War Thunder

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 was released in 2023 for Android and iOS.
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.

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Gameplay

War Thunder is based around combined arms battles on air, land, and sea. Vehicles range from pre-World War I to the modern day, as well as tanks that are not technically in service yet, 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" 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 regular 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.
In War Thunder, the player takes control of a vehicle, depending on the type of battle. That player is in full control of their vehicle until it is destroyed by the enemy team. The objective of most battles is to accumulate points, either by destroying enemy vehicles or capturing strategic positions on the map.

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.
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, 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 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 ; "Gaijilla", featuring a battle against a giant Godzilla-like snail ; and Atomic Thunder, featuring vehicles from the video game Atomic Heart.
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.

History

Early development and closed beta

The development of the game, then under the name World of Planes, began in 2009. Gaijin Entertainment used its experience with its previous combat flight simulator games, such as IL-2 Sturmovik: Birds of Prey, Apache: Air Assault, and Birds of Steel, in the development. The title was changed to War Thunder during the closed beta due to confusion with competitor World of Warplanes.

Open beta and release

Open beta testing started on November 1, 2012 for Windows PC with about 200 aircraft and 600,000 players. On May 15, 2014, at 6 million registered players, the first ground forces for Germany and the Soviet Union were introduced. Later added were the American, British, and Japanese ground forces.
In 2017, Italy was added as a playable faction. At Gamescom 2018, the planned addition of helicopters into the game was announced, and by late 2018, helicopters were fully implemented.
In 2022, Tencent announced that the Chinese version of the game published by Tencent would be discontinued on October 17.

Accusations of supporting an anti-Ukrainian YouTube channel

In January 2021, after the logos of War Thunder were seen in a video by pro-separatist YouTube channel "High Caliber Mayhem", Gaijin was accused of indirectly financing Russian-backed separatist forces in the war in Donbas. High Caliber Mayhem has denied any links to the separatist forces and published an explanation claiming that all the money from all advertisements on that channel were spent on humanitarian aid for civilians. The video showing the War Thunder advertisement was removed from High Caliber Mayhem's YouTube channel.
In response to the controversy, Gaijin stated "We do not provide political support to anyone anywhere. We know nothing about politics and prefer to stay out of it. Our agency that ordered an ad in the video in question took it down when they realized they might drag us into a political discussion."

Review bombing

Following an in-game economic change in May 2023 which drastically reduced rewards given for battle actions and an increase in post-battle costs, a large amount of War Thunder players began revolting against the developers by review bombing the game on multiple platforms, such as Steam and Google. In response, Gaijin has since reverted the planned economic change, posted statements regarding the issue and player progression, announced a revision of the economy for mid-summer 2023 and issued an apology for the initial controversial changes.

Military training tool

In 2020, Task & Purpose reported that the US 1st Cavalry Division tankers were using War Thunder for training during COVID-19 quarantine. After looking at several games including World of Tanks, the soldiers found that War Thunder best met their needs. In 2021, a video of Republic of Korea's 3rd Armored Brigade using War Thunder for the Command & Control training session was made public.
In January 2024, a Ukrainian M2 Bradley IFV gunner of the 47th Brigade, referred to only as Serhiy, took down a Russian T-90M main battle tank by shooting specific weak points in the tank's armor, claiming that videogames taught him exactly where to shoot. According to media, War Thunder is the only game that matches this description. Task & Purpose said: "People know War Thunder for leaking classified documents, but now it might actually be known as the game that has the first confirmed kill."
In May 2025, a drone operator from New Zealand, referred to as Cass, destroyed a T-72 tank in a weak spot he knew from his game experience, as "the modelling of tank armour" in War Thunder "is quite realistic".

Sensitive document leaks

On several occasions, users of the War Thunder forum have shared restricted and/or classified documents during discussions about the accuracy of the vehicles depicted. In all cases, offending posts are removed by the moderators, and users are warned against sharing such documents. Anton Yudintsev, founder of Gaijin Entertainment, has stated that the development team is never exposed to the contents, reminding users that "it's both illegal and pointless, so they should never do that". Gaijin's policy regarding technical information is
Although users disclose non-public information to win an argument or persuade Gaijin to make changes to War Thunder vehicles, doing so prevents the company from implementing such changes. In January 2023, Raytheon denied media reports that security clearance background checks for jobs at the defense contractor investigate whether applicants play War Thunder.
Gaijin often jokes about the phenomena. Notably in the "No sekrit dokuments, please." decal which is a parody of the "No!" poster, a 1954 Soviet anti-alcohol poster.

Date	Vehicle	Restriction level	Topic of interest	Description
July 14, 2021	Challenger 2 tank	Classified	In-game modelling	A forum member claiming to be a Challenger 2 tank commander posted images of classified documents pertaining to the tank on the official War Thunder forums. The documents, which contained information about the armor structure of the vehicle, were edited to make them appear declassified under the UK Freedom of Information Act. The post was taken down because the UK Ministry of Defence had previously told Gaijin Entertainment that the documents were classified, so moderators knew about their status by the time of the leak. The user was given an official warning by forum officials, and the post was removed.
October 2021	Leclerc tank	Uncertain	Turret rotation speed	A user leaked classified documents of the Leclerc to win an argument about turret rotation speed. Gaijin forum moderators removed the material within hours, repeating their strict policy against posting restricted documents.
June 2022	ZTZ-99 tank	Classified	Tungsten penetrator	A user posted an image of a Chinese DTC10-125 tungsten penetrator on the War Thunder forums, sitting atop a document outlining the projectile's specifications. Similar to previous instances, the post was quickly removed by forum moderators, with them citing the fact that the materials in question are classified in China.
Late 2022	UHT-665 Eurocopter Tiger helicopter	Export restricted	Armour layout	A forum member posted parts of the armour layout of the UHT-665 Eurocopter Tiger, which is still in service. The user was banned and the content was swiftly removed.
January 16, 2023	[General Dynamics General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon\|F-16 Fighting Falcon\|F-16] fighter jet	Export restricted	AIM-120 air-to-air missile	A flight manual for the F-16 fighter jet was posted by a user discussing the use of the AIM-120 AMRAAM. Although the classified status of the document had expired, it contained export-restricted data and thus was illegal to publish under US law. The document was quickly deleted by moderators.
January 18, 2023	F-15E fighter jet	Export restricted	Multiple core functions	Two days after the previous leak, thirteen documents about the McDonnell Douglas F-15E Strike Eagle fighter jet were posted and swiftly removed. The documents were of similar classification as the documents about the F-16.
Late January 2023	Sukhoi Su-57 fighter jet	Declassified	Radar cross-section	Between January 19 and January 22, a document was published on the forums detailing the Su-57's radar cross-section, as well as details on its airframe. The leak also included information about other Russian aircraft.
Late January 2023	Mikoyan MiG-29 fighter jet	Declassifed	Radar cross-section, armament	The leak revealing details on the Sukhoi Su-57 also revealed information regarding the MiG-29 and its armament capabilities. The leak shared information regarding the MiG-29's radar properties, claiming as its source a MiG-29 manual. Both posts were subsequently deleted by the War Thunder forum moderation team.
August 31, 2023	Eurofighter Typhoon DA7 fighter jet	Export restricted	Flight manual	A user on the War Thunder forum posted a flight manual which contained information about the Eurofighter Typhoon's systems, weaponry, flight data, etc. The user leaked the documents in an effort to have the Eurofighter DA7 added to the game. The post was later deleted.
September 12, 2023	Lockheed F-117 Nighthawk stealth attack aircraft	Export restricted	Flight manual	A user posted restricted pages of a flight manual which contained information about the Lockheed F-117 Nighthawk's engine specifications, firing angles, sensor locations, etc., on the War Thunder forum. The post was deleted shortly after by the site's moderators.
September 15, 2023	Boeing AH-64D Apache helicopter	Export restricted	Technical manual	A user posted a flight manual which contained technical information about the Boeing AH-64D Apache. While the document was fully unclassified, the nature of the export-restricted data meant it was quickly removed.
December 11, 2023	Norinco VT-4 tank	Unclassified	Technical documentation	A user posted training material for an export variant of the VT-4 tank, focused on the tank's autoloader system. Although the data was available elsewhere, it was removed in the same way as earlier incidents.
December 12, 2023	M2A2 Bradley IFV	Export restricted	Technical manual	A user posted two pages out of a technical manual involving the turret assembly of the M2A2 Bradley. While the document is unclassified, the fact that this document is export-controlled resulted in it being quickly removed.
July 15, 2024	T-90M, T-90S, T-80BVM tanks	Classified	Technical documentation	A user posted classified technical manuals for the T-90M, T-80BVM, and T-90S Russian main battle tanks, all of which are still currently in service in Russia's military. The post was quickly removed by the site's moderators.
December 11, 2024	Eurofighter Typhoon	Classified and export-restricted	Flight specifications	A user posted classified Italian Ministry of Defense technical documentation for the supercruise capability of the Italian variant of the Eurofighter Typhoon, part of War Thunders forthcoming Storm Warning update. The post was quickly removed by the site's moderators, who stated that Gaijin had confirmed with the ministry that disclosing the information was illegal.
December 2024	Eurofighter Typhoon	Classified	Radar specifications	Despite being warned against doing so, a user posted classified Italian Ministry of Defense technical documentation for the Euroradar CAPTOR during an argument on the differences between the CAPTOR-M and CAPTOR-E variants. The post was quickly removed by the site's moderators, who suspended the user.
June 23, 2025	AV-8B Harrier II	Export Restricted	Aircraft Training Manual	A user posted a restricted section from an AV-8B and TAV-8B Harrier NATOPS manual during an argument. Moderators removed the post from the forum and the user received a temporary ban.

Reception

At release, War Thunder was well-received with generally positive reviews. GameSpot praised it for its variety of airplanes and visuals, whereas IGN criticized the user interface for being "overly abundant and cumbersome" in contrast to the "sparse in-battle HUD".