I’ve put a lot of hours into War Thunder. I’ve seen its highs — moments of intense, strategic gameplay that remind you why this game had so much potential — and I intimately know the lows. But lately, it’s impossible to ignore the truth: this game is being run into the ground by the people managing it.
Gaijin continues to make decisions that alienate their player base. Updates break more than they fix, matchmaking feels suspiciously lopsided, and the monetization model grows more aggressive with every event. It’s not just pay-to-progress — it’s starting to feel like pay-to-participate.
Community feedback is routinely ignored or hand-waved away. When players raise valid concerns, they’re often met with silence — or worse, vague moderation that feels less like enforcement and more like censorship. Rules are applied inconsistently, and criticism — even when respectful — is sometimes treated like a threat.
The recent Terms of Service update, which includes the potential deletion of accounts due to inactivity, sends a clear message: your time and money here are conditional. That’s not just concerning — it’s unacceptable for a game that claims to be free-to-play while heavily relying on user spending.
At this point, it’s hard to tell if the developers are unaware of the issues, overwhelmed by them, or simply don’t care as long as the revenue keeps flowing. The game feels like it’s held together by duct tape, and every patch just shakes the foundation more. It’s as if a group of interns are playing Jenga with the code, praying to the machine god that players won’t notice how broken everything is.
War Thunder should be the best in its class. Instead, it’s become a cautionary tale — a game with incredible core mechanics, held hostage and actively sabotaged by the very people meant to improve it.
Unless there’s a serious change in direction — in how feedback is handled, how updates are tested, and how the community is treated — I cannot in good conscience recommend this game to anyone.
Final Game Score: 0/10