Wargaming, developer of World of Tanks, has said it will remove all "pay-to-win" purchase options from its games.

The policy applies to any in-game item that could be viewed as advantageous in battle, and will continue in Wargaming's upcoming sister titles World of Warplanes and World of Warships.

Instead, the company will operate a "free-to-win" monetisation strategy, where the only in-game items you can pay for using real world cash are personalisation options and premium vehicles, Wargaming told Gamasutra. (Like a tank made out of gold?)

"We strongly believe that you can't provide a truly triple-A free-to-play experience without absolutely making sure all combat options are free of charge to all players," the company's Andrei Yarantsau explained.

Or a tank made out of gold *and* diamonds.

"We don't want to nickel and dime our players - we want to deliver gaming experiences and services that are based on the fair treatment of our players, whether they spend money in-game or not."

Wargaming hopes that other game companies will follow suit, leading to a new and less-greedy generation of free-to-play games.

"This isn't just about the game economics of World of Tanks," Yarantsau continued. "We aim to completely overhaul the free-to-play concept that exists as a whole in the gaming community by getting rid of the idea of 'pay-to-win', ultimately helping lead what we consider the roll-out of 'version 2.0' of free-to-play gaming."

Pay-to-win is not sustainable for gamers or developers, Yarantsau concluded.

"It results in huge payments from a small number of users (the so-called 'whales')," Yarantsau said. "Top-payers end up never losing, while those who pay less or don't pay grow dissatisfied with the game. Eventually, many leave entirely and the overall player base shrinks."