Earlier this year (2012), Wargaming, publisher of the multiplayer title World of Tanks, acquired Australian online-game software developer BigWorld for a reported sum of $45 million.
In a recent interview, Wargaming CEO Victor Kislyi said that the acquisition will allow the publisher to maintain more control of its technology platform.
Wargaming has a number of free-to-play titles, where users can play for free and purchase virtual assets with real money. Using this strategy, Wargaming has become a fast-growing game company, making massively multiplayer online games (MMO) like World of Tanks, which has had more than 35 million registered users.
Wargaming is based in Cyprus with teams in Belarus, Ukraine and Russia. The company is in the midst of launching World of Warplanes and is working on World of Warships. The BigWorld middleware forms the platform for all three of these virtual game worlds, Kislyi said.
“This very crucial for us, as we want to control the technology provider we are using,” Kislyi. “Now we can integrate them to make internal development more efficient.”
Canberra, Australia-based BigWorld makes middleware, or a software technology that allows Wargaming to securely launch and run its online game worlds with millions of users.
Other MMOs often use peer-to-peer technology, but that exposes them to security risks. But Kislyi said that BigWorld relies upon more secure server infrastructure, and it also enables the much faster creation of MMOs like those that Wargaming makes.
“This is a huge advantage over any other MMO technology that we know of,” Kislyi said.
Wargaming began using BigWorld about four and a half years ago as it was developing World of Tanks. It is also using the platform in two subsequent games. Now development costs will be lower with BigWorld in house, Kislyi said.
“BigWorld has a licensing business of its own, and we will continue to support its customers,” Kislyi said. “We will be in a position in the future, if everything goes right, to offer the combined BigWorld and Wargaming technology to anyone who wants to do an MMO.”
The Bigworld acquisition adds more than 25 employees to Wargaming’s current staff of more than 1,000.
Wargaming was founded as a hardcore strategy game company in 1998.World of Tanks debuted in the fall of 2010 and features high-res, realistic 3D graphics in a world where tanks battle each other in World War II landscapes.
New game ‘World of Warplanes’ is launching this year, and ‘World of Warships’ is expected in 2013.
Wargaming has enjoyed huge growth following the release of War of Tanks, and CEO Kislyi says the company is aiming for revenue of $200 million/year in the not too distant future.