The developer and publisher of the World of Tanks series has announced a review of its business processes. The company is no longer going to work in Russia and Belarus. She’s leaving both countries.
According to a press release, on March 31, the company transferred the entire business of operating games in Russia and Belarus to the management of the St. Petersburg Lesta Studio, which is no longer part of Wargaming. Now Lesta Studios and Wargaming are separate, unrelated companies.
Thanks to the separation, Wargaming products will remain available for play in Russia and Belarus. Only their regional development and support will now be worked on by a new asset owner who previously developed a “sea” version of tanks — World of Warships.
It is reported that from a commercial point of view, Wargaming has not received any benefit from the transfer of Lesta Studio assets. Moreover, the company expects significant financial losses as a result of the decision taken in March.
Also, in connection with new business processes, Wargaming announced the beginning of the closure of the office in Minsk, where the development of the company’s flagship product, World of Tanks, was previously concentrated. The company promises that it will provide severance pay and support to all employees affected by the change.
However, it is unknown exactly how many will be affected. Officially, Wargaming employs around 5,500 employees in total. In Belarus, according to our information, there are up to a thousand. Whether they will be relocated — there is no official data.
It should be noted that the company could have been preparing for the scenario of leaving Belarus for a long time, since August 2020. Then, against the background of the aggravation of the local political situation, many IT businesses and specialists left the country. At that time, Wargaming itself actively began investing in relocation to Lithuania (telegram chats say that most of the Minsk employees were moved to Vilnius before the New Year).
In total, Wargaming had 13 studios until recently. Most were officially based abroad. BigWorld — in Sydney, Wargaming SAS — in Paris, Wargaming Chicago-Baltimore, Wargaming Berlin and Wargaming Copenhagen — in their respective cities, DPS Games — in Guildford, as well as Persha Studia — in Ukraine.
Despite what happened, the company is confident in the future of its business and its projects.
The departure of the company takes place against the background of recent statements by the leadership of Belarus. The President of the Republic said today that he wants to be informed, “what is happening in this park, how much there is a trend of staff outflow. As I am informed: there is such an outflow there that Belarus will die tomorrow without IT specialists.”