World of Warships: Legends Port Heads Into… Well, Port

World of Warships: Legends marks the sophomore console offering from Wargaming, as the studio has ported the popular PC game World of Warships to the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. The naval MMO has officially launched on consoles at a price most people will find quite agreeable with their wallets.

Yes, that’s right. Much like World of Tanks: Mercenaries before it, World of Warships: Legends arrived on consoles for the low price of free. Assuming Wargaming follows in its own footsteps, this means that players should expect all unlockable items to be earnable through in-game grinding, as well as microtransactions which only serve as time savers. Development was handled by Wargaming St. Petersburg, also known as Lesta Studio. They developed the original on PCs, so this is a sign that the port will be a faithful rendition on consoles.

While World of Warships: Legends may be available to download for free right now, Wargaming has noted that it is available in “Early Access” on consoles. Much like an open beta, early access simply denotes a state of development that isn’t final. So, there may be some bugs on console, but beyond that, the game is fully functional. The Legends subtitle is also unique to the console edition, as the PC version is still simply titled World of Warships. Considering the console port is being regarded as the full experience, the Legends moniker does not denote an inferior version of the game.

What can players expect to find in World of Warships: Legends? According to the press release, this isn’t a simple port that has taken the pre-existing game and slapped a console control scheme on it. Instead, it has been “built from the ground up to take full advantage of the power and capabilities of the current generation of gaming consoles.” Wargaming claimed that the combat is faster and more exhilarating, there are more options to develop players’ commanders, the user interface has been redone (presumably with consoles in mind), console-exclusive content is coming, and the control scheme has been retooled. There is also a claim of “a host of content and features exclusive to the console experience.”

Want some specifics? Well, Wargaming stated that early access players can now participate in “epic naval battles” alongside more than 20 historical commanders. The PC edition of World of Warships features battleships that date from the early twentieth century up until the 1950s, so there are no doubt going to be some famous commanders in there. There are currently more than 50 ships available for unlock and/or purchase, with more to come. The ships will cover classes such as destroyers, cruisers, and battleships. All those different ships and commanders are no fun without a place to use them in, and the game has launched with 15 different maps to check out. While resolution information wasn’t given, World of Warships: Legends already supports HDR.

How good of a shot does a game like World of Warships: Legends have in a sea of free-to-play games? Perhaps better than some may think. For starters, World of Warships: Legends is from a niche genre, but with a simplified control scheme, since it is on consoles. Thus, the game will automatically benefit from better accessibility, compared to a default PC setup.

Free-to-play games are fairly common on PC, but on console they are a slightly rarer occurrence. Just how big of a difference does this make? In Wargaming’s own press release, the company let slip that over 18 million players have downloaded World of Tanks: Mercenaries since its console debut in summer 2018. That’s no small amount of players to woo in under a year. While the majority likely didn’t put up any cash for some of the game’s premium items, if even a small percentage did, then it’s likely the game is profitable.

Are you going to take a dip into the World of Warships: Legends port? Or did Wargaming’s past efforts on World of Tanks: Mercenaries not convince you the company knows how to translate its popular PC titles to consoles? Maybe naval combat games aren’t your thing.

Whatever the case, set course for our comments section and fire away. Expect more news on this and other Wargaming console efforts as it happens.