Developer Wargaming has just announced that their free-to-play MMO 3D tank shooter World of Tanks Blitz is now available for the Nintendo Switch via the Nintendo eShop.
World of Tank Blitz can be considered as sort of a little sibling to its PC and console counterpart World of Tanks, which released in 2010. Blitz is much more lightweight, both in terms of hardware needed to run it (World of Tanks Blitz is available on the Nintendo Switch, mobile devices, and PC) and for its gameplay. World of Tanks games have 15 vs. 15 battles that usually take 15 or so minutes. World of Tanks Blitz supports 7 vs. 7 battles that takes around half the time to finish.
News outlet VentureBeat had the chance to speak with Wargaming’s Thaine Lyman regarding the release of the tank shooter for the Nintendo Switch. Lyman said that Wargaming veered from the usual “alarm clock simulator” characteristics of mobile games and made sure that World of Tanks Blitz was a real game when it came out. “On the Switch, we are ready with cross-platform, and Nintendo made it very easy to develop for the platform. The performance is fine. It’s fair and balanced,” he added.
Regarding its performance on the Nintendo console, Lyman confirmed that the game will run at 30 frames per second in 720p resolution while in handheld mode. As for being hooked up to a TV, the game will be able to support 1080p resolution. Certain improvements have also been made for the Nintendo Switch since this is the first time that Wargaming has released World of Tanks Blitz for the console. “We had to do a lot of work on the controller as the input mechanism. We’ve improved the controller play to make it more appealing for mass market players to get in, get their bearings, understand what’s going on, and not just get their butt kicked by some super-pro who’s been playing for six years already,” Lyman said.
World of Tanks Blitz will not require Nintendo’s Switch Online membership subscription to play. Cross-play will also be entirely free across all platforms such as macOS, iOS, Android, Windows 10, and Steam.
