A Year of Progress and Reflection: WWII Online's 2025 review

As we close out 2025, this is a great time to pause, look back, and recognize just how far WWII Online has come this year—and to acknowledge the incredible community that continues to power it forward. This year has been full of meaningful progress, major gameplay advancements, long-standing fixes finally getting resolved, and strong forward momentum for the future of the game.

Most importantly, WWII Online is in a significantly better place today than it was a year ago. That only happens because of you: the players, subscribers, fundraiser donors, supporters, bug reporters, testers, squad leaders, high command, developers, and everyone who cares deeply about this project. As we celebrate Christmas and prepare for the New Year, we truly have a lot to be thankful for. Please thoroughly review the below, and if you're up to it - comment about what was most meaningful to you.

2025 Roadmap 100% completed + more

For the first time in a very longtime, I am pleased to report on behalf of all of the team at CRS that we completed our 2025 Roadmap 100% as outlined for WWII Online. We did this with 1 quarter of time to spare, and only 43% funding to our fundraiser.

With that extra time available we continued to work, exceeding our roadmap and adding several big-ticket items as outlined below.

There will likely be a 2026 fundraiser to support the roadmap and we ask that you prepare for this, mark it, and most importantly support it. These fundraisers exponentially help CRS achieve crucial objectives and your participation in them continue to be necessary and meaningful.

Massive Networking & Performance Upgrade

One of the biggest roadmap achievements landed this year:

Client prediction and smoothing was completely rewritten, dramatically improving how infantry, vehicles, aircraft, and naval units move and synchronize across the battlefield—especially for high-ping players. This single change resolved numerous long-term frustrations and delivered a better moment-to-moment combat experience for everyone.

Better Battles, Better Balance

We strengthened campaign fairness and flow across all time zones:

• “Tug of War” capture mechanics introduced

• Side Lock + Spawn Queue systems to prevent pop-stacking

• AFK players no longer distort battle systems

• Global alert sounds when AOs and DOs are placed

• Dedicated systems to stabilize late-night campaign behavior

The result is clearer awareness, more competitive fights, and stronger campaign integrity.

Explosive & Damage System Evolution

We upgraded how HE and concussive force behave:

• Higher fidelity & more realistic explosive effects

• Concussive forces modeled more convincingly

• Reduced odd edge-case behavior and exploits

Combat feels more believable—and deadlier.

A New Era for Flight

A year of aviation advancements:

• Fully rebuilt Autopilot System

• Auto Takeoff for new pilots

• Blackout & overstress realism improvements

• Formation “Wingman Mode”

• Aircraft safety factor improvements

• New UI, audio, and control refinements

• Plus, the Wellington Bomber added to French forces via Lend-Lease

Flying has never felt better in WWII Online.

Victory Points System Fully Launched

A monumental system went live:

• Victory Points fully implemented

• Supporting systems, controllers, and store messaging added

• Progression system updated with new rank thresholds

• Clearer spawn list indicators and wallet awareness

Players now have a new way to progress, unlock, and enjoy the game, simply by playing.

Fortified Mobile Spawn — Completely Redesigned

The FMS received its biggest upgrade ever:

• 360° defensive redesign

• Separate Infantry + Gun spawn points

• Visual upgrades

• Damage threshold doubled to match increased size

This creates more durable forward fighting positions and stronger frontline presence.

A Smarter, Clearer Battlefield

Situational awareness took a leap forward:

• Frontline ownership now visible on the map

• Fire Bases automatically display across the frontline

• Active vs inactive FBs clearly distinguished

• Numerous new towns, roads, bridges, and re-designed terrain

The battlefield is easier to understand—and more immersive to fight in.

Visual, Lighting & Quality of Life Upgrades

We invested in both look and usability:

• Foundational lighting enhancements

• Improved AI gun visuals

• Building texture updates

• New normal & specular terrain mapping

• Playgate can save login credentials

• Improved installer, localization, and messaging

• Better UI clarity and readability

• Reduced upsell spam

These improvements help players stay in the game and enjoy it more.

New Vehicles & Equipment

2025 brought powerful new machines:

• Panther Ausf A

• M18 Hellcat

• Valentine Mk X

Plus countless armor corrections, hit map fixes, and visual upgrades across multiple vehicles.

The Hard Numbers: What We Delivered in 2025

Behind everything above is thousands of hours of engineering, art, design, testing, and iteration.

Total New Features & Improvements Delivered: 90+

Covering:

• Gameplay systems

• Campaign fairness

• Victory Points progression

• Aviation & vehicle advancements

• UI & QoL upgrades

• Terrain expansion

• Visual & lighting evolution

• High Command tools

Total Bugs Fixed: 110+

Including:

• Stability & crash fixes

• Sync & smoothing improvements

• Visual/texture corrections

• HE & armor logic

• UI & control fixes

• CTD resolutions

• Late year hotfixes for compatibility & polish

Even late-year maintenance mattered, fixing shader issues, tutorial completion, brightness adjustments, FMS placement behavior, messaging spam, and more.

Honoring Those We Lost

This year, we also honored fallen community members by adding them to the Fallen Soldiers list. Their legacy lives on inside the world they helped shape.

• Reddog

• Cdz

• Jamesirc

• Ny

• Drake1

• Bellhead

• Lampie

• Atticus13

• Str1ke

S!

LOOKING AHEAD TO 2026

The 2026 roadmap is in development now, and our priorities are clear:

• Continue focusing on high-impact quality-of-life improvements

• Continue resolving known issues and making gameplay smoother

• Place even greater emphasis on new player experience, onboarding, and retention

• Build better user experiences across the board

• Continue evolving systems like Victory Points, campaign mechanics, world design, visuals, and accessibility

• Develop new tools to create a better user interface and UI flow

• Reduce the downtime between battles (better AO transitions)

• Continue getting WWII Online: Chokepoint into a release-able state

We want WWII Online to not only grow—but to make it easier for players to learn, enjoy, and stay with the game long-term.

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Thank You

To every player, subscriber, fundraiser donor, tester, reporter, squad leader, HC officer, content creator, and long-time supporter: Thank you.

Your belief in WWII Online powers everything we do. 2026 is already in motion—and we are building on every success from this year to push further, faster, and bigger.

Stick with it, and let's keep it going. Your subscription remaining active and intact is the key, plus continuing to spread optimism and support for the game's potential. Renew your sense of dedication and let's keep the dream alive!

See you on the battlefield.

Gratefully,

Matt "XOOM" Callahan

President and CEO

Playnet, Inc.