In its current state of development the World of Tanks AR Spectate experience works with replays only, but like magic it can project an epic tank battle onto a tabletop or any similar flat surface. Showcasing all the wonderful detail as seen in World of Tanks 1.0 on PC. From there, you can see all of the action and volumetric detail with a an iPad. And it looks pretty incredible.

World of Tanks has always had one foot in the pool of history and one in the fast-paced strategy action that comes from a deep multiplayer title. By adding AR this highlights the former, offering up an excellent and spectacle driven educational tool for museums, events, and schools.

Check it out.



And here's how it works.

The experimental project has been developed internally at Wargaming and uses “local cloud rendering” to achieve maximum quality and realistic experience for viewers. iPad is connected to PC like a 3D mouse, meanwhile PC does all rendering & sends that back to iPad as video. The AR experiences is based on ARKit for iOS and iPad sends its constant position/orientation to PC, in-game camera in World of Tanks on PC matches the iPad’s position/orientation and sends what it sees back to iPad as video. WoT skybox is made transparent, and the app controls what “slice” of the map in a replay the visitor is seeing at any time.

Long story short the PC renders the replay and sends that to the iPad as video. From there we can chalk up the rest to "it knows where you're looking and positioning the iPad as a camera of sorts". The Wargaming Sydney studio developed the AR technology - and as per our recent interview - has a long history of leading some of the most cutting edge Wargaming tech out there.

To celebrate and, well, show how great it all looks in motion World of Tanks has teamed up with the History Channel to celebrate and provide insight and depth into famous battles and conflicts like the anniversary of the Battle of Kursk and D-Day. Below are two videos showcasing World of Tanks AR Spectate and D-Day.





Now, this is the sort of tech we'd love to see make it's way into other games. Say, exploring the Ancient Greece of Assassin's Creed Odyssey, or even watching a live replay of a DOTA tournament.