War Robots Should Have a Competitive Mode!

Remember when War Robots enjoyed unrivaled competition in the mobile mech genre?

Remember when War Robots was the undisputed one?

Remember when everyone looked forward towards fighting with other clans?

Now, thanks to the diverse and stark differences in equipment, the inherent imbalances between different weapons and robots…and the unavailability of ways in order to counter (it is one of War Robots’ open secrets that clans spend a lot just to keep their reputations and members at the top of the food chain), War Robots has become a game that reminded people of love-hate relationships.

War Robots has clearly saw its advantage eroded over time – yet, despite all its decisions and failures, it still remains the top dog (if not the number one title in its genre; now, NetEase Games would soon release a mecha-based game, but for now, they don’t, so War Robots is here to stay). Now, the main reason why it can afford to implement these policies is easily noted by the Dictator’s Handbook (a book on politics by Bruce Bueno de Mesquita and Alastair Smith): They do not feel accountable to those who don’t pay for their game.

However, they recognize that they are feeling the heat – even from their other sister games that share the Mail.ru portfolio. For instance, El Guardia, the clan that can be considered “KOR” of Tacticool (a game by Panzerdog and under Mail.ru), is organizing tournaments that are open for everyone and with CLEAR RESTRICTIONS BETWEEN THOSE WHO CAN PAY AND THOSE WHO CAN’T (Pro and Regular leagues, to be exact).

Meanwhile, rival game Mech Battle HAS JUST FINISHED ITS FIRST-EVER OFFICIAL TOURNAMENT, with everyone joining – including the developers of the said game. Can you imagine a similar thing happening in War Robots, where everyone is not just “nominally” able to join, but actually has the tools to do so? Of course, War Robots does not have ping support, colorblind support, gender support and other quality-of-life improvements as our beloved game does…

As a result, thankfully – WR released a new backstory (but then, it was just a reveal for a new leveling system called “pilots” – while other games had their leveling systems fully free, this might not be the case for WR), did many giveaways through its influencer army and official page; in addition to doing various Skirmish modes that actually reminded the population how fun could War Robots be.

Here’s how War Robots can do it:

The infrastructure is already present – Hangar X exists, game modes are actually viable for a very diverse and challenging game, the maps are very strategic and diverse and well-made (this is the strongest point of the game, to be honest), and War Robots has custom game support that will allow them to create more options for competitive play.

All it needs are six things:

1. Allow players to see custom lobbies. Options can be set for private lobbies that are invite-only (or protected with a password).

2. Allow cross-platform gameplay. I wonder why War Robots doesn’t have this yet, even when smaller mech games already have the capability.

3. Give everyone who plays in the league similar hangars that represent the latest metagame of the live server. They would be only be able to play that hangar for the league (as they enter the custom room).

4. Some decent tournament staffing and organization.

5. A prize pool that will attract people. War Robots earns hundreds of millions of dollars per year; a $50,000 or $100,000 prize pool for an annual tournament is spare change for them. Even $500,000 to $1,000,000 should not be a problem – and hey, Pixonic can sell new robots and weapons and set 20% of the proceeds to the prize pool! Win-win!

6. Optimized server coverage. War Robots almost has this.

Now, here’s the point why War Robots SHOULD have a competitive mode.

It will allow players to show their skills. It will allow the growth of a competitive ecosystem and environment where players actually come out to play and not rely on the sheer strength of their equipment. It will allow the growth of clan-versus-clan narratives that will drive more players to the game.

With more players and more competitive support comes more money – people will certainly keep up to buy stuff for the live server. And if War Robots competitions get big enough? Corporate sponsorships come in – so more money for Pixonic!

Doesn’t War Robots want that profitable bottomline?

Doesn’t War Robots want the new crowd to emerge?

Doesn’t War Robots want a shakeup?

War Robots should go competitive and actually address its issues for once.

Unless they want other titles to take them over slowly for the title of the most popular Western-based mobile mech PVP/MOBA-style game in the landscape…