Uralvagonzavod (Russian Tank Company) to Promote Armored Warfare

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SS: I highlighted the interesting parts.

Source: Moscow Times

Russia’s flagging tank maker UralVagonZavod, or UVZ, is boosting its cyber-image by partnering with online video game makers, Russian media reported Monday.

UVZ, based in the Urals city of Nizhny Tagil, became the byword for blue-collar conservatism in Russia after a company worker pledged on live television in 2011 to lead his colleagues in a crackdown on anti-Kremlin protests spearheaded by young computer-savvy urbanites.

But now the state-run corporation is eyeing the same demographics it previously lambasted: UVZ will promote its brand among young audiences by getting its tanks featured in video games, the RBC.ru news website said.

UVZ’s virtual tanks will debut in Mail.ru Group’s localized version of the U.S.-made massively multiplayer online, or MMO, game “Armored Warfare,” the report said.

The tank maker will oversee the design and provide audio recordings of tank sounds for the game.

UVZ and Mail.ru Group did not return repeated calls for comment Monday.

Kommersant cited UVZ’s executives as saying that teaming up with game developers will boost the company’s brand and attract a young audience of potential military-industrial complex employees.

Game makers sometimes partner with equipment makers if a game features things like cars or airplanes, said Nikolai Baryshnikov, head of the gaming department at software company 1C.

“This is normal practice,” Baryshnikov said.

1C has worked with aircraft maker Ilyushin and truck producers for its own projects, Baryshnikov said by telephone Monday.

But he dismissed media reports that 1C was actively engaged in any collaboration with UVZ.

Endorsement with UVZ will help the upcoming “Armored Warfare” take on market leader “World of Tanks,” said Gevorg Akopyan, a gaming analyst who works at Russian video game magazine Igromania.

“World of Tanks” maker Wargaming.net cooperates with the Kubinka Tank Museum in the Moscow region — an iconic brand for tank lovers — and affiliation with UVZ would help Mail.ru Group redress that balance, Akopyan said.

The Belarus-made “World of Tanks” beat the mammoth “World of Warcraft” — arguably the world’s best known MMO — in terms of revenue last year.

Wargaming.net has co-staged cybersport championships with UVZ since 2011, but has not featured modern tanks in its games, which are set during World War II.

Akopyan was skeptical about UVZ’s declared goal of brand promotion through video games.

“People who buy games do not buy tanks,” he said.

UVZ produces a range of equipment, from rolling stock to broadcast seeders, but is most famous for its tanks, including the T-72 and T-90.

The company’s net profit shrunk 21 times year-on-year in 2013 to 448 million rubles ($13 million).

UVZ has ramped up promotion efforts aimed at the general public in recent months, launching its own clothing line and holding crash courses for soldiers in tank biathlon, the Defense Ministry’s own publicity project aimed at popularizing the tank forces.

38 thoughts on “Uralvagonzavod (Russian Tank Company) to Promote Armored Warfare”

  2. I’m confused, “Armored warfare” is developed by Obsidian entertainment, isn’t it?
    Mail.ru have the browser copy/paste of WoT, for which Wargaming will probably be facing them in court.

    • Yes and Obsidian is an American company. So seems given how patriotic the Russians are; it seems strange a Russian tanks company would promote a foreign tank game when WoT & WT are both Russian.

            • LOL :D I will not ask what other shit you learn/learned in school ;) All regions of Europe seems to have its own history version ;)

          • @Jukelo

            So you consider Austria a smaller version of Germany
            Canada a more polite version of America
            N.Korea = S.Korea
            etc etc

            Yeah, really… tell me again how BR = RU

            • Let’s wait a while and you’ll see what Putin does ;) . And with what Lukashenko does and says, whole world thinks that Belarussians don’t want to have their own country anyway…

    • War Thunder is Russian.
      WoT is not.

      WoT most DEFINITELY does not have Russian bias too.
      WT… IS-4 vs fantasy Tiger that cant scrath the paint of IS-4… yeah…

      • You obviously haven’t been playing WoT long enough to remember when that is exactly what it was…except the IS-4 had extra armor and mobility, the 130mm gun, and crazy gun depression…

        • Yep; before the ufp nerf, it was widely considered BEST tier 9 tank and comparable to IS-7.

        • Uhmmm…
          I’ve been in WoT since early closed Beta mate :)
          IS-4 Always had 140 UFP and beforre it had 160 drivers hatch. It said 160 in stats. Now driver hatch is 200

    • Obsidian will probably outsource the local operation of the game (including marketing, tech support, financial services) to Mail.ru.

      Obsidian are correct to presume that only local businesses can be effective in Russia (which is unfortunately home to like 3/4 of World’s tank game audience). Russia is an extremely corrupt country with opaque laws which sometimes are enforced with full force of the means available to the government (this includes armed assaults by special forces and search&seizure operations) and other times completely ignored.

      Basically – if you are doing business in Russia and you are not a well-connected Russian, you will get screwed over hard and without any lubrication whatsoever.

  3. “People who buy games do not buy tanks,” he said.

    Since that screenshot of Medvedevs computer with the WOT forum bookmark I’m not so sure about that anymore

  4. Am i becoming a AW fanboy? Perhaps.
    BUT, what i can assure you is that devs actually speak with the players, they joke with you, they talk with you about WoT and other tanks games…Does WoT/WG allow that?

    Sure the game won’t be perfect, but it may change the tank mmos. They announced PVE missions, Co-Op missions, and oh, NO premium ammo.

    Also, why do you play WoT? Just to get some iconic tanks, OR to get the cool looking top tiers, right? In AW most tanks are cool looking..and the Leo1 and such are the starting tanks…

    • How are they going to generate revenue without either a subscription model or some P2W micro-transactions?

      • Premium tanks, premium account, pay for customisations (decals, cammo) there is a chance you’ll be able to buy pve scenarios.

        • I only need my MS-1, Schneider CA1, Little Willie, female Mark I, Günther Burstyn’s Motorgeschütz, A7V, Ford M1918. Any game that does not have AT LEAST 1 of them are sh*t even if they have giant mechas and exoskeleton tonks.