Gaijin Entertainment's hit vehicular combat game War Thunder is currently undergoing a barrage of negative reviews that started pouring in over the last few days. Not even The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom avoided review bombs this month, but unlike Nintendo's latest Switch exclusive, War Thunder isn't facing player backlash that can be hand-waved away as a mere case of low-effort trolling.The reason for that dates back to some large-scale changes to the in-game economy that the War Thunder developer implemented earlier this month. The tweaks significantly nerfed the amount of the Silver Lions currency that fans were able to obtain through regular play. Gaijin also lowered Research Points rewards as part of the same revamp, consequently inhibiting the players' ability to merely unlock new vehicles for purchase without spending real-world money on Golden Eagles, the game's premium currency.The War Thunder community was apparently having none of it, as evidenced by over 65,000 negative reviews that have been posted by players on Steam since the economy tweaks first went live on May 17. This inpour of negative feedback that dwarfs the ongoing Redfall review-bombing efforts by several orders of magnitude is still showing no signs of slowing down as of Monday, even after Gaijin promised to cancel the controversial changes.
That vow aside, it would appear that many players took issue with the fact that the reversal wasn't immediate and unconditional. Instead, Gaijin said it's planning to revise the War Thunder economy with a mid-summer update, but communicate the changes in a more transparent manner and ahead of time.
In the meantime, many veteran players are still review-bombing the free-to-play game with claims that they can no longer afford to even repair their vehicles after matches, let alone research and purchase new units. Given that state of affairs, it's dubious whether beginner War Thunder players currently have any hope of ever catching up with the game's consistent influx of content.
This turn of events raises questions about the future of the free-to-play game just ahead of its tenth anniversary and only a few years after War Thunder made the jump to the PS5 and Xbox Series X/S. And while many players continue to call for immediate tweaks to the War Thunder economy that would make it more free-to-play-friendly, Gaijin insists that the sheer size of the game prevents it from rushing into any additional changes. The developer is also calling for all interested players to submit their feedback concerning the current state of War Thunder via a survey that will remain open until May 25.
War Thunder is available on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
Source: Steam, Gaijin Entertainment
