Obsidian Entertainment, the studio behind Fallout: New Vegas, South Park: The Stick of Truth and Pillars of Eternity, is working on a free-to-play PvP game of armored combat.
When I think of Obsidian Entertainment, I generally think of RPGs, and some pretty good ones too, from Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II to, hopefully, the Infinity Engine-inspired Pillars of Eternity. What I don’t think of is a World of Tanks-style online armored combat sim – or at least, I haven’t until now.
In defiance of all (or at least my) expectations, Obsidian has announced a partnership with online communications and entertainment company My.com to create Armored Warfare, an “online multiplayer modern tank combat game.” The My.com website says players will take command of their own private military corporations, develop bases, collect and upgrade modern military vehicles and take them into PvP battles against other players. It also hints at some kind of PvE action, saying players can “team up with friends to take on challenging missions.”
It’s surprising that a studio best known for making RPGs would be involved in a project like this, but it might prove to be financially lucrative. My.com is part of Mail.ru, the largest internet company in the Russian-speaking world, with more than 100 million users, and that’s a market, to paint with a very broad brush, that goes for this kind of game in a big way: World of Tanks is something of a niche title in this neighborhood but late last year reported more than 75 million registered users, the bulk of whom are Russian.
Armored Warfare is still listed as “coming soon” on My.net, but Obisidian’s site suggests that the beta process will begin soon.
