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Offering $30,000 for soft launch UA, Wargaming's WG Labs is looking for midcore mobile games to sign up

Natallia Pershyts explains the deal

Offering $30,000 for soft launch UA, Wargaming's WG Labs is looking for midcore mobile games to sign up

WG Labs, the publishing arm of Cyprus-based MMO developer Wargaming, is particularly interested in partnering with independent developers working on midcore mobile games.

"A key part of our strategy is to come to events, like this awesome conference, and meet developers face to face," explains Global Publishing Producer Natallia Pershyts on stage at Reboot Develop 2016.

"We are interested mainly in mobile products... we're looking at the midcore demographic: MMO, PvP, free-to-play."

Big incentive

In fact, WG Labs is so keen to attract high-quality submissions in the mobile space that's it's offering an experimental proposition to those first to the punch.

"We have a kind of experiment for mobile projects: if your game is accepted, you'll get $30,000 UA budget for soft launch. If it shows good KPIs, we'll sign a full publishing contract," she says.

It's an enticing proposition, helped in no small part by Wargaming's incredible access. It has studios in all major regions - Europe, CIS, Asia, and North and South America - and access to an 150 million-strong audience.

This number is made up of World of Tanks, World of Warships, and World of Warplanes players, but Pershyts believes the player-base is also open to games with non-military themes.

Indeed, Master of Orion: Conquer the Stars - an early access Steam game set to be the first WG Labs release, developed by the Argentina-based NGD Studios - has been received warmly so far.

We're on the lookout for established, playable prototypes that show what your game is about.
Natallia Pershyts

"It demonstrated how successful our relationship with third-party developers could be... we hope that our other projects can be so successful," says Pershyts.

Be bold

It's not looking to do so half-heartedly, either. With at least one WG Labs-published mobile game scheduled for 2016, and the team on the lookout for more, it's willing to consider experimentation.

"We want to experiment with new game types, new monetisation methods, and maybe even new business models," she reveals. 

WG Labs is also particularly keen to receive submissions from Asian developers. In fact, it is looking to host a game jam in the region, offering the winner financial support with a view to a full publishing contract.

It's accepting submissions right now, but they need to be fairly fleshed-out: "We're on the lookout for established, playable prototypes that show what your game is about."

If you're a developer who thinks you meet the criteria, you can submit a project via the WG Labs website.


Features Editor

Matt is really bad at playing games, but hopefully a little better at writing about them. He's Features Editor for PocketGamer.biz, and has also written for lesser publications such as IGN, VICE, and Paste Magazine.