War Thunder Championship Series Launches as Gaijin’s First Official Esports League

Gaijin Entertainment has officially launched the War Thunder Championship Series (WTCS), a brand-new professional esports league dedicated to its long-running military combat game War Thunder. The league will feature four major tournaments throughout 2025, kicking off this April and culminating in a high-stakes global final in November.

A New Era for War Thunder Esports

Each of the four major events will run for eight days and follow a double-elimination format, with players battling for a mix of cash prizes, exclusive cosmetics, and in-game currency.

Each tournament is divided into:

• Four days of open qualifiers

• Three days of playoffs

• One day for the finals

Leading up to each major, two weekends of open qualifiers will determine which teams move on. The top four teams from each qualifier advance to the playoffs, where the real competition begins.

Unique Formats for Every Tournament

What sets the WTCS apart is its rotating gameplay formats—each major focuses on a different aspect of War Thunder’s combined arms warfare:

• Major I: Titan – A 5v5 mixed-format tournament where players must prove their skill with both tanks and planes in the same battle.

• Major II: Armored Apex – Focuses exclusively on tank combat with tactical 4v4 team fights.

• Major III: Air Superiority – Dedicated to aerial dogfighting, featuring 4v4 jet battles.

• Thunder Cup Grand Final – The grand finale combines all formats, testing teams across land, air, and hybrid combat to crown the true champion.

Building the Road to Glory

Teams must form a roster of 8 players to enter. As they compete and rack up points (called Thunder Points), rosters become locked—but teams can swap out up to two players between majors. The top eight teams at season’s end will qualify for the Thunder Cup Grand Final, where they’ll compete with an expanded nine-player roster.

The WTCS also introduces a performance-based point system:

• 3-0 sweep? Get +3 points

• 3-2 win? Grab +1 point

• 0-3 loss? Lose 3 points

Big Prizes and Big Names

Thrustmaster and Hercules are backing the league as official sponsors, helping deliver a hefty prize pool:

• Over 400,000 Golden Eagles per major

• Exclusive esports skins, decals, and titles

• Rare vehicle coupons

At the Thunder Cup Grand Final, teams will battle for €15,000 in prize money, and the winning team will earn the rare opportunity to create their own in-game skin, title, and decal, permanently added to War Thunder.

All WTCS matches will stream live on War Thunder’s Twitch as well as YouTube channels, in multiple languages.

Community Still Gets the Spotlight

Outside the pro scene, Gaijin will host community-driven tournaments between majors. These regional events will feature custom rule sets, player-submitted formats, and unique prizes. Most will span two to three days, with rebroadcasts on the official Twitch channels.

War Thunder, originally released in 2013, continues to grow more than a decade later. In February 2024, it reached a new record of 121k concurrent players, proving that the appetite for realistic, vehicle-based warfare is only getting stronger.