Gaijin Entertainment

Gaijin Entertainment is a Hungarian video game developer and publisher headquartered in Budapest.[1][2][3] The company is mostly known for War Thunder, Crossout, Star Conflict, CRSED: F.O.A.D. (formerly known as Cuisine Royale) and Enlisted.

This article is about the Hungarian game development company. For the American company formerly known as Gaijin Games, see Choice Provisions.

Gaijin Entertainment
TypePrivately held company
IndustryVideo game industry
Founded2002
Headquarters
Budapest, Hungary
Key people
Anton Yudintsev (Founder)
ProductsVideo games
Number of employees
201-500 (2023)
Websitegaijinent.com

History

Gaijin Entertainment was founded in Russia in 2002 by Anton and Kirill Yudintsev,[4] whose first big project was the PC racing game Adrenaline. After the successful launch of War Thunder in 2012, an office in Germany was established, to manage global operations and marketing.[5] The company moved their distribution business from Moscow to Budapest around 2015, and their development headquarters followed shortly after.[6] According to Hungarian tax records, Gaijin had 42 employees in Hungary by January 2022.[7]

Presently, all Gaijin online games are operated from Germany, Cyprus and Hungary,[5] while the development is scattered across Europe. The company has now six offices in total: in Karlsruhe (Germany), Larnaca (Cyprus), Budapest (Hungary), Riga (Latvia), Dubai (UAE) and Yerevan (Armenia).[8] The company has around 200 employees split between those offices, with 60 of them based at the Hungarian HQ.[6] While the company still hires people at Russian job websites, all their job listings are for candidates based in Hungary, Cyprus, Armenia, Georgia, Serbia or Montenegro.[9]

Gaijin Entertainment group generated 2.6% of all the Hungarian Software Industry profit in 2020.[10]

While Gaijin have produced a few single-player games in the 2000s, the company is now focused on free-to-play online titles. According to László Perneky, Gaijin's lead programmer, "Those who can decide on projects at the company mostly like to play multiplayer games".[11]

Origin of company name

Gaijin Entertainment name comes from the Japanese word for foreigner.[12] According to Anton Yudintsev, he was dreaming to enter the Japanese market one day while staying true to their roots as a European company and accept their position of an outsider there. Gaijin actually entered the Japanese market with the release of anime-style action game X-Blades in 2009.

Gaijin's logo features snail that is a reference to Issa Kobayashi 's haiku:

O snail

Climb Mount Fuji

But slowly, slowly!

Games
Game Developer Release year Description Platforms
Bumer: Sorvannye bashni Gaijin 2003 Game based on the movie Bimmer (2003) Windows
Adrenaline 2005[13] "Adrenaline is a game that successfully blends the genres of thrilling adrenaline-pumping racing and an economic management sim."[13] Windows[13]
X-Blades 2009 Fantasy game.[14] Windows, PS3, Xbox 360[14]
IL-2 Sturmovik: Birds of Prey World War II combat flight simulator.[15] Windows, PS3, Xbox 360
Anarchy: Rush Hour 2010 Arcade racing game.[16] PS3
Modern Conflict Mobile real time strategy game.[17] iOS, Android
Apache: Air Assault Combat flight simulation game based on the Apache AH-64D Longbow attack helicopter.[18] Windows, PS3, Xbox 360[18]
Braveheart Action-role-playing game.[19] iOS[19]
Blades of Time 2012 Spiritual successor of X-Blades, introducing a darker setting and more realistic tone. Windows, macOS, PS3, Xbox 360, Nintendo Switch[20]
Birds of Steel World War II combat flight simulator.[21] PS3, Xbox 360[21]
Star Conflict Star Gem. Space flight simulator MMO.[22][23] Windows, macOS, Linux, SteamOS[22]
War Thunder Gaijin 2013 20 and 21 century aerial, ground and naval vehicle simulator MMO.[24][25][26][27] Windows, macOS, Linux, PS4, Xbox One, Shield Android TV(discontinued), PS5, Xbox Series X/S[25]
Skydive: Proximity Flight Wingsuit simulator.[28] PS3, Xbox 360[28]
Crossout Targem Games 2016 A vehicular combat MMO currently in open beta. It is available as an early access release.[29] Windows, PS4, Xbox One, PS5, Xbox Series X/S
CRSED: F.O.A.D. DarkFlow Software 2018 Battle Royale Windows, Linux, PS4, Xbox One, PS5, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch
Enlisted 2020[30] First-person WWII shooter.[31][30] Windows, PS4, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, PS5
War Thunder Edge[32] (also known as War Thunder Mobile[33]) Gaijin 2023[34] 20 and 21 century aerial, ground and naval vehicle simulator MMO iOS, Android

Dagor Engine

The Dagor Engine is a proprietary game engine used by Gaijin Entertainment[35] in War Thunder, Enlisted, CRSED: F.O.A.D. and other titles. It was open sourced under permissive FOSS license in 2023.[36] The original version of the engine was developed by Gaijin Entertainment and in 2005 the separate company Dagor Technologies was established for continued development. Currently the engine incorporates technology such as the PhysX physics engine[37] and has been updated to version 6.5 since the release of War Thunder.[38] Gaijin's Hungarian office is responsible for the further development of the engine.[1]

Controversies

The company gained notoriety for pursuing legal action against the owner of gaijin.com, an unaffiliated website that predates the company by seven years.[39] The complaint expired and was automatically withdrawn in November 2013.[40]

On 21 June 2020, adult actress Eva Elfie was sponsored by Gaijin's War Thunder, which sparked light controversy within the community.[41] On 23 September 2022, an official Eva Elfie decal has been added to War Thunder,[42] further strengthening relations between Gaijin and the porn actress.

In January 2021, after the logos of War Thunder and Crossout were seen in a video by Donbas YouTube channel "High Caliber Mayhem", Gaijin was accused of indirectly financing pro-Russian separatists in the war in Donbas.[43][44][45] High Caliber Mayhem has denied any links to the separatist armed forces and published an explanation claiming that all the money from all advertisements on that channel were spent on humanitarian aid for civilians.[46] The video showing the War Thunder advertisement was removed from High Caliber Mayhem's YouTube channel.

In response to the controversy, Gaijin stated "We do not provide political support to anyone anywhere. We know nothing about politics and prefer to stay out of it. Our agency that ordered an ad in the video in question took it down when they realized they might drag us into a political discussion."[43][47]

Following an in-game economic change on the 16th of May 2023, a large amount of War Thunder players began revolting against the developers[48] by review bombing the game on multiple platforms, such as Steam and Google. Since the changes have been announced, there have been over 65,000 negative reviews on Steam, dropping the overall rating from "Mostly Positive" to "Mixed" and the recent rating from "Mostly Positive" to "Overwhelmingly Negative", as of May 22. In response, Gaijin has since reverted the planned economic change on May 18th,[49] posted statements regarding the issue and player progression on May 19th, discouraging players from participating in review bombing,[50][51] announced a revision of the economy for mid-summer 2023 and issued an apology.[52] Gaijin also removed Steam from the supported platforms on War Thunder's official website.[53] Steam hid the reviews [54] posted after May 19th and marked them off-topic as the update in question was no longer a part of the game starting from that date. Some players launched a subreddit called War Thunder Players Union and started campaigning[55] for 2 weeks of "strike action" starting on the Friday 26th of May 2023 and ending Thursday 8th of June 2023. War Thunder Player Union [56] had 14,900 members as of May 26th.

References
  1. "Budapesten is dolgoznak a War Thunderen és az Enlisteden - interjú". PlayDome.hu (in Hungarian). Retrieved 25 October 2022.
  2. "Az orosz fejlesztők államilag támogatott játékmotorral függetlenednének a nyugattól". GameStar (in Hungarian). Retrieved 20 July 2022.
  3. "Gaijin Entertainment | About". gaijinent.com. Retrieved 5 April 2022.
  4. "15 лет Gaijin Entertainment. Путь от "Бумера: Сорванные башни" до War Thunder". www.igromania.ru (in Russian). Retrieved 24 March 2021.
  5. "Gaijin Entertainment | Terms of service". gaijinent.com. Retrieved 24 March 2021.
  6. ""A videójáték-fejlesztésnek mindig is a gamerek voltak a lelkei"". 24.hu (in Hungarian). 18 September 2022. Retrieved 26 September 2022.
  7. "Gaijin Games Kft short credit report". ceginformacio.hu. Retrieved 8 February 2023.
  8. "Locations - Gaijin Entertainment". gaijinent.com. Retrieved 1 June 2022.
  9. "Работа в Москве, поиск персонала и публикация вакансий - hh.ru". hh.ru (in Russian). Retrieved 18 November 2022.
  10. "Halsperma-minősítéstől az űrbe: a közbeszerzési bajnok 4iG útja a legnagyobb magyar cégek közé | G7 - Gazdasági sztorik érthetően" (in Hungarian). 3 December 2021. Retrieved 5 April 2022.
  11. "Gaijin Entertainment-interjú, Perneky Lászlóval". PC Guru (in Hungarian). Retrieved 15 August 2022.
  12. "【TGS 2017】『War Thunder』開発"Gaijin Entertainment"CEOインタビュー―社名の由来や海軍について聞いた". Game*Spark - 国内・海外ゲーム情報サイト (in Japanese). Retrieved 10 February 2023.
  13. "Adrenaline". Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 29 January 2016.
  14. "X-Blades". Archived from the original on 24 November 2015. Retrieved 23 November 2015.
  15. "IL-2 STURMOVIK: BIRDS OF PREY". 1C Publishing. Archived from the original on 24 November 2015. Retrieved 23 November 2015.
  16. "Adrenaline: Rush Hour". Archived from the original on 20 July 2016. Retrieved 29 January 2016.
  17. "Modern Conflict". Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 29 January 2016.
  18. "THE GAME". Archived from the original on 7 November 2010. Retrieved 23 November 2015.
  19. "Game info". Gaijin Entertainment. Archived from the original on 3 March 2016. Retrieved 29 January 2016.
  20. "About game". Archived from the original on 4 February 2015. Retrieved 23 November 2015.
  21. "The game". Archived from the original on 23 November 2015. Retrieved 23 November 2015.
  22. "Star Conflict". Archived from the original on 24 November 2015. Retrieved 23 November 2015.
  23. "Star Conflict for PC Reviews". Metacritic. CBS Interactive Inc. Archived from the original on 21 January 2019. Retrieved 2 November 2018.
  24. "War Thunder - Next-Gen MMO Combat Game for PC, Mac, Linux and PlayStation®4 | Play for free now! - About the Game". warthunder.com. Retrieved 20 August 2021.
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  27. Zacny, Rob (7 August 2014). "WAR THUNDER REVIEW". PC Gamer. Future Publishing Limited. Archived from the original on 18 June 2018. Retrieved 2 November 2018.
  28. "Skydive: Proximity Flight". Archived from the original on 24 December 2015. Retrieved 29 January 2016.
  29. Farokhmanesh, Megan (20 May 2015). "War Thunder dev announces 'Motorstorm meets Mad Max: Fury Road' MMO Crossout". Polygon. Archived from the original on 24 May 2015. Retrieved 20 May 2015.
  30. "Enlisted". gamepressure.com. GRY-OnLine S.A. Archived from the original on 3 December 2018. Retrieved 2 November 2018.
  31. "Enlisted - MMO squad-based shooter". Enlisted. Gaijin Network Ltd. Archived from the original on 4 December 2018. Retrieved 2 November 2018.
  32. GamingLyfe.com (16 November 2022). "Military action Online Game War Thunder Edge Prepares for Beta". GamingLyfe.com - Gaming News, Esports News, Gaming Community. Retrieved 21 April 2023.
  33. Vaghela, Naimish (11 March 2023). "War Thunder Mobile's Pre-Registration For Android Has Been Launched". Gamervines. Retrieved 21 April 2023.
  34. GamingLyfe.com (16 November 2022). "Military action Online Game War Thunder Edge Prepares for Beta". GamingLyfe.com - Gaming News, Esports News, Gaming Community. Retrieved 17 November 2022.
  35. "Gaijin Entertainment | About". Archived from the original on 24 March 2016. Retrieved 17 March 2016.
  36. "DagorEngine/LICENSE at main · GaijinEntertainment/DagorEngine". GitHub. Retrieved 18 October 2023.
  37. "3D Engine: Dagor Engine". Moby Games. Archived from the original on 25 March 2022. Retrieved 25 March 2022.
  38. "Dagor Engine 6.5: new graphic features". Archived from the original on 25 March 2022. Retrieved 25 March 2022.
  39. "Gaijin Entertainment Ridiculous Demands". Techdirt.com. Archived from the original on 17 January 2014. Retrieved 16 January 2014.
  40. "overview of lawsuit finale". 27 January 2014. Archived from the original on 4 April 2014. Retrieved 2 April 2014.
  41. Парни о работе в порно (Oliver Trunk, Leon13, Devils Kos, Ryan Moore) — Eva Elfie, archived from the original on 14 December 2021, retrieved 18 November 2021
  42. "How to get Eva Elfie rare decal in War Thunder — Escorenews". escorenews.com. Retrieved 27 September 2022.
  43. "Видавець гри War Thunder купує рекламу в відео з бойовиками "ДНР"".
  44. Allen, Joseph (4 January 2021). "War Thunder Mired In Controversy After Advertiser Sponsors Pro-Russian Militants". TechRaptor. Retrieved 21 March 2022.
  45. Maher, Cian (4 January 2021). "Russian War Thunder Publisher Gaijin Entertainment Sponsors Anti-Ukrainian YouTube Channel". TheGamer. www.thegamer.com. Retrieved 21 March 2022.
  46. "Вот на что мы тратим монетизацию / This is what we spend monetization on". YouTube. Archived from the original on 14 December 2021.
  47. L, Albert (5 January 2021). "Gaijin Entertainment Responds To Allegations Of Funding Donbass Separatists". Overt Defense.
  48. "War Thunder 'Revises' Economy, Fans Review-Bomb Game To Hell". Kotaku. 25 May 2023. Retrieved 26 May 2023.
  49. "Server Update 16.05.2023 - REVERTED - Updates - Game - War Thunder". warthunder.com. Retrieved 26 May 2023.
  50. "How progression and economy is built in F2P games and War Thunder in particular". warthunder.com. Retrieved 26 May 2023.
  51. "Revising the economy". warthunder.com. Retrieved 26 May 2023.
  52. "[Development] Economy Revision". warthunder.com. Retrieved 26 May 2023.
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  54. Howarth, Jack (25 May 2023). "Steam hides recent War Thunder reviews amid economy scandal". WePC | Let's build your dream gaming PC. Retrieved 26 May 2023.
  55. Co, Alex (23 May 2023). "War Thunder Community Lashes Out at Devs After Economy Changes, Calls for In-Game Strike on May 26". MP1st. Retrieved 26 May 2023.
  56. "r/WarthunderPlayerUnion". reddit. Retrieved 26 May 2023.
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