The Tokyo Game Show in Japan is Asia’s premiere exposition, letting gamers discover all the latest information about current and upcoming releases. Each year, thousands flock to the island to play, soak up the culture, and take part in all the exciting events the expo has to offer. This year’s show was attended by just under 300,000 people and 480 companies from 37 countries. This year, Wargaming had some huge announcements set to make waves. We’re here recapping all the goings on.
As always, Wargaming made its presence known at the expo with a Panzer IV parked up outside the entrance to the Makuhari Messe center. On the opening day, Wargaming CEO Victor Kislyi took to the stage to announce the official launch of World of Warships. As a special treat for anime fans, Wargaming announced its collaboration with “Arpeggio of Blue Steel”. The anime hit will be making its mark in World of Warships in the form of 4 “Arpeggio of Blue Steel” ships—Myoko, Kongo, Kirishima, Haruna—with characters from the anime as commanders. There will also be a special Arpeggio Port (Yokosuka), and fans had the chance to get some hands-on time with all these features at TGS far ahead of the official release.
Not content with just showing World of Warships off to the world, Victor was proud to announce that World of Tanks will be bringing its hit combat formula to the PlayStation®4. Wargaming’s CEO was joined on stage by members of Sony Computer Entertainment, showing just what this means for free-to-play on consoles.
One of the gaming sounds at the Wargaming booth
World of Tanks on PlayStation®4 has been specifically adapted for the console, supporting DUALSHOCK®4 controllers, Share Play, PlayStation®Vita Remote Play and Live Streaming. It will also feature some exclusive “Girls und Panzer” content and themes at launch. Players can experience the unique “Girls und Panzer” mod, featuring branded tanks, a stylized garage, voice overs, and exclusive tank camouflages.
Wargaming’s TGS booth featured two special gaming zones dedicated to our anime collaborations: World of Tanks and “Girls und Panzer”, World of Warships and “Arpeggio of Blue Steel” were available for players to test drive. The Arpeggio room was designed to look as if visitors were stepping on board a ship; the Panzer room was just like jumping into a tank.
Some familiar anime faces
With every Wargaming booth, there has to be a stage show, and this year was no different. There was “Vs Wargaming battles”, where visitors could challenge members of the Wargaming team, including Victor. Visitors had the chance to talk with the producers and the main actress, Mai Fuchigami, from both “Arpeggio of Blue Steel” and “Girls und Panzer”. They could also chat with our partners from Fine Molds, producers of model tanks, which we recently collaborated with on World of Tanks’ new Japanese line. For the anime fans out there, there were live performances of songs from the anime “Arpeggio of Blue Steel”, sung by three of the main actors.
Finally, rock band Artema, who recently collaborated with Wargaming, played a live set, including the special track “Roll Out!” written just for World of Tanks. Check out the video below, but be warned: it gets loud!