America Woes - Anonymous employee Wargaming Employee Review

WG's Emeryville office has closed and American operations will now be based in Chicago and Austin. Some details here may not reflect the current situation, but many aren't isolated to one place anyway. • WGA is powerless in a way that could only come from Eastern Europe. For example: products/projects we were alerted about and pushed to produce for much too late, then sometimes would fizzle out months later; the overseas offices talking with American companies (I.e., movie studios) for promotions while WGA remains a lapdog; held back from entire products (Warships Blitz); Europe/Russia-specific fan events with big news that WGA only gets to hear about and maybe report on...and so much more! The office was also frequently at odds with the Chicago development studio, which often pushed to shepherd promoting their own game despite common sense, but now they get to live their fantasy, so kudos. • On that note, every interaction with overseas is coated in the old Soviet mentality of meeting quota, period. When other reviews mention poor company culture, this is the real reason why. There is no such thing as slowing down, just an unending routine of putting out patches every month with the same old song and dance. No one will hear that maybe there doesn't *need* to be a patch every month, or that they could get all offices on the same page before springing another new campaign (or entire product) on us. "Growing pains" does not explain this away; this is a cultural mountain that will not move until trust and autonomy are established. And Wargaming has been more than big enough, for enough years, to facilitate both of those by now. • So much sideways movement it's like a line dance. Managers slide from product to product, most stuck being assistant producers while only external hires get to be seniors; "coordinators" become "specialists" and the title is the only change. Even interns couldn't find a way back in! • Creative initiatives meant to lift everyone up inevitably die in the water, partly because they're from an outdated playbook. There were several attempts at regular livestreams and podcasts, the former always "launching" before petering out after a month. Meanwhile WGA rides the coattails of a small number of devoted yet volatile fans that can produce without restraints. To be fair that's not all WGA's fault: the competition keeps growing and the days of World of Tanks getting above the fold on Twitch are long gone. • Execs never chime in, which is ironic for Kislyi considering his rambling press interviews. So unless you have an office with a closing door, there's no credible idea how the company is actually doing. You'll only see an email from Kislyi if there's a new exec hired or leaving, and he's visited the office (as in came to say hi to everyone) maybe twice in 4 years. Even if things are steady and there's little to talk about, there's still no talking. • The news in December 2017 that WGA's Emeryville office was closing and moving to Chicago was met with few people deciding to transfer. The company's hasty response was to only send admin of the console product to Chicago, and redirect publishing of all other products to the Austin office, but without the Chicago relocation benefits and now having to reapply for your job (probably a cinch, but still a chore). A clear message about how much they really care about their American operations. Do not look to Wargaming for excitement or growth in the game business. There's so little to do with so little market penetration outside Europe that WGA might as well go back to being an office of four. But WG continues to make money all over, so of course management can continue going through the motions. It's great as a stopgap job for managers from dead studios, or a way for local gamers to earn a few bucks toiling in customer support, but that results in yet another corporate case of everyone else stuck in the middle.