World of Tanks announces the next nation to join the battle

World of Tanks is something of a misnomer. Yes, there are a lot of tanks, but a whole world of them? Not so much. That roster is expanding, though, with Wargaming announcing last week that Japan would become the seventh nation to join the increasingly absurd multi-cultural mechanical mayhem. Before you watch the teaser trailer, try to guess how many Japan-centric cliches it will include.

"The new Japanese tech tree will initially have two branches," claims the introductory post , "with a total of nine medium and five light tanks. Models will include the fabled Chi-Ri prototype, the first Japanese post-war design Type 61, the light Type 95 Ha-Go and the medium variants of the Chi-Ha. The Tier X medium tank will be the prototype of the ST-B, which was developed in the late 1950s."

Wargaming are yet to announce when we'll see the tanks added to the game, saying only that they'll arrive in "an upcoming patch". The most recent update, WoT 8.8 , added new designs to the existing nations' tech trees, and has now been released in all regions.

Phil has been writing for PC Gamer for nearly a decade, starting out as a freelance writer covering everything from free games to MMOs. He eventually joined full-time as a news writer, before moving to the magazine to review immersive sims, RPGs and Hitman games. Now he leads PC Gamer's UK team, but still sometimes finds the time to write about his ongoing obsessions with Destiny 2, GTA Online and Apex Legends. When he's not levelling up battle passes, he's checking out the latest tactics game or dipping back into Guild Wars 2. He's largely responsible for the whole Tub Geralt thing, but still isn't sorry.