The Russian invasion of Ukraine is still ongoing, affecting millions of lives in one of the most populous European nations. World of Tanks' creator Wargaming has a branch right in besieged Kyiv, and has just offered a substantial donation to the Ukrainian Red Cross, while at the same time supporting its employees in the war-torn country.

Wargaming is most famous for being the mind behind World of Tanks, a vehicular combat MMO which, since its debut in 2010, has heavily influenced the genre. World of Tanks employs a "freemium" business model, with the base game content being offered for free, and the players having the option of buying premium features, such as faster leveling. In the game, each player controls an armored vehicle, with models spanning from the interwar era, up to early cold-war tanks. Aside from World of Tanks, Wargaming has developed the 2016 Master of Orion remake Master of Orion: Conquer the Stars.

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Ukraine is home to several development studios, many of them being impacted by the war. Wargaming has even deeper ties to the international crisis, being itself headquartered in Russian-aligned Belarus, while having one of its branches in Kyiv. The company is already making extraordinary effort in supporting more than 550 employees caught in Ukraine by the war, with measures such as providing early salary payments, granting additional travel funds, and even offering alternate housing possibilities. Yesterday, Wargaming announced another move, a donation of $1 million to the Ukrainian Red Cross, while pledging additional help if the crisis is not resolved.

The donation comes at a time when large parts of the country are already occupied by Putin's army, while the war itself does not seem any close to stopping, with major cities such as Kharkiv and Kyiv fiercely resisting the invaders. Wargaming's effort isn't the only one coming from the gaming world, with the Polish studio CD Projekt Red having made a donation to a humanitarian organization that is helping the many refugees displaced by the conflict.

Many similar stories of selfless help to those in need are appearing in these dark days, and their collective impact must not be ignored. The fact that Wargaming itself is based in Belarus makes its help even more significant. Another tale of solidarity related to the gaming world tells us how a developer of ARMA 3 DLC was extracted from Ukraine thanks to his fellow colleagues.

The coming days will reveal if the war will escalate further, or if the parties will negotiate, at least, some sort of temporary ceasefire. The hope is that we'll soon stop reading of shelled cities, airstrikes, or civilians being forced to leave their homes.

World of Tanks is available now on PC, PS4, Switch, and Xbox One.

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Source: MMOBomb