Our first activity to start off Thursday was a visit to Wargaming, one of the biggest companies in Cyprus (both in notoriety and building size). Wargaming is an online game developing corporation most known for World of Tanks, a historically accurate tank fighting game, as well as its counterparts World of Warships and World of Warplanes. Unlike many of the other companies we have or will visit, I went into this visit with prior knowledge on the product they create. Although I haven’t played any of the games, I know others that have and are big fans. Having prior knowledge made me excited to find out what was in store on trip.

We started with a semi-tour of Wargaming’s building, where we we first shown the basement facilities located on site. The company has added a full gym, spa, message room, sauna, and more all for the complimentary use of their employees. While down there, we even saw a few in the gym working out. This was very interesting to me, as it showed how much Wargaming cares about the physical and mental health of their staff, and also that they value an integrated work-life balance approach to business. From the bottom floor, we were then taken all the way to the top, where we got photos and checked out the breathtaking view of Nicosia from above.

We then went down to the conference room for the presentation part of the tour. The presentation was very informative, and some of the main things I learned about how they conduct business includes their focus on partnerships, advertising and selling, and willingness to take risks. Some of their partners they have worked with, mostly for inclusions into their games, were Arnold Schwarzenegger, GI Joe, and Hot Wheels. Being able to access these partnerships allowed them to add exciting new content into their games that keeps the fan base expanding and loyal. They also have teamed up with other gaming companies that may open up a new market of potential players. Another way Wargaming attempts to expand their reach is through how they advertise and sell their games. On PC, Wargaming games are all able to be purchased through Steam, which is responsible for the large majority of PC games sales. People scrolling through Steam may see the game pop up, get interested, and buy it. Furthermore, Wargaming posts Youtube videos advertising their games to bring excitement and interest from a younger generation. Lastly, and most impressively to me, their risk taking is what made them reap large benefits. When they originally released World of Tanks in 2010, they became one of the pioneers of the free-to-play world of games. Instead of bringing in revenues through a one time purchase of the game, or having skill-related in game purchases, they made WoT free to everyone, and the in game purchases were for solely cosmetic upgrades. I’m doing this, they were hoping that much more people would buy the game due to the lack of cost to the customer, and then these people would all buy the less expensive in game skins. This was a big risk, as if they were not able to reach an expanded audience, they could have very easily crashed and burned. This is made even riskier by the fact that it was fully funded internally instead of through equity or loans, so they withheld 100% of the risk for any failures of the game. However, the risk paid off, and World of Tanks won multiple awards during the 2010s for its success. The entire experience at this company was so interesting, and really made me feel interesting to learn more about the company in the future.