Video game publisher Wargaming has announced a program to promote naval museums through its popular World of Warships title.
Wargaming says it is relaunching its successful Longest Night of Museums initiative, which is designed to publicize and support naval museums across the world. Beginning May 18, 2022, World of Warships will publish one museum showcase article per week, giving insight into each museum’s naval history. Museum curators will bring their museums to life in these articles providing fascinating information, assets, and historical details for their respective museums.
The partnership is seen as a natural fit, as World of Warships is by far the largest naval warfare game in the world, and it also accurately portrays historical naval ships through the decades.
In addition to publishing articles for its massive fan base, World of Warships is running a contest that will send a lucky winner on a five day, all-expenses-paid trip for two people to one of the naval museums featured in the articles. That winner will have to be a bit of a detective, however. World of Warships is hiding characters in the articles that, when found, will uncover a special bonus code. The genius who first cracks the code will win the trip.
These articles will also feature embedded video footage of last year’s Longest Night of Museums event, which had over 1.4 million people attend a virtual tour of the more than 15 naval museums from around the world, which participated via Twitch and YouTube. It was likely the largest single promotion of naval and war museums in history, and proved to be a great boon to museums during the pandemic.
With the continuation of the COVID-19 pandemic, museums have been hit incredibly hard over the past two years, Wargaming explains. Beyond the financial impact, many lack their own digital platforms to share their exhibits and make their desired impact on the world remotely.
“Therefore Wargaming, the developer of the world’s most historically accurate, naval battle video game World of Warships, continues to support these museums and bring them in front of a wider audience,” the company says.
The event has been publicly celebrated by the World of Warships community, which stands at over 50 million players, and museums from last year’s event lauded the impact it has had on their organizations:
“Joining in the international Longest Night of Museums was a great experience for us. We got to communicate directly with people from all over the world, many who had probably never heard of us before,” said Johannes Olsson, Museum Educator, Maritiman, Göteborg, Sweden. “At the same time, we got interesting glimpses of some of the sister museums all over the world, many of whom we would dearly like the opportunity to visit in person. We look very much forward to joining the event this year as well.”
One of those museums is the well known and hugely popular Pearl Harbor Aviation Museum, which portrays the events that brought the United States into the Second World War.
“Longest Night of Museums is an incredible tribute to the valour of the men and women throughout history whose heroic actions in battle have shaped the world we live in today,” said Elissa Lines, Executive Director, Pearl Harbor Aviation Museum. “We are proud to tell the Pearl Harbor story in this new and innovative way.”
The Longest Night of Museums 2022 can be followed via the World of Warships website here.