At the outset: this essay is an extremely personal record in which I organize my doubts, anxieties, and disappointments regarding the current state of Enlisted, written from the perspective of a single player. As it is very long, I must warn in advance that reading it will require a considerable amount of time, as well as the patience to accompany a monologue that is close to one player’s rant. Furthermore, this essay is not intended to attack or denounce any specific individuals or elements; rather, it is an attempt to put into words the conflict I feel toward the transformation of a game I once loved, and the operational stance that can be seen through it.
Toward Enlisted, I can no longer harbor any hope whatsoever for its future or development. No matter how positively or optimistically I try to think about Enlisted’s prospects in light of recent circumstances, all that comes to mind are pessimistic endings. Why has it come to this? Why did Gaijin degrade Enlisted into such a state? As a player who has played Enlisted for a long time, anger and sorrow are swirling within me.
To me, Enlisted is an extremely important existence—one to which I have spent the longest amount of gameplay time. Since obtaining a PC around 2023, the first PC game I became truly absorbed in was Enlisted. Over the roughly two years from then until now, I have logged in every single day without fail and poured thousands of hours into playing. I have completed every event held since I began playing, and I long ago finished researching every nation’s tech tree. Even event squads from before I started playing were all obtained by spending the silver earned through countless hours of play to open veteran boxes hundreds, even thousands of times, to the point that there is now no event squad I do not own.
Naturally, I also spent a large amount of money. Over these two years, except for very recently, I almost never let my premium account lapse, and I paid countless sums for premium squads and slot expansions. I do not even know how much I spent on purchasing camos and decals to improve the appearance of vehicles. But considering that I customized more than a dozen vehicles, I may well have spent an amount equivalent to purchasing a premium squad.
Looking back, the situation surrounding Enlisted changed drastically after the major update in December 2023 that centered on the “merge,” which unified campaigns and introduced the tech tree. The core system of Enlisted was overhauled from a campaign-based system—characterized by factions, matchmaking, and progression being independent for each map—to a tech-tree-based system in which all maps, factions, matchmaking, and progression were unified. This change can be described as a turning point that rebuilt the very foundation of Enlisted itself. It was no longer a mere expansion or adjustment of campaigns, but an event that reconstructed the game design itself.
This sweeping reform remains controversial to this day. However, there is no doubt that it was an inevitable evolution for survival as an online game. The collapse of the historical accuracy maintained by the campaign system and the loss of free map selection drew heavy criticism from many players. Yet at the same time, it is also true that by unifying players who had been fragmented by campaigns, the game greatly improved its sustainability as an online title, with shorter queue times, better balance, and improvements to the progression system.
And from December 2023, when the campaign merge was completed, through the roughly one year of 2024, Enlisted showed stable growth. There were incidents such as the failed initial rollout on Steam, but even so, the updates and events delivered over that year were generally of high quality. New unit types such as APC squads and guerrilla squads were received positively overall, and new maps like Rzhev and Burma were added. A roadmap outlining the game’s future was created, and its contents were actually implemented. It was also in 2024 that an event evoking the long-desired Soviet–Japanese front—Japan vs. the Soviet Union—was held. During this period, Enlisted was unquestionably growing in a healthy manner.
However, once 2025 began, that growth did not merely stall—it was completely cut off. As the battle pass period implemented alongside the hugely unpopular change to “abolish gold tickets” approached, it was announced that the period would be extended by one week. The developers justified the battle pass specification change by citing the need to “correct the habitual extensions of periods that had become commonplace until now,” and the fact that even this excuse was betrayed drew heavy criticism.
If the delay of the new battle pass had ended at one week, it would have become nothing more than a laughing matter and soon been forgotten. But reality was not so kind. This delay of the “new battle pass” became the starting point of a series of incidents that would later deal a devastating blow to the game.
After the initial one-week extension ended, what was thrust upon players eagerly awaiting the new battle pass was the merciless announcement of “another one-week extension.” When that additional week ended, did the new battle pass finally begin? No—it was yet another extension. Weeks, days, weeks… as these incremental extensions were repeated, the total delay became an abnormal long-term postponement of nearly one month. Astonishingly, this extension period was roughly equivalent to the length of an entire battle pass season. During this time, the game offered neither sufficient compensation nor convincing events, and frustration within the community swelled to an unprecedented degree.
Against the backdrop of the battle pass delay—the factor that had the worst impact—the next event to occur was the April Fools’ event, a staple of Gaijin titles. Had a successful and well-received event been held here, it might have broken the negative momentum and restored trust. But what kind of event was actually held?
The answer was that an event with the worst timing, the worst content, and the worst reception imaginable was held. Its content was a “gun game” in which characters and weapons switched based on kill count. There is not a single point in defense of this event. Enlisted is, at its core, a realistic FPS set in World War II, and an event resembling a hero shooter was fundamentally detached from its design philosophy. At the same time, the event balance was completely broken. For example, there were decisive balance gaps between early-stage weapons and those that followed immediately after, and blatantly abnormal weak weapons were mixed in, such as a bazooka whose slow projectile speed remained unchanged. The list of problems is endless. The final nail in the coffin was the reward system: most rewards required paying for and purchasing the event battle pass, while the rewards obtainable for free were extremely limited. That the renowned MAS-38 was implemented through this event in such a disastrous manner is nothing short of a tragedy.
Leading Enlisted, already in its worst state, into even further chaos was the subsequent 895! event. Its content was to commemorate Alexander Ovechkin setting the NHL all-time scoring record, with a portrait as the reward. However, an event linking a World War II–themed FPS with ice hockey—two entirely unrelated pieces of content—was not merely unacceptable; combined with the community already being filled with dissatisfaction and anger due to the battle pass delays and the failure of the April Fools’ event, it provoked a catastrophic reaction within the community.
From this point onward, the supply of content reflecting energetic development efforts with a certain level of quality came to a halt. The subsequent Update “Jet Power” was, unexpectedly, something that could be evaluated as generally successful. The main addition, jet aircraft, possessed an unprecedented appeal and sense of innovation, dispelling the pervasive pessimistic atmosphere. That said, the implementation of jets cannot be discussed solely in terms of praise. A clear performance gap emerged between jets and existing propeller aircraft, and there was backlash against the introduction of post–World War II aircraft such as the Su-9 and F-80. The BR 5 battlefield environment also changed drastically, with infantry and tanks suffering even more against jets with extremely high ground-attack capability. Even so, considering the enthusiastic reactions at the time and the overall positive evaluations, this major update can be regarded as a successful case. However, this example does not indicate a correction of Enlisted’s decline and decay. The cost required to implement jets was minimal, as assets were transferred from War Thunder, and there were hardly any additions of content that truly required development effort, such as new maps or new weapons.
And after Update “Jet Power,” attractive content completely dried up. Updates and events centered almost exclusively on copied vehicles from War Thunder, while new content that genuinely required development effort—such as new maps—was minimal or nonexistent. At this point, Enlisted’s development collapsed.
During this period, what was happening within the management? The answer to the core of that question can be inferred from the fact that the 895! event was also held in Enlisted. Given that the 895! event was held simultaneously across War Thunder, War Thunder Mobile, and Enlisted—titles handled by Gaijin—it is plausible to hypothesize that the main responsibility for Enlisted’s development had shifted from its original developer, Darkflow, to Gaijin. Using this hypothesis, all of the events—the merge update in Enlisted, the strong performance in 2024, and the stagnation and chaos beginning in 2025—can be explained.
In 2023, Darkflow was absorbed by Gaijin, and a large-scale internal reorganization of personnel was carried out. Former Darkflow developers appear to have been reassigned mainly to other Gaijin projects such as War Thunder infantry or Active Matter, or to external companies. Meanwhile, although a new team was formed for Enlisted’s development, the title’s priority within the company dropped significantly, and sufficient personnel and resources were not allocated. If one assumes that Enlisted’s staff were siphoned off starting in 2023 for the development of War Thunder infantry and redistributed there, everything falls neatly into place.
With the integration of Darkflow into Gaijin, the newly formed Enlisted development team lacked both human and material resources. However, game development does not produce results through short-term work; it usually requires continuous effort over months or even years. In other words, during 2024, the team was likely advancing development while leveraging the unfinished technical and asset legacy left behind by the former Darkflow. As a result, high-quality large-scale updates and events were carried out in 2024, including ambitious content accompanied by the addition of entirely new maps. These can be considered achievements unique to a “transition period” that maximized the use of Darkflow’s legacy. But once that legacy was exhausted and cut off, the problems faced by the new development team surfaced.
Entering 2025, nearly all of the assets left behind by Darkflow had been used up, and the new team was forced to continue development using only its own resources. Symbolizing this turning point was the overhaul of the battle pass system and the major battle pass delays that occurred from February to March 2025. Official announcements cited “serious technical issues” as the reason, which substantiates that the team’s development foundation was severely shaken. A delay lasting an entire month demonstrates just how harsh the environment was for the new team. And the failure of the April Fools’ event held immediately after the delay vividly illustrates that exhaustion. The work required for this April Fools’ event was limited to “new skins, a few new weapons, and minor rule changes,” making it remarkably simplistic compared to past April Fools’ events that featured “new maps plus numerous new weapons and characters plus new modes.” This strongly suggests that it was hastily assembled under conditions of resource scarcity caused by dealing with the delay.
I do not know whether this conjecture is correct. It may fully capture the core of what happened to Enlisted, or it may not even come close to the reality. The truth of “what happened to Enlisted?” is known only to the principal parties, Gaijin and Darkflow. But that does not matter. What matters is the fact that “Enlisted had its development resources siphoned off for some reason, resulting in the confusion, stagnation, and decline represented by the series of incidents beginning in 2025,” and this fact remains absolutely unchanged regardless of any hypothesis.
However, the new major update “Far Eastern Front,” announced and implemented from November through December, was innovative and energetic, breaking through Enlisted’s stagnation and weakness up to that point. Its core was the “implementation of the Soviet–Japanese front.”
The demand for the Soviet–Japanese front, which began to arise within the community in early 2024 and eventually grew to the point that it could be called a consensus, was a long-held and deeply rooted desire. This major update finally realized it. Naturally, new maps accompanied the new front. How many months had it been since the last new map was implemented? Considering that the previous new map was Burma in December 2024, it can be said that this was the first new map in a full year. Other additions besides the new front were also generally appealing.
At this point, a high-quality and energetic update was delivered—one that suggested a turnaround in Enlisted’s future after nothing but stagnation and decline. There was even room for optimistic predictions such as “From here on, Enlisted will regain high-quality service,” or “The developers who had been lost must have returned.” How wonderful it would have been if the situation surrounding Enlisted had continued to improve from there. But reality did not turn out that way. On the contrary, the worst possible development—one that foreshadowed “the end of Enlisted”—occurred.
It was announced that an infantry mode with systems superior to those of Enlisted and set in a more advanced era would be implemented in War Thunder.
The announcement that infantry would be implemented in War Thunder shattered the budding hope into pieces. At the present stage, War Thunder infantry deals only with modern warfare and does not compete directly with Enlisted, which handles World War II. But realistically speaking, in a game like War Thunder, which boasts tens or hundreds of times the player count and profitability of Enlisted, there is no rational reason to limit infantry gameplay to eras other than modern warfare. War Th**under is, by definition, a comprehensive game covering eras from before World War II to the present. Aircraft and tanks range from pre–World War II to modern times, and naval vessels have already begun expanding into 1950s missile destroyers. Eventually, even the latest missile destroyers will likely be implemented.
War Thunder infantry features a squad system comparable to Enlisted’s, yet its overall design is even more advanced. It includes weapon customization systems and innovative elements such as various drones and MANPADS. At this stage, one might argue that “because War Thunder infantry handles modern warfare, it is inevitable to introduce such innovative elements, and this does not mean one is superior or inferior to Enlisted.” However, this argument is completely refuted by the following point.
Even in its core systems, War Thunder infantry far surpasses Enlisted. I saw images of the operation guide for War Thunder infantry, and its content is enhanced beyond comparison with Enlisted. The squad management UI has evolved significantly compared to Enlisted’s. When placing squad soldiers, silhouettes indicating placement positions even appear. This is vastly different from Enlisted, where only rough placement positions can be specified with the X key. Most decisively, War Thunder infantry features a damage model divided by human body parts—such as head, torso, arms, and legs. This is fundamentally different from Enlisted, which is managed by a single simple HP bar.
In other words, Gaijin is already conducting development that prioritizes War Thunder infantry at the expense of abandoning Enlisted, the game that was originally meant to be the infantry title. Where did the resources required for this development come from? The answer is likely that they were siphoned off from Enlisted. Around 2023, development of War Thunder infantry was decided upon, and Gaijin integrated Darkflow. War Thunder infantry was then allocated abundant talent, including personnel formerly involved with Enlisted, while Enlisted was reduced to a development team lacking even the bare minimum of resources and funding. As a result, no major problems surfaced in 2024, when development relied on Darkflow’s remaining legacy, but once that was exhausted in early 2025, Enlisted collapsed entirely. Beginning with the battle pass delays, followed by the worst April Fools’ event and the 895! event that poured fuel on the fire, service quality in Enlisted plummeted to the ground. Admittedly, the recent major update including the Soviet–Japanese front was unusually high-quality and energetic. But this single example is far too small to deny that “War Thunder infantry is attempting to replace Enlisted.”
In this situation, it is inconceivable that “the infantry mode will remain limited to modern warfare.” Gaijin already chose not to “expand the era handled by Enlisted, an infantry game with relatively low popularity,” but instead to “newly implement infantry in War Thunder, a vehicle game with overwhelming popularity.” In other words, Enlisted has already been abandoned once. Certainly, considering that War Thunder has tens to hundreds of times the population and profitability of Enlisted, the choice to handle infantry elements in War Thunder is logically sound. At present, War Thunder infantry being limited to modern warfare is likely simply because it is in a testing phase and needs to focus on the infantry system itself by narrowing the era. Once officially released, there will be no reason not to expand War Thunder infantry from modern warfare to World War II and earlier periods. The firearm assets required for such expansion are already abundantly held by Enlisted. On a platform like War Thunder, with tens to hundreds of times the population and profitability of Enlisted, handling World War II and Cold War–era infantry would surely be calculated by Gaijin to yield greater profits.
At this point, what is the significance of Enlisted? It is nothing more than a living corpse whose collapse is assured, continuing to exist only “to conduct technical testing related to War Thunder infantry until it is fully completed, while extracting as much profit as possible from the remaining players.” We have been exploited as paid alpha testers for War Thunder infantry ever since the decision was made in 2023 to siphon resources from Enlisted and focus development on War Thunder infantry. Unless the developers make a clear announcement that War Thunder infantry and Enlisted will coexist, this is the only conclusion for me. Of course, I do not want Enlisted to end, and rather wish for its development, but for me, it has become far too difficult to continue holding hope for Enlisted.
I deeply resent and despise Gaijin for making the choice to “end Enlisted, the game most important and dear to me.” Yet I fully understand that this emotion is nothing more than personal resentment born of self-interest. For a game company, choosing the option that yields higher profits is only natural, and abandoning Enlisted to develop War Thunder infantry is a realistic and reasonable decision.
Even if Gaijin were to finally announce that “Enlisted will be discontinued, and War Thunder infantry will replace it as the new infantry game,” I am prepared to accept it. Rather, since it is an absolute and unchangeable fact no matter how much I might reject it, there is no option but acceptance.
After all, I am already an exploited consumer deeply immersed in Gaijin’s games. I do not know how much money I have paid to Gaijin’s titles—especially War Thunder, War Thunder Mobile, and Enlisted—and aside from Enlisted, whose end seems assured, I will likely continue paying more in the future. Even if War Thunder infantry replaces Enlisted, I will accept that change and move on to playing War Thunder infantry. In fact, I have no choice but to do so. Even if all progress in Enlisted were reset, and I had to purchase premium units from scratch and endure a harsh grind once again.
Still, no matter how logically I accept reality, it does not change the fact that seeing Enlisted come to an end is painful and something I do not want to accept. If Enlisted could continue to develop without reaching its end, I truly wish that it would.
Can someone show me hope for the future development of Enlisted?
But I commend you on putting in that much effort. 