Who gave Viktor Sour the money for the project. Victor sour

For a business idea to come true and generate high, stable income, it must be nurtured, loved and treated with genuine interest. Do not leave it unattended for a minute and constantly improve.

Today's successful entrepreneur from Minsk Viktor Kislyi is the director of his company Wargaming.net, who created one of the most popular and entertaining online games World of Tanks. He decided to build his business on the childhood hobby that occupied all of him. free time even in adolescence.

Friends from the Faculty of the Belarusian State University became Viktor's colleagues. Even during their studies, friends passionately discussed turn-based military strategies of computer games. And when in 1998 Victor opened own business: development of websites, online stores and other programs, then in their office they very often discussed with friends the idea of ​​promoting their own game on the Internet. This is how the DBA online game was born: a strategy game with historically real soldiers. But it was designed for a narrow circle, so it was not in great demand. It was replaced by the futuristic turn-based strategy Massive Assault, but due to its complexity it was closed.

But Sour and his guys did not lose heart. Believing in success, he had high hopes for the new project "Operation Bagration" and its adaptation to the Western market Order of War. During creation, all previous errors were taken into account. The game was in a real-time strategy format. But the authors managed to sell it only 100,000 copies. It barely paid for the development of the project.

At the same time, Word of Warcraft became the most popular game in the United States.

Having studied all the shortcomings of previous projects, the guys set about developing a massive multiplayer online game. They chose the fantasy genre, with gnomes, orcs and elves. However, after a whole year, Victor realized that they were on the wrong path. The director of Wargaming.net had a feeling that the stream of life was passing by them, and he and his employees were, as it were, on the sidelines. Because the world market is literally flooded with Chinese and Korean online games. This feeling gave a new impetus to creativity. Sour decided to change his strategy. At this time, the genre of "space" was occupied by MMO EVE Online, and the shooting genre is Counter Strike and Team Fortress.

Careful analysis of the success of the Korean game Navy Field was a great incentive to keep going and a good persuasive role model. In this game, you had to participate in sea battles, pump your ships from torpedo boats to super battleships. This project was based on a free to play model - participation is free, unlike Word of Warcraft. The Korean creators received income from the players through micropayments for additional model options.

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Friends began to search new strategy, and then they remembered their nickname "tankmen" through their enormous addiction to the games of war. Then the developers decided to rely on their favorite game since the days of school. And the firm immediately began to find a connection with the future audience. There were many admirers among its employees. military equipment... Thanks to specialized forums, the guys involved other fans in the development of a new project. To this end, Victor invited experienced game designers Vyacheslav Makarov and Sergey Burkatovsky from Moscow. About how the developments are going new game, was regularly reported on the site. This fueled the interest of amateurs, and the firm received feedback from fans. An advertising campaign was started a year before the official launch of the project. Viral teaser videos became one of the advertising gimmicks. The developments that did not gain credibility among users helped a lot in this.

And then in August 2010 the long-awaited moment came - Word of Tanks was officially launched. At that time, a large number of players had already registered on the site in the open beta testing mode.

To date, their number has increased significantly. Since the new model blew up the Russian-speaking Internet. Victor himself did not even expect such a success.

On average, each hobbyist pays $ 3-5 per month. A 30-day premium account can be purchased for as little as $ 10. This savings translates into 50% more play money and experience.

According to Kisly, server, development and technical support costs are several hundred thousand dollars a month.

According to statistics, 12 million fans played the game at the end of 2010. The very same "World of Tanks", according to the creator himself, brings the company millions of dollars a year. Today it is the fastest growing game of its genre in Russian.

another list of 200 most influential businessmen in the country. Unexpectedly in the first place was general manager Wargaming Group Ltd. Victor Kisly. "NN" tells Interesting Facts from the biography of a businessman.

Graduated from the Faculty of Physics of BSU

Viktor Kisly is 39 years old. He is a Minsker. “In the scientific laboratory where my father worked, there were computers - old, pot-bellied. And there were the first games in the form of kingdom management - primitive, I don't remember the names, I remember, they were terrible and terrible. But we have nostalgia for them. Then computer clubs appeared, and they already had video toys: someone was running somewhere, shooting, spaceship flying somewhere. We, boys, all the polls really liked these games, they mesmerized a whole generation! " - said Victor Kisly.

Victor's father, Vladimir Kisly, insisted on admission to the physics faculty of BSU, he also sent his son to a chess club. Vladimir Kislyi is currently one of the co-owners of Wargaming. “Education helped us a lot in terms of modeling, etc.,” says the businessman. True, he admits, because of "Civilization" one session practically failed.

The first game is a chess game on the world map

Viktor Kislyi began developing his first game in 1996, when he was 17 years old. It was an online chess game on a world map.

“We, five or six students, lived on a scholarship. My father helped a little with pocket money. The salary of the first programmer is $ 25 per month. We worked and earned money, just so as not to starve to death. But we understood that if we make a game of all times and peoples, it will take over the world and then we will get rich! But then, until the 2000s, everything was kept on enthusiasm. "

In fact, all of Viktor Kisly's games were in one way or another associated with military battles. “Ever since school I was fond of military history. Remember, there was such a series - "The Book of Future Commanders", "The Book of Future Admirals". I read them, watched many films about the Civil War, the Great Patriotic War and 1812. Military history helped me understand that it is impossible to win overnight. "

World of Tanks

The first big success was the "Operation Bagration" strategy, which appeared in 2007. It reconstructed military operations on the territory of Belarus in 1943-1944. Between chess and "Bagration" there were half a dozen more games.

But World of Tanks brought fame and money to Viktor Kisly. This game simply captured the entire post-Soviet and part of the world space. Although she did not fire right away. The game is built in such a way that 75% of its users do not pay to participate. But those 25% who are ready to spend money on advanced accounts and retro tanks bring the company huge profits.

“I love Tanchiki with all my heart. I have 10,000 battles on my personal account. I'm not a gambling person, but World of Tanks draws me in. On average, I spend 50 hours a month in tank battles, ”says Viktor Kislyi about his game.

Recently, the head of Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko, admitted that his youngest son Nikolai likes to play "tanks". “Yes, he is in the“ tanks ”. But he's limited. An hour - tanks, one and a half hours of music, two hours - tanks - four hours of music. Four is hard, so he doesn't play tanks for over an hour", - said Lukashenka.

Profit and new markets

In 2014, according to some estimates, the company earned $ 505 million. “It is clear that due to the fall of the Russian ruble, our dollar revenue, to put it mildly, did not grow,” says Kisly. He always emphasizes that this segment of the business is very competitive and any mistake can lead to unexpected results, you cannot relax in any case.

According to Kisly, the secret of success is also not to be satisfied with what has already been achieved, but to constantly conquer new markets. "To say that “We took the States”, of course, is impossible. This market is very competitive, and not only in games - in all areas. But we got some kind of audience there. These are older men who take children to tank museums, watch the Discovery Channel. The next challenge was to reach younger audiences. But this is much more difficult: they already need shooters, they like to play on consoles. In Europe and the United States, we still have a lot to grow.In Europe and the United States, we still have a lot to grow. But in Russia there was a saturation of the market. It is probably already impossible to find a man in Russia who has not heard of World of Tanks, except perhaps in the taiga. "

Viktor Kislyi considers Asia to be the most promising market today. Most recently, the company has opened representative offices in South Korea, Singapore, Taiwan, Japan, and is also actively conquering China. There is even a representative office in Australia.

Registered in Cyprus

It should be noted that the headquarters of Wargaming is located in offshore Cyprus, but development centers are scattered all over the world - from Minsk to Australia. “We regularly pay all taxes, actively promote the reputation of Cyprus, and contribute to the development of this country,” says Kisly.

“Minsk was and remains the heart of Wargaming, so it's not entirely correct to talk about relocation. The largest office of the company is located in Minsk, where the world hit World of Tanks is completely created: from writing code to organizing e-sports competitions and promoting the project ... In general, the office completely occupies a 16-storey building and employs about 2000 people. "

In 2014, Vladimir Kislyi, Deputy Director for Development, Game Stream JLLC, was awarded the Medal for Labor Merit.

Viktor Kislyi, a Belarusian and a resident of Cyprus, has been running Wargaming for 17 years, which has managed to create one of the most popular multiplayer games in Russia and the former USSR - World of Tanks. Recently Vedomosti is with him.
WoT is always rapidly gaining users, and they are actively paying for items within the game. In 2012, World of Tanks brought Wargaming $ 218 million, and last year its revenue more than doubled: according to Superdata, the company earned more than $ 500 million on "tanks". pay less. Wargaming plans to compensate for the drop in revenues with growth in international markets, new projects and promotion of the game in e-sports competitions (computer games competitions), which, according to Kisly, may develop into new media reality.

- Before the crisis, the main market for you was Russia and the CIS countries, but now?

- The structure of our players has not changed much. We all understand that a tank is “sewn up” in the DNA of a Russian person (laughs) and nothing can be done about it. Residents of the former Soviet Union play a lot with tanks and did not do it less. Americans are more spoiled, they need everything to be beautiful, they need to be shown everything. They play more on consoles, and only a year ago we launched World of Tanks on consoles, and even then the old version. We are doing now new version for Xbox one, and then, probably, there will be some growth in the number of users in the United States.

For example, in Japan there are few computers, the Japanese play mainly on the Play Station. But if the Japanese fell in love with some kind of game, then he will not get out of it. And this is the most paying audience. But in terms of their number, they are few when compared with other countries.

It is clear that we started with a ratio of 0: 100. That is, Mother Russia, the CIS. True, in the very first week of closed testing, Poles and Czechs began to actively join - they also love tanks very much. For some reason Icelanders play a lot, Scandinavians in general.

We have made efforts to spread our game around the world. To do this, we localized World of Tanks, launched support in different languages.

Now our audience for the game is distributed approximately 50:50. Half is Russia and the countries of the former USSR, the other half is the rest of the world. That is, the dynamics are still going towards an increase in the international audience, which is logical - after all, the population of the whole world is larger than the former USSR. Although the density of "tankers" is less, the population and territory are larger (laughs).

We are systematically working to improve our understanding of the same America, Europe, Korea. There are several uncovered spots, for example Brazil, we started working there quite recently. We do not cover the countries of the Middle East yet. There is a peculiarity: the Arabic script is written from right to left, which means that we actually need to "mirror" the entire game.

- With such a noticeable share of Russian players in World of Tanks, has the crisis in Russia strongly affected Wargaming's business? Are people paying less for artifacts in the game? During the crisis of 2008-2009. Many gaming companies saw an influx of players: people stopped going to the movies, flying on vacation, but they didn’t play less.

- Of course, Russia - large country, in which there was a crisis of a geopolitical scale. It is clear that these movements of the ruble and euro were not in our favor and led to a decrease in the dollar equivalent of revenue.

Our audience is very heterogeneous. Moreover, the game does not force the players to pay money. In the game, you can spend money comparable to several movie tickets, and a student can generally play for free.

We have 25% paying users, which is a very good figure compared to other games. In the games industry, there is the concept of a "whale" - this is a senior manager who drives a black Mercedes and whose salary is measured in numbers with many zeros. He doesn't care how much to pay. But World of Tanks is built in such a way that you can't spend $ 1000 a month there. I could spend that amount, but I don't know what for (laughs). The game is made in such a way that there is no product for that amount per month. $ 10 is a premium account plus a couple of dozen, well, a hundred dollars for collectible tanks ($ 5–40) or local currency.

So these "whales" do not feel the difference - to spend several tens of dollars in the game or a couple of hundred. Therefore, among this audience, we did not notice any changes in payments. Schoolchildren and students, of course, began to pay less - it is clear that purchasing power fell.

Games love silence

- Superdata analysts estimated Wargaming's 2014 revenue at $ 505 million. How true is this estimate?

- Companies, especially large ones, are not very fond of giving direct assessments of their business. Therefore, I would not like to comment on this assessment.

This is primarily due to the competition. We are not alone in this clearing, there are others similar games, there are full copies. This is a very competitive industry. And if you know how much money your competitors have, you can roughly predict their maneuvers. Therefore, it is good if competitors have no idea how flexible you yourself are in your maneuvers.

I can only say that Wargaming's revenue is measured in hundreds of millions of dollars. It is clear that due to the fall of the Russian ruble, our dollar earnings, to put it mildly, did not grow. How much she has not grown is not very important. We still expect the situation to improve, peace will come, and everything will return to its former course.

But other factors, not necessarily macroeconomic, can also affect revenue. For example, some changes in the game itself. Example: last year we released a new version of World of Tanks, in which we made several technical mistakes: the storyboard in the game became slower due to the fact that something was poorly rendered there. The speed dropped by an average of 10%. And we released vague historical battles: what we did did not fully meet the expectations of users. And these two factors immediately affected our results, as the number of concurrent users dropped by 20% in two months. Well, then we entered the fall - and oil prices fell, the ruble fell. Again there was a fall.

- A drop in both audience and revenue?

- And so and so. They play, but do not pay, pay, but do not play. It got worse, we felt it. It is clear that we took some measures. For example, in the case of the ruble, we offered users purchases at a lower rate: people liked it. Therefore, such jumps for Last year happened to us twice: an unsuccessful technical patch and the economic situation at the end of the year.

- Do you disclose how much your average one pays World user of Tanks, something like ARPU? How much is it in Russia and in the world?

- To be honest, I don't know the exact figure. It seems to me that it makes no sense to talk about ARPU, since this is the average temperature in the hospital. When the game reaches such a size that it already captures countries and continents, it makes no sense to talk about ARPU. In addition, there are very different age groups of the population - from seven years old and above. I believe that we need to introduce segmentation: we need to look separately at the ARPU of the "whale" and the "schoolboy", the ARPU of the Russian and the Japanese.

Although our game is built in such a way that there cannot be a large ARPU. I can give an approximate figure - $ 25 per paying person per month, although I could be wrong. But that doesn't mean anything. We have built our game in such a way that a person voluntarily pays as much as he can afford. And this is very important. There are games where you won't go further without paying. These games force people to make impulse purchases, especially through mobile devices. In our country, even to pay, you have to go to some terminal, fill out some form. Trouble in general.

- So you make it difficult for yourself to do business?

- No, well, it's on computers - there is just such an infrastructure. It's easier on smartphones.

ARPU of $ 25 comes from the premium account and a little from the rest. And often this is not because a person cannot afford to pay, he simply no longer consumes.

Therefore, in such cheap entertainment as World of Tanks, the percentage of "whales" is very small. Moreover, it is interesting that in Japan there are only "whales". They also exist in Russia, but in comparison with the population, their percentage is very small.

Of course, we could immediately make some kind of diamond tank for $ 10,000. But here such a factor is already included - the people will not understand (laughs). We could only afford this in China. Our Chinese partner just pushed it through: they say, give me a gold tank for gifts, etc. We did it, it costs $ 400.

- Gold iPhones, they say, are very popular in China ...

- Yes. But we must understand that our game is international. As soon as you enter something in one country, it starts to be intensively discussed all over the world - on forums, on social networks. And for this golden tank, which we made at the request of the Chinese workers, our workers told us: "It's not good." And such conversations spoil our reputation, and this is very important. So we won't do that anymore.

Attack lines

- In addition to the most popular World of Tanks, you now have other games - World of Warplanes, World of Warships. How popular are they?

- With World of Warplanes we were probably in a hurry, we made mistakes in some places. Now we are studying this, trying to fix something. So far, everything seems to be very good with World of Warships. Now we are in a closed testing phase: we are using behavioral mechanisms to understand whether people like the game and what and where needs to be changed. So far, all the statistical parameters on the closed beta are excellent, and in all regions.

- Last year Wargaming entered the American market. How successful was this exit? How is Wargaming developing on international markets in general?

- To say that "We took the States", of course, is impossible. This market is very competitive, and not only in games - in all areas. But we got some kind of audience there. These are older men who take children to tank museums, watch the Discovery Channel. The next challenge was to reach younger audiences. But this is much more difficult: they already need shooters, they like to play on consoles.

In Europe and the United States, we still have a lot to grow. But in Russia there was a saturation of the market. Finding a man in Russia who has not heard of World of Tanks is probably already impossible, except in the taiga.

- Do you have any ideas that could help you conquer new markets? Do you plan to make your own shooter, for example?

- On this occasion, I have nothing to say yet. Of course, in the company we are discussing different options, different new games. But we have no position on shooters yet. And the shooter itself is not. And since there is no shooter, then there is no position (laughs).

As I said, we are not looking at this average user ARPU. You can make $ 27.7, but you can ruin your reputation for it. You can make a lot of money for a short time, but then there will be scorched earth. We have seen such an effect - when you tighten the nuts tightly, then there is a decline. It is beneficial for us that the revenue is stable or grows slightly. Over the course of several years, we have determined this socially acceptable figure that a person can get out of his pocket. And we do not want to change it significantly. A business like ours must be done calmly.

- What other ideas for products or ways to promote?

- In general, we operate with dynamic analysis: there is some opportunity to promote something, we are trying. For example, there is an idea for e-sports, we are holding competitions. If successful, then we increase. So it is with advertising. It works differently in different countries. For example, TV ads for games are believed to be ineffective. But this is not always the case - in some places it is very effective. For example, the very same Clash of Clans advertised during the break between Super Bowl football matches, during the most expensive advertising time. Everyone was very surprised. But they thought it was beneficial, and we thought not. In general, all this is painstaking work.


As I said, we are not looking at this average user ARPU. You can make $ 27.7, but you can ruin your reputation for it. You can make a lot of money for a short time, but then there will be scorched earth. We have seen such an effect - when you tighten the nuts tightly, then there is a decline. It is beneficial for us that the revenue is stable or grows slightly. Over the course of several years, we have determined this socially acceptable figure that a person can get out of his pocket. And we do not want to change it significantly. A business like ours must be done calmly.

"Buildings" and "rides"

- In April you held a World of Tanks competition in Poland. Similar events are held by other game developers. How do you overall assess the prospects for eSports? Is it a tool for promoting the game or in the future it can become a new big media competing, for example, with television broadcasts of regular sports?

- It is impossible to predict the future 5-6 years ahead. But so far, esports is developing very well. In general, esports originated in South Korea with the television broadcast of Starcraft, and it seemed to everyone that it was such a purely Korean feature and it would not go anywhere further. When we held the finals last year, there were half the number of people than this year.

It has now become clear that esports is growing so rapidly that one can already assume that it will soon become very large - both in terms of the audience and, possibly, in terms of money. But the whole question is about the content. It seems to me that it is quite possible to compare it with ordinary sports, which people watch with great pleasure on TV.

- That is, in 20 years we will be watching the Cyber ​​Olympics?

- Quite possible. E-sports is actually being born before our eyes, its rules have not yet been established. This is a completely new phenomenon at the intersection of media, streaming, advertising.

Cybersport is, first of all, a show. Last year, the competition was attended by 300,000 players, and watched even more - tens of millions. In order for the show to be fun for them, a beautiful and dynamic picture is needed. That is, this the new kind visual art - cinema, only interactive. There are already elements of a beautiful show business in e-sports: fights are commented on, there are prizes, "dance", all this is broadcast live in many languages. There should always be some kind of intrigue in show business, and in e-sports we fully observe it. It is as difficult to predict who will win here as in ordinary sports: for example, in this league [in Poland] the Chinese beat the Russians. Previously, this seemed inconceivable. So e-sports is the same sport, only a little more youthful.

- Can esports be considered a business already?

- Let's just say that businesses are already being made on this wave. Take the same Twitch - an application that "streams" games. It's incredible: someone is playing games, while others are watching, and there is already a huge audience. Amazon recently bought Twitch for $ 1 billion, and until recently, no one heard of this startup. This demonstrates how quickly everything in this area can grow. So in esports, the same is likely to happen as in other media. Content appears, views grow - and after a while ads appear.

- Are advertisers already interested in esports?

- Are big advertisers interested in this phenomenon? For example, companies in the consumer sector?

- Not yet, but they may come, because here advertisers can be offered a very attractive type of advertising. On the regular Internet, they deal with traditional advertising, in which the audience is determined by age, place of residence, etc. But there is also behavioral advertising, which is based on how a person behaves. In games, people are engaged in just behavior - well, yes, in difficult conditions, when enemies are from all sides (laughs), but they behave somehow there: they buy something, consider something. And all this information is accumulated by the gaming companies, and on large numbers it can work very well. Using this data, you can target your ads much more accurately.

- Can the advertising model become a source of income for Wargaming in the future along with in-game payments and subscriptions?

- It is difficult to say so far, but we are carefully studying this topic. The same e-sports for us is still a marketing tool that helps to attract an audience. But everything is moving towards the fact that all this - games, competitions - will become a new media reality. She's funny, cool: it's funny pokatushki, shooting games. People are looking at Minecraft for some reason - there are funny "buildings" (laughs).

All of this, of course, already has a Hollywood element. Normal new media reality. It is still taking its first steps, but it is developing very quickly along with the development of new technologies, mobile devices... Because people mostly watch this kind of thing on smartphones and tablets. They go in a taxi - they can watch a couple of fights.

In the crisis zone

- Why did Wargaming decide to leave the Cyprus Stock Exchange in 2014?

- In 2012, we decided to go to the Cyprus Stock Exchange, since we began to build the company's headquarters in Cyprus and manage it entirely from there. The shares were not traded on the stock exchange. According to the rules of this exchange, this is possible. It was a placement that imposed all the same restrictions and requirements as in the classic IPO. We have plunged ourselves into the abyss of this responsibility so that we have no chance of violating it. We have been doing this for several years. We got what we needed from this: we got a name, grew up a little and felt more confident in this raging sea of ​​financial instruments (laughs). We don't need this anymore.

- Do you plan to go public in the future?

“Well… never say never. Now business from the point of view of this bureaucracy is in good condition: in the same way as it was when we were on the stock exchange. Since we have learned over the years to live by the rules of a public company.

- Last year you said that Wargaming suffered from the Cyprus crisis, as a result of which the company became a shareholder in Hellenic Bank and acquired a building in Limassol. How much did the company end up losing?

- Wargaming is the largest technology company in Cyprus, we are actively involved in the economic and social life of the country, and therefore the past crisis was not just an unpleasant moment for our corporate interests, but a problem for all company employees living here. We regularly pay all taxes, actively promote the reputation of Cyprus, contribute to the development of this country, so it is not entirely correct to talk about some losses. Of course, we went through certain difficulties, but, as in the case of the purchase of Hellenic bank shares, the crisis opened up new opportunities for us.

Our company is one of the current shareholders in Hellenic, there are people who represent our interests there, while our participation in its work is limited. Wargaming is primarily a developer and publisher of games known all over the world, so being active in other areas is not so important for us.

The economy of Cyprus in the first quarter of 2015 grew by 1.6%, the country is gradually recovering its financial and investment attractiveness. The local authorities very accurately and consistently carried out the reform program, which was recommended by the eurozone countries and the IMF, and in the long term, we look at the economic situation in the country with great optimism.

- What do you think, will the countries of the former USSR in some foreseeable future also become convenient for doing international business, what needs to be done there for this?

- In post-Soviet countries, progress in creating a favorable business environment is enormous. Wargaming brings together under one roof studios from Kiev, St. Petersburg, Minsk, as well as offices in Europe, Asia and the USA, and we can compare the conditions that are provided to us different countries... In the countries of the former USSR, we feel support and interest in the company, in our initiatives to restore military equipment, to popularize history. Of course, in order to attract international companies, it is necessary to take many more steps to improve the business climate and introduce predictable and effective law enforcement, but in the future, any country can become a place where business will be convenient and comfortable.

- How does Belarus feel about the fact that such a large company has moved to another country and pays taxes there?

- Minsk was and remains the heart of Wargaming, so it is not entirely correct to talk about relocation. The largest office of the company is located in Minsk, where the world hit World of Tanks is completely created: from writing code to organizing e-sports competitions and promoting the project. A mobile version of the game World of Tanks Blitz is also being developed in the Minsk office, as well as global UX, BI teams, financial and legal departments. In general, the office occupies a 16-storey building and employs about 2,000 people.

- After the outbreak of the crisis in Russia, many technology companies have moved to other countries, to the Baltic states, for example. Do you see this migration process from the outside, do our programmers come to you?

- As far as I know, we began to receive a little more responses to vacancies from programmers from Russia, but it is worth considering the fact that Minsk, like Kiev and St. Petersburg, has a decent reputation as a center of expertise in game development. Wargaming has become a brand in the field of HR, so our vacancies are actively interested in Russia, Europe and the USA.

Our Minsk development team is engaged in World of Tanks for PC and mobile versions games, Kiev is working on World of Warplanes, a studio in St. Petersburg is preparing the release of World of Warships, a team in Chicago is working on updates for World of Tanks Xbox 360 and is developing a version of the game for Xbox One, and Seattle is creating a new, as yet unannounced project ...

Globally, the competition between companies for talent is only gaining momentum. Talents are worth their weight in gold everywhere, they dictate the conditions, and the business has to adjust. Geography is not the most important factor, professionals can make their way in all regions of the world.

Chasing new emotions

- What new technologies await us, what do you think about the general "mobilization" - the transition to smartphones and tablets?

- The main trends for the next five years are obvious: the introduction of cloud technologies, active promotion of streaming, universal flattening and miniaturization, virtual reality. Market mobile games will continue to grow at a tremendous pace, while mobile devices will become smaller and more powerful, and their value will fall.

Games on mobile platforms are different. The player's quantum of attention is very small, game session can end at any time. It is important for developers to consider these conditions and adapt to them. At the same time, the industry is moving away from developing games exclusively for the platform. We focus on creating an engaging gaming experience regardless of device. Good story, communication, the game universe, in which the player is pleased to be, develop and receive new emotions, are becoming more important than the platform.

Very soon we will come to the fact that good games will be available anywhere at any time. In such a situation, the winner is the one who gives the players an enjoyable and engaging experience, an interactive world with great possibilities.

- Do you think virtual reality technologies will become the next big thing? Is Wargaming planning to do anything in this area?

- Virtual reality technologies have made a real breakthrough in the last three years. The prospects for using the Oculus Rift in games are impressive, and this device has the potential to revolutionize the gaming industry. I was amazed by the first test version of the helmet, which I tested more than a year ago: picture, sound, emotions - you are immersed in another dimension, and therefore I am looking forward to the release of the commercial version of the product. Our team is actively experimenting with the device, and we have already developed and released a special game mode for Oculus. It allows the player to take a different look at game process, enjoy the effect of presence and get new sensations from tank battles. By the way, the introduction of the technology turned out to be a very laborious process. We needed to rebuild the in-game menu, radically alter the gameplay UI and create a specific control system.

We are not tied to one platform and are constantly developing games for new devices. If the technology becomes massive, global, accessible, our games will definitely appear on it.
Thanks for the interview and good luck in the battles!

Sour Victor is one of the richest and most famous Belarusian businessmen. The creator and owner of Wargaming, who only got acquainted with computers in high school. He invented the game World of Tanks, which today is played by about 90 million people around the world.

Gamer biography

Sour Victor was born in 1976. He was born on the territory of the Byelorussian SSR. After school he entered which he graduated with a degree in Laser Physics and Spectroscopy.

His first steps in the computer games market were the founding of the Game Stream company, which appeared in 1998. She immediately began to engage in the release of computer games. Her flagship projects include Operation Bagration, Massive Assault, DBA Online.

In the same year, he registered the Wargaming company, in which he took over as CEO.

Personal life

The personal life of a businessman has developed successfully. The hero of our article has a wife. Victor Kislyi and his wife are raising a son. At the same time, in financial terms, he is a very wealthy person. In 2016, Viktor Kisly's fortune exceeded one billion dollars. He himself reacted to this news calmly, noting only that he leads a very modest lifestyle, stressing that his task for the future is to create a high-quality conveyor for the production and sale of high-quality computer games around the world.

Now he has moved his company from Belarus to Cyprus, where tax legislation is favorable. World experts estimate the value of his company at $ 1.5 billion.

Introducing the world of computers

Viktor Kislyi himself says that his acquaintance with the world of computers began with a scientific laboratory in which his father worked. There he saw the first computer game - a primitive one, in which it was necessary to rule the kingdom.

Soon after, computer clubs sprang up, and the industry expanded rapidly. Together with all his friends and classmates, he went to a spaceship to run somewhere, to shoot at someone. It was mesmerizing.

First steps in business

Viktor Kislyi started his business as a student at the Belarusian State University. Now he recalls that it was on this education that his father insisted, for which he is immensely grateful to him today.

The young man's mathematical thinking was developed from childhood. It was not for nothing that his father sent him to a chess school in the first grade. The grandmaster from Viktor Kisly, whose photo is in this article, did not work out, but the ability to think clearly and competently remained for life.

When Victor graduated from high school, the Soviet Union was just falling apart. The most obvious thing was to get an accountancy education and start your own business. But then his father insisted that there would soon be too many accountants in the country, but few people would really be able to create and think. And this can be taught just at the Faculty of Physics of the Belarusian State University.

The education received there has helped in terms of business modeling.

The first game

Viktor Sour began writing his first game in 1996. He created it based on the well-known tabletop. There was no Internet then, so on the black screen it was only necessary to enter various squiggles.

The first online game was e-mail. It was a chess game played on the world map. The player made a move, the data was packed, attached to the email, and sent to the server. There, everything was already unpacked and sent to the player the changed situation. This game was relatively small, but was already considered an online multiplayer game.

DBA

In 1998, Viktor Kisly, whose biography is given in this article, began developing a new game. Even then, the realization came that a successful project should be tied to a certain situation or event, people should understand the atmosphere in which they are immersed.

In this project, he exploited board games popular in narrow circles, for participation in which it was necessary to acquire exact copies of soldiers from different armies: Macedonians, Romans.

This was followed by another 12 varied games... The loudest of these was Massive Assault. She became one of the world's first three-dimensional turn-based strategies. In the universe of this game, there were helicopters of the future, tanks, ships and at the heart of a deeply developed mathematical concept that provided pleasure from the dynamics and development of the plot.

During the battle with a serious enemy, you had to turn on strategic thinking master tactics. It was simply impossible to win with one thing. This was the first project that was able to enter the Western market.

"Operation" Bagration "

The next significant success was the game "Operation Bagration."

Wargaming.net, a holding company for the development and promotion of multiplayer Internet games (free-to-play MMO) World of Tanks, World of Warplanes, World of Warships, Wargaming Group (Cyprus), Game Stream, Persha Studia (Ukraine), Lesta Studio (Russia), Wargaming Europe (France), Wargaming America (USA), Wargaming Chicago-Baltimore (USA), Wargaming Seattle (USA), Wargaming Korea (South Korea), Wargaming Asia (Singapore), Wargaming CTG (BigWorld) ( Australia), Wargaming Japan (Japan), Wargaming Austin (USA), Wargaming Taipei (Taiwan);

Melsoft (Melesta Games), development and promotion of games for mobile devices;

Hellenic Bank (Cyprus), bank;

President (Cyprus), an office center in Nicosia;

shares in the developer and publisher of web games KongZhong (China), Kamcord (USA), the European venture fund Seed Fund, Hitbox (Austria).

Social activities, hobbies

Co-author of the initiative We Remember Everything (pomnimvse.org), within the framework of which joint projects with museums of armored vehicles are being implemented, the company acted as the official information partner of the 2014 World Tank Biathlon Championship in the Moscow Region, and was awarded the Medal for Labor Merit.

Persons

Vladimir Kislyi (co-owner of Wargaming.net, father), Nikolai Katselapov and Ivan Mikhnevich (co-owners and top managers of Wargaming.net), Valery Tsepkalo (head of the Hi-Tech Park), Sergey Galenkin (leading consultant at Wargaming.net, ex-manager of 1C- Softclub and Nival), Mathias Millerinn (top manager of Wargaming.net, ex-head of the Finnish studio Remedy Entertainment), Nikolay Nebyshinets (ex-director of PR and marketing at Wargaming.net), Alexey Meleshkevich (founder of Melesta Games), David Bloom ( head of WG Cells, former director of DropForge Games).

Facts

In mid-2014 for the popularization of Belarus through computer games and personal contribution to the development of this industry in his homeland Viktor Kislyi was awarded a state award - the Medal for Labor Merit. According to the official regulations on the award, it is awarded to citizens, including for useful inventions and rationalization proposals.

In 2012, the company's revenue was $ 220 million. In 2013 and the first half of 2014, Wargaming.net ignored the publication of financial statements. As a result, in the spring of 2014, the Cyprus Stock Exchange (CSE) suspended trading in Wargaming Public Company securities, and in 2015 delisted its shares.

The Wargaming.net company entered the stock exchange in 2011. We did not have and do not have an idea to conduct an IPO and the like. We ourselves decided to take on additional obligations imposed by our presence on the exchange. In order not to relax. The exchange is small, but there are rules. We voluntarily went to this exchange, no one pulled us there by force, no sales of shares, etc., take place, we do not attract capital through the sale of shares. But we are there, and we are obliged at least once in some time to submit some reports, press releases, etc., we cannot do something illegally, there is a special commission for securities and investments, which monitors our every step, - this is how Viktor Kislyi commented for the media on the history of the company's listing on the stock exchange.

The revenue of the game World of Tanks, received in 2013, was calculated by the research company SuperData: 372 million dollars. According to this indicator, Belarusian "tanks" took the fourth place in the world gaming industry. According to SuperData estimates, the business's revenue for the 2014 operating year was more than $ 500 million, with a forecast for revenue in 2015 of $ 590 million.

In December 2015, Minsk hosted the largest CIS developer conference DevGaMM, for which the specialized Russian gaming resource vc.ru prepared the top 60 leading figures in the CIS gaming business. Viktor Kislyi took second place in the list, behind the head of Nival - Russian Sergey Orlovsky.

V Lately Wargaming.net studios were preparing for the launch of new free-to-play MMOs - mobile World of Tanks Blitz and World of Warships. Their official releases were released at the end of 2014 and 2015, respectively. At the same time, the Belarusian company acquired the rights to the cult space strategy Master of Orion, the restart of which is entrusted to the outsourcing of the Argentinean company NGD Studios.

At the beginning of 2015, the company structure was replenished with a new office - Wargaming Taipei started operating in the capital of Taiwan. At the same time, as part of the restructuring of the Ukrainian business, the development office in Kharkov was closed. His employees were transferred to the Kiev office of Persha Studia and to Minsk. Nevertheless, the Wargaming.net staff in Ukraine has grown in 2015. By the middle of last year, the company ranked 15th in the local IT industry in terms of the number of employees.

During 2014-2015 Wargaming. net has invested in several core businesses and start-ups in Europe and Asia, and participated with Zynga and Nexon in the creation of the European gambling fund Seed Fund.

In mid-2015, a strategic partnership between Wargaming was announced. net and a major Belarusian developer of games for mobile platforms - Melesta Games. The Melesta portfolio, founded by Aleksey Meleshkevich in 2007, includes such recognizable projects as Farm Frenzy and Toy Defense. As part of the alliance, Melesta is tasked with developing games, and Wargaming. net will take care of promoting them.

For the development of the segment of mobile gaming projects in the fall of 2015 within the framework of Wargaming. net, a special division was created - WG Cells. It is chaired by David Bloom, former head of US mobile game developer DropForge Games. An innovative laboratory, WG Labs, was also created, whose task is to test and develop non-standard projects. At the same time, it is open to both Wargaming employees. net and for external commands.

At the end of 2015, Nikolay Nebyshinets, PR and Marketing Director, who was one of the founders of the business, announced his retirement from the company. Various positions at Wargaming. net, well-known experts Mathias Millerinn (ex-head of Remedy Entertainment), David Bloom (former director of DropForge Games), Keith Anderson (ex-head of marketing at Lionhead Studios) were invited. Sergei Galenkin, a well-known expert in the gaming business in the CIS, has become the leading consultant of the company.

photo from the personal archive of V. Kisly / vedomosti.ru