World of Tanks players aren't happy about the game's Steam debut

Hear that rumbling? That's the sound of an armoured column making its way to a new battlefield, as F2P tank-battler World of Tanks arrives on Steam.

After over a decade running via its own launcher, World of Tanks made its march on Steam earlier today. The new version is exactly the same as WoT's existing client, offering full crossplay between Steam and current PC players, but progress and accounts aren't carried between the two—if you wanna play on Steam, you'll have to start from scratch.

That's something that appears to have gone down poorly with the game's community, mind. The game's Steam reviews are currently swamped with existing players unhappy at the prospect of having to create a new account to play on Steam—despite the Steam client still installing the existing Wargaming launcher and asking new players to create an account.

World of Tanks' Steam debut is at least joined by a special event running April 30 through May 3rd, granting 4x XP to Steam players on their first win in each vehicle. Wargaming has also introduced a number of missions to speed up research training and offer rewards to get you through your first few days.

Correction: A previous version of this story incorrectly suggested another Wargaming title, World Of Warships, allowed you to link Steam and Wargaming accounts.

20 years ago, Nat played Jet Set Radio Future for the first time, and she's not stopped thinking about games since. Joining PC Gamer in 2020, she comes from three years of freelance reporting at Rock Paper Shotgun, Waypoint, VG247 and more. Embedded in the European indie scene and a part-time game developer herself, Nat is always looking for a new curiosity to scream about—whether it's the next best indie darling, or simply someone modding a Scotmid into Black Mesa. She also unofficially appears in Apex Legends under the pseudonym Horizon.