Press releases

MINSK, 31 July (BelTA) – A map of Minsk the way the Belarusian capital city looked in the 1960s will soon be added to the online game World of Tanks. The developers presented the map in the old Minsk City Hall on 31 July, BelTA has learned.

Yuri Kuryavy, Director for CIS at Wargaming Company, the developer of World of Tanks, said: “We’ve been nursing the idea for some time. Naturally, Belarusian developers wanted to present Minsk before the entire world. It is an opportunity for us to add the Belarusian capital city to the multitude of cities gamers have been able to explore thanks to the virtual world. A team of over 45 people has worked to create the map virtually from scratch. Using historic documents they recreated a nearly perfect map over the course of ten months. The map includes such places of interest as the Victory Monument, Gorky Park, Yanka Kupala Park, a bridge over the Svisloch River, and many other things. The map is very detailed. More than 95% of the objects have been created specifically for this map and are not used in any other location.”

The Minsk city virtual map from Wargaming will be the first map to introduce gamers to a realistic view of the Belarusian capital city. However, the virtual map differs from the real city in some ways to make gaming more convenient. The company’s own specialists and outside experts vouchsafe for the authenticity of the map. The 1960-1970 period was chosen to make the views recognizable in the present day and age. Minsk before World War Two differed a lot from present-day Minsk. Besides, locations on the map will be easy to distinguish from other locations where tank battles took place in the past.

The map is a quadrant 1km on a side. The developers were considering three historical locations for creating the new battleground: the railway terminal, Trinity Suburb, and Victory Square. The latter won because it offers the most remarkable views. “We can show the soul of the city here. It is the most convenient and balanced place for gaming with equal conditions for competing teams. I am convinced that gamers from Europe, Asia, and America will be equally pleased to explore the location,” concluded Yuri Kuryavy.