Ruslan Akhmerov, CEO of 110 Industries — Interview Series

In light of 110 Industries’ hybrid third-person shooter debut Wanted: Dead receiving its latest patch (1.13) that allows Xbox One and PlayStation 4 users to experience it, we thought we’d touch base with 110 CEO Ruslan Akhmerov to discuss the game’s future, as well as any other projects that may or may not be cooking in the studio.

Thanks for taking the time to speak with us! Please, could you introduce yourself to our readers? Who are you, and what position do you currently hold at 110 Industries?

Ruslan: My name is Ruslan Akhmerov, I’m the CEO of 110 Industries. I’ve been with the company almost since its inception and became CEO at the start of 2024.

For those who’ve yet to play Wanted: Dead — how would you describe it? Could you tell us a bit about the storyline and some of its key gameplay features?

Ruslan: It's our love letter to the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 era action games with fast-paced combat designed by the team behind the Dead or Alive and Ninja Gaiden series. Very brutal and challenging, but you know what gamers say — developers don't make games like this anymore. Gameplay comes first, but for those who want to enjoy the story we've spiced things up with a cyberpunk setting in an alternative history version of Hong-Kong, unique characters and a corporate conspiracy.

Is there anything that potential newcomers should know before embarking on their own journeys? Do you have any useful tips to share?

Ruslan: Wanted: Dead is a very special game because it doesn’t immediately give players everything they expect from a modern title. It doesn’t have an interactive map, it doesn’t have quest markers, and it doesn’t hold your hand while you play. You dive straight into brutal action from the very first level with a sink-or-swim kind of approach. The combat is definitely challenging, especially if you’re not prepared to invest a little bit of time to learn it and play by its rules. Wanted: Dead is best approached with an open mind because it’s not a typical game in many of its aspects.

Crucial tip for any new players – learn to parry the attacks, otherwise the game would be too challenging for you down the line. With our recent updates, we’ve made a number of changes to the game to allow players to better utilize the ranged weaponry they have at their disposal. These weapons now work a lot better in combination with Hannah's melee attacks. We want players to experiment using these techniques on various enemies and hopefully reminisce about the way the games were made over a decade ago.

Wanted: Dead has just launched its 1.13 patch on Xbox One and PlayStation 4. Could you tell us a bit more about this update?

Ruslan: This has been our most comprehensive update for Wanted: Dead. It features combat overhaul with new Skill Tree, a rebalance for weapons, new combos and a ton of small fixes that improve the gameplay experience. We've listened to our community and addressed lots of issues that people found annoying, but due to literally thousands of small differences in the code between current and past-gen systems, it took the development team more time to bring that improved experience to PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. After all these years, technical limitations of the previous generation took its toll, but it was our obligation to update those versions too. Plus we've added all improvements from previous patches.

And do you plan to continue supporting older hardware for the foreseeable future?

Ruslan: We would like to maintain the version parity between older and newer generations of consoles and our past-gen patch shows our commitment to do so. Unfortunately, the market reality is that the past generation of consoles seems to represent a smaller and smaller portion of the active user base, so supporting it may become difficult in the future. To address this risk for players, we’ve deliberately selected a very user-friendly approach to version upgrades on PlayStation, allowing players to get a free upgrade from PS4 to PS5, including the disk versions.

Additionally, we’ve spent significant time to ensure that the saved games between PS4 and PS5 are compatible and work if you upgrade your console down the line. The most important point here is that we’ll not leave the players who purchased the game on PS4 or Xbox One stranded without new updates or new content.

What’s next for Wanted: Dead, if you don’t mind me asking? Do you have any plans to further enhance it in future updates?

Ruslan: All I can say is that we've been working on new content for the game and explored fresh ideas, however I cannot promise or announce anything yet. Last year we took a decision to improve on existing content first and bring it to the level of quality that our community deserves.  So the whole roadmap for the game has changed a lot. What I can say is that we’d love to explore the universe of Wanted: Dead some more. It's our first game so it has a very special place for us.

Setting Wanted: Dead aside for a moment, do you have anything else cooking over at 110 Industries? If so, would you kindly share some details?

Ruslan: We do have something big we’d like to announce, but you’ll have to wait a little bit longer.

Is there a way to support your ongoing work? Are there any newsletters or channels that we should know about?

Ruslan: The best way — grab a copy of Wanted: Dead and share feedback about the game. We've added a lot of stuff that our community has suggested. And you can always share your thoughts with us on X (we still prefer to call it Twitter), Instagram or join the Wanted: Dead Discord server for more direct communication with 110 Industries. We even share some progress on the development side of things to keep our fans in the loop.

Any final words for our readers?

Ruslan: I would like to thank our community for supporting us through thick and thin, helping us find motivation to continue improving the game and providing us with your amazing creative drive via art, gameplay videos, challenges and other amazing stuff. Without you this journey would not have been possible.

Thanks for your time!

Wanted: Dead is available to buy and download on Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, and PC. For more updates on the game, you can check in with the folks over at 110 Industries via their official social handle here.