World of Tanks developer Wargaming has announced an update to its free-to-play gaming portal that may alter the way players make use of its online economy. Set to go live sometime during the open beta phase of the tank-blasting title's sister game, World of Warplanes , what's being called the Unified Premium Account should allow benefits earned in one Wargaming world to be used in any other.
A 7-day premium account in World of Tanks currently goes for 1250 of the game's gold, or in-game currency. This will cost you $6.95 in real-world money, but in return you earn experience points and credit at a higher rate and get a speed boost to the research of new tanks and upgrades. The Wargaming.net premium status would then also apply to accounts in the upcoming World of Warplanes as well as in World of Warships, which currently rests in a pre-beta state. Wargaming could be poised to benefit tremendously from the popularity and player-base of its World of Tanks universe as each new title appears.
Obviously it's not clear yet if the gameplay experience that Wargaming offers will carry players from tanks to planes to warships, but unifying the economic system—a sensitive interface in any free-to-play game—should offer tankers some continuity if they take to the air or the sea in search of new challenges. For more information on Wargaming, check out Tom Senior's detailed look at the developer's history .
