Suggestion: A Long-Term “Emergency Offline Mode” for War Thunder
War Thunder has a huge amount of content and a progression system that can take many years to complete. Players spend years carefully and consistently unlocking vehicles, modifications, camouflage, and other content.
Because of this, I think there should be a way to protect players’ progress if the online service ever permanently ends, suffers a major failure, or becomes unavailable for any other serious reason.
My suggestion is to add an “Emergency Offline Mode” to War Thunder from the beginning.
How could it work?
Under normal circumstances, War Thunder would continue to work exactly as it does now.
However, the player’s last verified and synchronized account state could also be stored locally in a secure way.
This could include things such as:
- Unlocked vehicles
- Vehicle modifications
- Camouflages and other cosmetic content
- Research and progression
- Other relevant account data
If War Thunder’s online service ever permanently ends, this local data could be used to run an offline version of the game.
Instead of real players, battles could use AI-controlled bots. The maps, vehicles, weapons, physics, and core gameplay mechanics could remain available as much as possible.
Online features such as the economy, matchmaking, leaderboards, and other server-based systems would not need to work.
The goal would not be to create a new online service. The goal would simply be to preserve the game and the progress that players spent years building.
The activation system
There is an important problem with an offline mode: a temporary loss of internet connection must not be enough to activate it.
Otherwise, a player could simply disconnect their internet and use the offline version indefinitely while the servers are still operating normally.
Because of this, Emergency Offline Mode should require a special Emergency Activation Code.
The code would:
- Not be available during normal operation
- Be generated securely and randomly
- Only be released when the online service has permanently ended
- Be published through official Gaijin channels
For example:
- The official War Thunder website
- The official forum
- Official Discord
- Other official communication channels
Once the code is officially released, players could use it to activate Emergency Offline Mode.
This would clearly separate a player’s temporary internet problem from the actual permanent end of the service.
Making it part of the Terms of Service
I think this is one of the most important parts of the idea.
Emergency Offline Mode should not only exist technically. It should also be clearly included in the Terms of Service / EULA as a binding commitment.
For example, the agreement could contain a clause such as:
“If War Thunder’s online service is permanently discontinued, Gaijin shall release the Emergency Offline Mode activation code and enable the offline preservation functionality described herein.”
The agreement could also clearly define what counts as “permanent discontinuation” and under what conditions the activation code must be released.
This would prevent the system from depending entirely on Gaijin’s future goodwill.
If the service permanently ends and the conditions defined in the agreement are met, the release of the activation code would be an existing contractual obligation rather than simply an optional decision.
Protecting the local account data
The locally stored account data should also be protected against tampering.
For example, the last verified account state could be digitally signed by Gaijin.
This would allow the offline client to verify that the local account data was created from a legitimate, verified account state.
The purpose would not be to give players anything they did not legitimately earn. It would simply preserve the progress they already had when the online service was still operating.
Conclusion
The end of War Thunder’s online service should not necessarily mean the end of the progress that players spent years building.
An Emergency Offline Mode could be designed as a long-term preservation system without changing the normal online experience.
Players would still play War Thunder normally while the servers are active. But if the online service ever permanently disappears, they would have a way to keep using the vehicles, content, and progress they had already earned.
For a game as large and long-running as War Thunder, I think having this kind of final “backup plan” would be valuable for both the players and the game itself.
