How to Download War Thunder on PC
Gaijin launcher or Steam, the real client sizes, the account-linking rule that catches people out, and fixes for the install errors that actually happen.
There are two real ways to install War Thunder on a PC: Gaijin’s own launcher, downloaded from the official site, or the free-to-play app on Steam. Both install the same game and put you on the same servers — what actually differs is how many gigabytes you pull down, which account you end up owning, and how hard it is to undo that choice later.
Pick wrong and nothing breaks immediately. You just end up six weeks and 200 battles deep on an account you can’t secure properly, which is a worse problem than a slow download.
Gaijin launcher vs Steam vs Epic Games Store
| Route | Available | Client size choice | Account you get |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gaijin launcher (official site) | Yes — Windows, Mac, Linux | Minimal or full client, plus optional hi-res texture packs | A Gaijin.net account with an email login |
| Steam | Yes — free-to-play app | Steam’s listing asks for 70 GB free before it installs | Signing in with Steam creates a new Gaijin account tied to that Steam profile |
| Epic Games Store | No | — | — |
War Thunder is not published on the Epic Games Store. It isn’t in Epic’s catalogue, and Gaijin’s own platform list covers Windows, Linux, Mac, PlayStation 4/5, Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S — Epic isn’t on it. If you find an “Epic download” for it, that is not an official client.
Which one should you pick?
Take the Gaijin launcher unless you have a specific reason not to. Three concrete reasons:
- Only route that installs the small client. 23.1 GB instead of 75.9 GB is a meaningful difference on a 512 GB laptop SSD.
- Email-login account from the start. That matters more than it sounds — see the linking section below.
- Nothing is lost either way. Progress lives on the Gaijin account, not on the install, and cross-play is on by default across PC, Mac, Linux and consoles.
Steam is worth it only if having the game in one library genuinely matters to you, or you want the achievements and the overlay. You pay for that with the full-size install and no choice about it, and with an account you cannot fully secure if you click the wrong login button on first launch. “It was the first link I found” is not a reason.
How big is the War Thunder download?
23.1 GB for the minimal Windows client, 75.9 GB for the full one — and only the Gaijin launcher lets you choose between them. That gap is the most useful number on this page.
| Platform | Minimal client | Full client |
|---|---|---|
| Windows PC | 23.1 GB | 75.9 GB |
| Mac | 22.1 GB | 62.2 GB |
| Linux | 22.1 GB | 62.2 GB |
Steam’s store page asks for 70 GB minimum and 95 GB recommended free space, so budget for a full-size install if you go that way. Treat every figure here as a floor rather than a ceiling — the client grows with each major update, and you want headroom left over.
Disk space is the only requirement worth checking before you start the download. The full minimum and recommended specs are on our War Thunder page.
The game is free to play with no subscription, and a broadband connection is required — this is an online-only title, there is no offline campaign to fall back on.
Installing with the Gaijin launcher
- Download the installer from Gaijin’s official site and run it.
- Choose your install folder before you continue. An SSD with 80 GB spare is ideal; if you’re tight on space, point it at a secondary drive now rather than moving it later.
- In the launcher, decide between the minimal and full client. The minimal client is the default reason to use this route at all — leave the full client and hi-res texture packs unticked unless you know you want them.
- Let the first sync finish. The launcher pulls content in the background and will keep downloading optional assets after you can already play.
- Create your Gaijin.net account with an email address you control, and verify it.
The account-linking rule, before your first login
Gaijin’s support position on War Thunder is narrow and worth reading twice: an existing Gaijin.net account cannot be bound to a Steam profile. Only an account created through the Steam login option is tied to that Steam profile. There is no “link my accounts” button that merges the two afterwards.
What you can do is play an existing Gaijin account through the Steam-installed client — open the launcher’s login dialog, choose the Gaijin.net option, and sign in with email and password. The game runs fine through Steam that way. You simply never get a bound Steam profile out of it.
The trap runs the other way too. An account created via Steam login has no email login attached, and without one you can’t turn on two-step authentication or use the Gaijin Market. The fix is to attach an email address to the account as soon as you make it — do that on day one, not after something goes wrong.
First launch: what to set before your first battle
- Verify your email and enable two-step authentication. Accounts with real progress and premium vehicles on them are worth stealing.
- Leave the anti-cheat on. War Thunder switched from Easy Anti-Cheat to BattlEye in December 2024, and there’s a toggle for it in the launcher.
- Where it’s mandatory: the markerless modes — Air and Ground Simulator — plus Air Arcade, Air Realistic and Ground Arcade from Battle Rating 4.7 up. Switch it off and most of the game locks.
- Set your graphics preset deliberately. If your machine is near the 4 GB RAM / GTX 660 floor, drop to a low preset before you queue rather than discovering the problem mid-battle.
- Configure aircraft and ground controls separately. They’re distinct control sets; setting up one does not set up the other.
Install problems people actually hit
| Symptom | What’s going on | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| Launcher stalls at “checking for updates”, 0 KB/s | The launcher distributes content peer-to-peer, and some firewalls and ISPs block it | Open launcher settings (the wrench icon) and disable DHT, tracker and peer exchange; cap the bandwidth limits while you’re there |
| “Not enough disk space” partway through | You budgeted 23 GB and are installing the 76 GB full client — or Steam’s 70 GB requirement | Check which client is selected, then clear headroom above the figures in the table |
| Game closes at launch, or BattlEye fails to install | Antivirus quarantining the anti-cheat service | Allow the anti-cheat in your security software. Don’t “fix” it by turning the toggle off — that locks you out of BR 4.7+ |
| Your vehicles and crews are gone | You signed in with Steam and created a second account | Log out, sign back in with your Gaijin email and password |
| Constant stutter on a minimum-spec machine | 4 GB RAM is the floor, not a target; 16 GB is recommended | Lower the preset, close background apps, and treat a RAM upgrade as the cheapest real fix |
Most install complaints resolve to one of two things: a disk-space assumption based on the wrong client size, or an account created through the wrong login button. Decide both before you click download and the install is genuinely uneventful — installer, folder, client size, account, done.