyth as:

O snail

Climb Mount Fuji

But slowly, slowly!

(Katatsumuri / sorosoro nobore / Fuji no yama; 蝸牛/そろそろ登れ/富士の山)

Gaijin Entertainment develops and publishes various online games, including the vehicular combat MMOs War Thunder and Crossout, the first-person shooter Enlisted, the nautical adventure Age of Water, and the vehicular warfare sim Modern Warships. Other notable titles include the space combat game Star Conflict and upcoming releases like the VR flight simulator Aces of Thunder.

Developed as a “flying simulation game”, it was previously named War Thunder: World of Planes, but due to its similarity with Wargaming’s World of Warplanes, it was changed to its present name in 2012. Initially, Gaijin claimed after the game was announced that it was an April Fools joke before confirming its existence in June that same year.

War Thunder won several awards following its release, winning Best Simulation Game at the Gamescom 2013 Awards as well as winning Best Game, Best Developer, Best Technology and Best Sound at the KRI 2013 Awards. In 2019, War Thunder was among the most played games on Steam with over 25,000 concurrent players. As of November 1, 2022, War Thunder had over 70 million registered players on all platforms combined, out of which 160,000 play concurrently. In February 2024, War Thunder set a new record of over 250,000 concurrent players.

War Thunder is based around combined arms battles on air, land, and sea. Vehicles range from pre-World War I (ships only) to modern day, with an emphasis on World War II, the Vietnam War, and the Cold War. Players can control aircraft, ground vehicles, and warships from nations with a set of technology trees attached to them. The game also incorporates other nations. These nations are included either as “sub-trees” (parts of the research trees of bigger nations being dedicated to a smaller nation) or premium vehicles, purchasable with real money or in-game currency.

Vehicles are divided into three main categories: aviation, ground, and fleet, while game modes are divided between arcade, realistic, and simulator. Aviation is divided between fixed-wing aircraft and helicopters, fleet is divided between “Bluewater”, ships from the size of destroyers to battlecruisers and battleships and “Coastal”, smaller ships and boats such as motor torpedo boats, motor gunboats, submarine chasers, and frigates. A single-player mode that focuses on historical battles, and a co-op wave survival mode for battling AI ground vehicles and aircraft, are also available.

Events

Events in War Thunder provide custom missions, usually based on one of the three main game modes, but with alternative settings regarding allowed vehicles, mission specifics, etc. Examples are the recreation of historical battles by restricting available vehicles (e.g., Battle of Britain).

Traditionally, the developers prepare unconventional events for April Fools’ Day. These events are used to test planned game mechanics before their broader release to the player base.

For 2015, a new game mode called “Unrealistic Battles” featured inflatable rubber tanks firing potatoes and carrots. The “tanks” also had overall hitpoints instead of the usual separate modules, parodying the gameplay of World of Tanks, a competitor to War Thunder.
For 2016, ahead of the announcement of the naval forces update, War Thunder offered playable 18th-century sailing ships fighting in the Caribbean.
For 2017, War Thunder made playable rank IX main battle tanks and attack helicopters. Available vehicles were the Leopard 2A5, AH-64 Apache (Designated as GM-64 and operated by Germany in-game), Gepard, T-90A, Mi-35 Hind-E and ZSU-23-4 Shilka.
The 2018 event, named “Silent Thunder”, was based underwater in an Arctic Ocean map, with three playable nuclear submarines: the Vanguard-class, Virginia-class, and Yasen-class.
The 2019 event, named “Earth Thunder”, took place in a fictional American city named “Green Hills” and had players use UFOs.
In 2020, Gaijin changed the name of the game to “Space Thunder”, featuring space battles
In 2021, Gaijin held 2 events, “Tailspin” and “Warfare 2077”. Tailspin was a game mode that took place on a map called “Cape Somerset Bay” that had a cartoon art style with aircraft directly inspired by the show TaleSpin; one aircraft was also inspired by Studio Ghibli’s Porco Rosso. Players took control of new planes belonging to the “Republic of Air Pirates” faction. Warfare 2077 was a futuristic game mode that took place on the “Launch Facility” map and allowed the players to take control of futuristic tanks and unmanned aerial vehicles, teasing the September 2022 addition of drones to the game. Its advertising and name were similar to the (at the time) recently released Cyberpunk 2077.
In 2022, Gaijin introduced a Dune-inspired game mode called “Worm Thunder: Children of Arachis” which involved two factions fighting over cinnamon in the desert while also avoiding being eaten by a giant sandworm.
In 2023, Gaijin introduced “Mobile Infantry”, an event involving battles involving infantry wearing combat exoskeletons, main battle tanks, infantry fighting vehicles and attack helicopters. Two nations were playable in the conflict, being the United States and Russia. The event was the first time fire-and-forget ATGMs were featured in the game, as the ATGM operator for the US side was fitted with Spike missiles.
In 2024, Gaijin introduced “Mad Max” style vehicles partially based on Gaijin’s other game Crossout. The event was called “Mad Thunder”. “Mad Thunder” gameplay included “you can find ancient electronics, scrap metal, vehicle parts and armor parts, which are all needed to improve your combat vehicles and to craft new ones.”
In 2025, Gaijin introduced World War One vehicles and aircraft with two playable sides: the Triple Entente and the Central Powers. They also added a map and obtainable World War One vehicles that could be used after the event. The event was a precursor to their next game Aces of Thunder.
Other notable examples include “March to Victory”, introducing playable mecha composed of tank parts; “The Pony Nation”, introducing the world of My Little Pony, Equestria, as a sixth playable faction (2013); “Gaijilla”, featuring a battle against a giant Godzilla-like snail (2014); and Atomic Thunder, featuring vehicles from the video game Atomic Heart (July 2023).

In August 2020, the game had a tank biathlon-style event featuring select Russian and Chinese tanks performing tasks on a tank range map, with the objective to finish in 1st place after navigating obstacles and destroying targets. The event was partnered with the Information Systems Department of the Russian Ministry of Defense. Logos advertising the game also appeared during the event, notably painted on the side of the tanks during the real biathlon. The event was teased on August 17 with a YouTube video posted to the game’s official YouTube Channel, as well as on the official website.