Developer Wargaming is working with Microsoft to help make the Xbox 360 and Xbox One so that the company is better able to put out content for free-to-play games. Wargaming, the developer of World of Tanks Xbox 360 Edition, has a problem with the certification process that Microsoft forces upon developers, so much so that it was called "unacceptable" by Victor Kislyi, CEO of Wargaming. The developer will now be working to streamline the process for its game World of Tanks. Polygon spoke to the Kislyi during PAX Australia, and he had this to say about the news:
"The good thing is with online games, sometimes if you screw up, you can do frequent updates ... But one of the biggest challenges with Microsoft was the frequency of updates because the QA process and certification process takes an extremely long time. Totally unacceptable for a meaningful free-to-play. We are working with them to do quicker updates."
Kislyi stated that these changes will currently only affect World of Tanks, but if the changes made by Wargaming and Microsoft take off and help the game become successful, then Kislyi hopes that the changes become standard Microsoft policy:
"We will see, there is a lot of work on the technically side and on the administrative side which should resolve in the acceptable quality of the product, including updates of the product including speed and rates. So we will see...I can be very optimistic now but it can turn due to various reasons..."
It will be interesting to see if Microsoft likes the changes enough to entirely revamp their certification process, especially considering that their previous free-to-play game, Happy Wars, has faced no such issues, most likely because it was developed by Microsoft itself. Wargaming may have the edge in bringing free to play games to consoles, as they have had massive success with World of Tanks, and now is the time to start rolling out free-to-play games on consoles with the impending release of the Xbox One and PlayStation 4.
However, Kislyi stated that bringing free-to-play games to consoles may be difficult, because the model may not translate well to a platform where spending money is the norm. Free-to-play games have become a big business for developers, especially on mobile devices, so the tastes of gamers have begun to shift to the free-to-play/ microtransactions model.
Look out for more World of Tanks: Xbox 360 Edition as the game gets closer to launch.
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