War Thunder will go through planned technical work on June 24, 2026, at 08:00 GMT, and the game servers may be unavailable while the Heavy Cavalry major update is released.
The update also brings a much larger download than usual. Gaijin said players should expect about 20 GB more on the standard client, or about 35 GB more if they use the ultra-high quality textures for ground vehicles. The reason is a new compression format for all ground vehicle textures, which is meant to keep quality up without meaningfully increasing their overall size.
There is also a temporary change for login streaks. The daily login counter will not reset for players who have been away for a while, and that rule will stay in place until June 26, 2026, at 08:00 GMT. Gaijin said the full major update announcement and complete changelog will be published once the update is live, and pointed players to its development blog feed at the official dev blog archive while they wait for the download.
If you’re planning to hop in around the maintenance window, tell us what you think in the comments and follow us on X, Bluesky, YouTube, Instagram for more updates.
Source: Steam
War Thunder
Developed by Gaijin Entertainment
War Thunder is a free-to-play vehicular combat MMO featuring aircraft, ground vehicles, and naval craft spanning from the early 20th century to the modern era. Players progress through technology trees across multiple nations, unlocking increasingly advanced military vehicles. The game offers three realism tiers for each vehicle type: arcade, realistic, and simulator modes. Originally developed as a flight simulator under the name "World of Planes," the game expanded to include tanks in 2014 and naval forces later, becoming a combined-arms experience. A mobile version was released in 2023.
- Genre Shooter, Simulator, Tactical
- Platforms Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 4, Linux, PC (Microsoft Windows), PlayStation 5, Mac, Xbox One
- Perspective First person, Third person, Virtual Reality
- Modes Single player, Multiplayer, Co-operative, Massively Multiplayer Online (MMO)
- Release January 28, 2013
- Publisher Gaijin Entertainment
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