War Robots has players navigate a futuristic battlefield, piloting robots with varying abilities and arsenals. The game emphasizes tactical 6v6 multiplayer battles, where choosing the right combination of robot and weaponry is key to victory. It’s not just about the firepower; strategy and teamwork are equally crucial as players engage in combat across various maps, join clans, and compete with pilots worldwide.
We got the chance to interview Artemiy Kozlov, the Community Lead at Pixonic, MY.GAMES to learn more about the game and the team’s plans for future support. War Robots is available now on iOS and Android Devices and PC via Steam.
Azario Lopez: It’s been ten years since the launch of War Robots. In that time, how has your perception of mech game design changed to adapt to the ever-changing community? Did this ever affect game updates?
Artemiy Kozlov: The core pillars of the game have never really changed. War Robots started as a game about hulking, deeply customizable robots fighting on Earth in a post-apoc sci-fi future, and we have kept it that way ever since. Some details, however, have of course changed over time. For example, robot designs have become more inventive and diverse, as we are constantly looking for ways to freshen up the gameplay and explore mecha styles that we haven’t touched on yet. Another innovation came about when we realized that robot fights are more compelling when there are human stories involved, so we added pilots to the game. Still, the focus remains on the robots and how players interact with them. The rest is there to spice things up and fuel players’ own stories.
There’s probably one important caveat that has surfaced over time: as any live game keeps developing and growing, the complexity starts to creep in. New players need to figure out which robot is best suited to them among almost 100 different options, how different systems work and what’s in it for them. So in recent years, the dev team has been devoting much more attention towards overhauling existing systems, rather than adding new ones, to ensure that everything goes well together.
AL: What do you feel is the most addictive aspect of the War Robots gameloop? What keeps players invested, and how do you keep the community thriving?
AK: It starts with the War Robots core fantasy. You are a 15 meter-tall walking machine, looming over everything, with massive power that you use to fight other robots. While this feeling of scale is hard to capture on the small screen of a phone or a tablet, the dev team does a great job delivering this fantasy through art, animation and gameplay systems. Robots are not humans, everything they do has to have extra weight and take ju-u-ust a bit more time to stay believable.
Then, outside of the match, the progression factor kicks in. You can build and manage your own hangar of robots, tinkering around with different weapons and modules, learning how they interact and change the way you fight. Over time, we have introduced tons of customization options and dozens of different war machines including bipedal, quadrupedal, flying, rolling, hovering, and even menacing, slithering ones. There is a lot of stuff to try out.
The sense of scale plus robot customization are the two core pillars that have driven the success of War Robots throughout the years. Everything else builds upon this. The community team produces tons of content to keep players in the loop on what’s hot and new, does collabs with numerous War Robots youtubers and streamers, and constantly keeps their finger on the pulse to see what our community is thinking.
Socialization is our next big focus. We are updating friends and clan systems, as well as cross-platform play, to help players build more meaningful connections, find mentorship and support whenever they feel stuck, or just have fun together with much less friction.
AL: What are your current goals for the series? Is a sequel something that you’re planning?
AK: We’ve performed an enormous amount of worldbuilding and delivered some iconic robots over the years, and we are now exploring what new experiences we can spin out of that (aside from supporting the original War Robots, of course). Among things I can talk about, the two amazing teams here at MY.GAMES and Pixonic are working on two new games set in the War Robots universe.
The first one, Little Big Robots, is a top-down shooter for iOS and Android. It takes the original robots from WR and gives them a sort of saturday-morning cartoon spin. Just like War Robots, it is a PvP team-based game, but way more animated and warm.
The second one, War Robots: Frontiers, is the reimagining of War Robots for desktop platforms built on Unreal Engine 5, set in the far future on planets far away. Although you can look at both games as sequels, we treat them more like parallel experiences set to coexist with the original War Robots. They occupy similar genres, but play wildly differently. War Robots: Frontiers is built from the ground up with PC/console sensibilities in mind, which in our case means deeper focus on immersion and free-form robot building. Little Big Robots is a mobile game like War Robots, but it’s more lighthearted in tone, and shorter matches allow it to be played in shorter spurts.
So far it’s been great to see how both teams work with the material to elevate it and deliver their new visions of the mecha genre. Both games are already playable – you can find War Robots: Frontiers in Steam Early Access, and Little Big Robots in your nearest mobile app store.
AL: Do you see War Robots coming to consoles?
AK: We have no plans to bring the original War Robots to consoles for now. Instead, the new game, War Robots: Frontiers, is set to arrive on consoles in the foreseeable future. As I mentioned above, Frontiers is made for PC and consoles from the ground up.
AL: With the release of games like Armored Core, did you see an uptick in interest in mech games?
AK: Oh for sure! FromSoftware has leveraged its huge following, built from the success of the Soulsborne series, to bring many many mecha-indifferent folks into the genre. We’re yet to see if they will stay around to see more, but it sure seems to be the biggest gateway event for western audiences since Pacific Rim.
One of the things that drives people around me to avoid the mecha genre is the preconception that to enjoy it you need to be fully into techy stuff, doing model painting, stats crunching, and the rest. I feel that Armored Core VI successfully challenges this. As with any sci-fi concept, mechs are vehicles for delivering stories about humans, and to relate to those you don’t really need to go super techy. The biggest, most impactful moments from Armored Core VI are about people (like that “I won’t miss” line from a certain character in a certain boss fight). Mechs are there so the characters can shine, feel things they don’t usually feel, do things they usually can’t do, and ask questions they don’t usually ask.
If you go to the Armored Core subreddit, you’ll see that discussions about mech builds and story characters are split roughly 50/50. There’s a ton of story speculation, reflective discussion about the endings and fanart of characters that are represented in the game exclusively through radio chatter. I think it’s super cool and hope that this success sticks and that we’ll see more high-profile media exploring what else you can do with mecha.
AL: Is there anything you’d like to share with fans of the series or new players just jumping in?
AK: Mainly, I want to thank you all for playing our games or even just keeping them on your radar. We’re now getting ready to celebrate War Robot’s 10th Anniversary in April next year, and it’s a milestone not many online games get an opportunity to reach. It’s a rare privilege to work on one project for such a long time, seeing how it grows and expands, and hearing the stories that War Robots players from all over the world tell us every day. We love seeing how different people evolve the game with their unique ideas and creativity, and being along for the ride. It’s been an awesome journey, and we’re excited to see where it will take us. I do hope it is as exciting for you as it is for us.
