World of Tanks Blitz, the mobile adaptation of the popular PC tank battler, has shown off new skins for their latest dinosaur-themed set.
Four of the game’s tanks will receive dino-themed cosmetics, available as both single purchases and as rewards. These skins include unique 3D animations that are activated at certain moments during gameplay. This is a major change to World of Tanks Blitz’ usual cosmetic line-up as it incorporates new 3D animations not previously seen in the mobile game.
Wargaming.net 3D artist Roman Kuzmichev explained why 3D-effect skins were preferred over 2D for this event. “The main difference between 2D and 3D skin is that with a 2D skin we can change only the basic texture of the tank but a 3D skin opens up to us great opportunities to implement ideas. We can change not only the basic texture, but also add additional elements with animations and effects, and also remove elements from the original tank, which may not fit in the final image of the skin. For example, on the skins from the Mesozoic collection we removed machine guns and the inventory of the tank crew, shovels, ropes and so on.”
Cosmetics are one common reward in World of Tanks Blitz, and mirror the experience on PC. Although due to the graphical limitations of mobile these have typically been somewhat less important. However, over the past few years with holiday-themed events and more, Wargaming are slowly stretching the technical limitations of mobile to offer a more PC-like experience for players.
Blitz of cosmetics
It’s been somewhat of a rough year in 2022 for Wargaming, as the company began divesting itself from its home territory of Belarus in the wake of the Ukraine conflict. However, with a bevy of new events in World of Tanks, it seems the company is still committed to growing the brand that helped it make its name.
Most recently the game launched a Terminator 2 event, themed after the classic film. World of Tanks Blitz actually served as the testbed, with Blitz seeing the first release of cosmetics before the event came to PC. Having this event come to mobile first is an interesting case where mobile seems to be the priority for Wargaming. Whether that means we’ll see more of an interesting divergence in future could hinge on how well the game continues to perform in 2023.