World of Tanks house Wargaming acquires ailing Gas Powered Games

Wargaming, the rapidly-growing company behind free-to-play success story World of Tanks, has acquired the ailing Gas Powered Games. The move comes out of almost nowhere. Gas Powered CEO Chris Taylor -- a fierce advocate of keeping his studio independent -- had hinged the future of his Seattle company on a $1.1 million Kickstarter that came up short. When the crowdfunding campaign failed, the future of Gas Powered looked bleak. But Wargaming has now swooped in to save the company by making a full acquisition of the studio. The purchase fits Wargaming's plans to get its foot in the door of multiplatform game development. The company also recently purchased FEAR 3 developer Day 1 Studios out of Chicago, as well as MMO middleware provider Big World. Gas Powered is best known for its PC-centric games including Dungeon Siege, Supreme Commander and Demigod. CEO Taylor is also famous among PC strategy game fans as the designer of Total Annihilation. Wargaming was founded in 1998 and is headquartered in Minsk, Belarus. The company said it employs over 1400 people worldwide and has shipped more than 15 titles. In recent years, World of Tanks catapulted the company into the spotlight. World of Warplanes and World of Warships are slated to release later this year. Wargaming CEO Victor Kislyi in a statement called Taylor and Gas Powered a "valuable addition" to the company. A rep for Wargaming said the company is not commenting on the price of the acquisition, how the staff at Gas Powered will be affected by the purchase or what the two companies will be working on together.