A New Mechassault

This game has been in need for a reboot for a long time.  That may finally be coming.  


Microsoft is rumored said to announce a new MechAssault on E3.


www.animatedtimes.com/rumours-regarding-the-release-of-a-new-mechassault-by-microsoft/



MechAssault is the granddaddy for the more arcadey, easier to play, less simmy mech game like War Robots.  There were no smartphones that were capable of playing this game long ago, but there was the original X-box console.   Previously, Microsoft bought the digital rights to the Mechwarrior games --- rights that they still hold today --- to create games and promote the X-box.  








It also includes tanks and planes in the game.  


Any new announcement for Mechassault might be limited to Xbox consoles but I like to hold my breath and hope that they will include mobile.   I know I know, the PC and console gaming people will grimace at the thought of a mobile Mechassault and will be deftly reminded that "do you not own smartphones?"  Of course they do, and we do too.  





But here is where the plot thickens.  The Mechassault games were developed by a company called Day 1 Studios, with Microsoft as the publisher.  Today, Day 1 Studios is owned by Wargaming.net, the people behind the game World of Tanks, World of Warships and World of Tanks Blitz.    This should send shivers down Pixonic's spine, because Wargaming --- a Russian company --- holds the gold standard for the most successful Russian F2P PvP game on World of Tanks.  Regardless how you feel about World of Tanks, that game has been around and has been an enormous success.   War Robots may have started as a World of Tanks idea with legs, hence the "Walking" and the robot resemblance to real war machines.  Even early Walking War Robots images of the hangers resemble the hangers on World of Tanks.  

Wargaming is mail.ru's rival and nemesis for the CIS gaming industry.  Mail.ru tried to compete against World of Tanks by publishing the game Armored Warfare, originally by Obsidian Entertainment in California, but has been all Russian con?under bridge toll collector?ed as of late.  Suffice to say, Armored Warfare could not come close to the success of World of Tanks, and mail.ru's need to find a rival game against Wargaming, probably and likely led to the purchase of Pixonic.      The rest, you know what already happened.

A mobile Mechassault would be Pixonic's nightmare should Wargaming get serious into the mobile robot shooter business.   First you have the Battletech franchise behind this.  The franchise provides the game framework, the content and the rich lore behind it.  Second, you got Wargaming behind it.  Third, you got Microsoft behind it.   For all of Wargaming's controversy in the F2P business, they have managed to carefully and deftly ride the zone between angel and devil that is the F2P game business.