Wargaming Scoops up Gas Powered Games

Michael Dunaway
By Michael Dunaway, News Editor Posted:
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Well this was certainly unexpected. Today Wargaming.net announced it had purchased Age of Empires Online developers Gas Powered Games. Why you may ask? Well it you haven't been following GPG since Age of Empires Online, you may be unaware of the fact the company attempted a Kickstarter campaign for a new title called Wildman which unfortunately fell far short of its 1.1m goal. During the Kickstarter Chris Taylor, founder of Gas Powered Games revealed the company was not doing so hot. In fact, the developer had to lay off a large portion of their staff earlier this year and it was made clear that Wildman was perhaps the company's last hope for survival.

Now with GPG safely under the protective treads/wings of Wargaming the studio has been given a second chance at life. While we do not know how GPG will operate under its new owners including whether or not they can continue working on current projects like Wildman, we do know Wargaming values GPG's past experience. This is apparent when Victor Kislyi, CEO of Wargaming commented on the matter stating:

“Gas Powered Games’ heritage and development pedigree shows us just how valuable an addition Chris and his company will make to the Wargaming family,” said Victor. “Gas Powered Games has a long track record of providing incredibly engaging AAA gaming experiences and we can’t wait to start working with them.”

It will be interesting to see if Wargaming intends on converting GPG into a solely F2P company or if they will merely be providing the financial muscle needed for GPG to continue making games in general. While GPG's previous title Age of Empires Online was F2P, the company has a long non-F2P history with series like Dungeon Siege and Supreme Commander. I suppose all we can do now is wait and see.

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In this article: Wargaming.

About the Author

Michael Dunaway
Michael Dunaway, News Editor

Michael Dunaway has been part of the MMOBomb team for years and has covered practically every major Free-to-Play MMO title since 2009.

More Stories by Michael Dunaway

Discussion (10)

Nosferat 11 years ago
Well this just sucks, knowing WG,this game will be a "free to play" but pay to win model, just like world of tanks,also you just have to take a look at the world of tanks forums,be they EU,US or others,to see how "satisfied" the vast majority of the customers are.

I think Wargaming should be looked at,as in what not to do,they are making mediocre games at best,bribing almost every Gaming review site so their games get rated highest,their stats about how many people are actually playing their game are false,no account gets deleted,even if someone played only 10 minutes about 2 years ago,their account still counts as an "active player".

Their bugged game even got in ESL somehow,it boggles boggles my mind as in how they managed that, I think the purse of a few people there got very heavy,otherwise there is no way in hell that such an unbalanced and bugged game could get in to serious electronic championships and competitions.

I really feel sorry for the people in Gas Powered Games,their entire business model will have to change,and not for the better,just like WG they will cut corners for profits,make promises they will never keep and treat the community like crap.

removalmitt 11 years ago
Think they should concentrate more on world of warplanes, for me it's getting uber stomped by war thunder. The fact war thunder propose to add land and sea vehical player use all active on the same map suggests they could basically kick out what wargaming should / eventually do which is to have all 3 of their varieties active on the same map (as such each element land, sea and air are not currently in development to be 1 giant game).

world of tanks was great for me, as time passed, I got bored of the super grind, of all the tank tweaking and that they didn't have all the countries they wanted to include from the start.

so if war thunder can pull off 3 decent varieties of vehicle sets, world of warplanes might fail and I believe world of warships will just be a complete waste of cash with imminent fail on release

*** so the real point for comment is I hope they have deep pockets, because I think they won't be making much if any profit from warplanes and warships, let alone this game 'wildman' -- if it interests enough these kickstarter projects raise the required funds!!! I'm basing this off large interest = large anticipation.

Bubba Satori 11 years ago
Nobody expects the spanish inquisition.

Cacalips 11 years ago
*Toilet flushing sounds*

Okofire 11 years ago
Second!

View 1 reply
ToxicRabbit 11 years ago
Mounted?


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