Summary
Gaijin Entertainment, the developer behindWar Thunder, apologized after discovering that its Seek & Destroy key art used imagery from the fatal 1986 Space Shuttle Challenger disaster. A new image will replace the original later, though information on when theWar Thunderteam will do that has not been shared.
War Thunderis a vehicular combat game where players control vehicles from different war eras. It has only grown since 2012, with a new record of over 250,000 concurrent players achieved in February 2024. In those 12 years, the game has also attracted a lot of attention because of several different controversies.War Thunderhas been review bombedas part of an in-game change to a feature, had classified document leaks in its official forums, and has been used as a combat simulator in the military. The 1986 Space Shuttle Challenger disaster was a completely separate event in which seven crew members aboard the Challenger lost their lives when the ship exploded 73 seconds after take-off. The mission was intended to be both the 10th flight for the orbiter and the 25th flight for the Space Shuttle fleet, making it an incredibly important launch to watch live.
TheWar Thunderkey art incident was originally discovered on Reddit and later reached the game’s official forum, where a community manager acknowledged it. The Reddit user explained that they thought that the imagery looked familiar and, upon further research, discovered the similarity. The discovery was then moved toWar Thunder’sofficial forum, where after only one day, community manager magazine2 apologized and revealed that the imagery was part of an aerial explosion reference pack.
Controversial Key Art Makes It to War Thunder Banner
As previously explained, this isn’t the first time that developer Gaijin Entertainment has been in hot water. SeveralWar Thunderforum users posted technical documentationand flight manuals only to have them immediately taken down due to their illegality and classified status in several countries. The latest incident occurred in December 2023 when the manual concerning the turret assembly of the M2A2 Bradley was leaked.
War Thunderhas already apologized for the mistake and promised to swiftly replace it and ensure it doesn’t happen again. The Seek & Destroy update that contains the controversial imagery doesn’t involve rocket ships, though it’s still not a good look for the developer. However, there’s a chance thatnewWar Thunderplayersmight begin to reconsider playing in the future. Fortunately, the change in theWar Thunderartwork won’t interrupt anything within the game.
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War Thunder is the most comprehensive free-to-play, cross-platform, MMO military game dedicated to aviation, armoured vehicles, from the early 20th century to the most advanced modern combat units. Join now and take part in major battles on land, in the air, and at sea, fighting with millions of players from all over the world in an ever-evolving environment.In War Thunder, aircraft, attack helicopters, ground forces and naval ships collaborate in realistic competitive battles. You can choose from over 2,500 vehicles and an extensive variety of combat situations many of which are exclusive. You can find yourself blasting your pursuers from a bomber turret, defending your teammates on the ground from an air raid with anti-aircraft guns, shooting down enemy planes with a firestorm from multiple rocket launchers, or trying to sink an enemy warship with a torpedo from a fast attack boat.
