We will teach - excuse me - we will advise them on how to embrace, sometime in the future, different payment methods like SMS. 'Microsoft announced for Xbox One - thank God - they are moving to real currency. Or at least slow it down enough to frustrate its vocal and animated CEO. But this move to console, and the barriers enforced by Microsoft, could put the brakes on Wargaming's console ambitions. The company sets a target, puts its foot down and rolls forward on heavy tracks. In August last year it bought engine maker BigWorld so it didn't have to wait around in a queue with the rest of the middleware clients. Over the past 18 months it has more than doubled its size to 1600 members of staff. I would rather add another 30-40 million non-golden members and they will monetise occasionally,' he says. 'This we have to tolerate, which I am not happy about.

They cannot drop it for us because they would have to drop it for everyone and it would be a total mess for them.

'But that's a Microsoft requirement which is valid for us and for Activision and for EA and all other partners. 'With Microsoft, unfortunately it's not 100 per cent free-to-play because it requires the Gold subscription to Xbox Live membership,' explains Kislyi. I would rather add another 30-40 million non-golden members and they will monetise occasionally' 'We have to tolerate, which I am not happy about.

Subtlety goes out of the window in a bid to get straight to the point. The ink is just drying on a deal announced a couple of weeks ago, but it's clear from talking to Kislyi that Wargaming is taking the lead with this and will be giving Microsoft a crash course in the free-to-play business. It takes a few minutes for Wargaming's CEO Victor Kislyi to warm up, but once he gets into the flow of the interview - today we're discussing free-to-play World of Tanks for the Xbox 360 - he has to check himself on numerous occasions.

World of War Tanks free instals