Today was the first day where a company touched me more than the culture. The wealth of the video game company called Wargaming has a fascinating story. A few software engineers took the biggest gamble of their life which resulted in them starting one of the richest companies in Cyprus, and legendary success of the video game called War of Tanks.

Wargaming Headquarters

Jaw dropping architecture. Awe-striking view. Unimaginable amenities. These are three ways to describe the Wargaming Headquarters. Instead of telling us about the success of the company, the workers of Wargaming showed us. In the middle of the day, employees have the opportunity to have a massage, go to a gym with full equipment, or enjoy an hour at the spa. On the 13th floor was the most amazing view I have seen from a building. This tower was higher than all of the city except for one. The contemporary style exclaims the recent and continuous earning of money. All of these things together were strategically shown to our group immediately, so we had preconceived knowledge that this company was one of the best in the business.

Intriguing Backstory

Now that our group understood the magnitude of the success, the company presented us with a brief history of themselves (in a professional conference room with magnificent view, of course). Before the release of their globally popular game “War of Tanks”, a group of ambitious young adults had a dream of developing one of the best video games ever made. However, the development of video games need a large investment of money, which they did not have. So, the young men worked hard to create a code which they then sold for enough money to start development. You might be wondering what the big gamble is that I mentioned. At the time of development in 2008, the most successful video games on the market sold for anywhere from $40 to $60. World of Tanks was going to be free. What’s the catch? Nothing. The game was free, but if you wanted you could spend money in the game for more things. This idea seemed like a great way to go bankrupt, but the game was so good that people could not stop playing and talking about it. Since it was free, countless people downloaded it. Since it was high quality, people kept playing. Sooner or later, people were inevitably going to buy more in-game content.

Reflection

When I first heard about the success of World of Tanks, I thought about why nobody else had tried the revolutionary idea. After thinking about it, I realized that many people tried this idea, but the creators of Wargames mastered it. The reason their game was successful was not because of the idea, but because of the execution. My key takeaway from this visit was that focusing on the journey and not the end will result in success. In other words, if you work hard in the moment, success is inevitable.