TitanFall boss admits that exclusivity was the wrong decision for TitanFall.

cageymaru

cageymaru

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http://www.gameinformer.com/b/featu...alls-future-and-respawns-mystery-project.aspx

Seems that the next TitanFall game will be released onto Steam and the EA /Microsoft deals were for only the first game. So future TitanFall games might show up on other consoles in the future. Zampella doesn't want to release the current TitanFall onto Steam as it would bifurcate the players.

Oh yea, they just hired a team to start on a new game headed by Stig Asmusson of God of War fame.
 
Exclusivity has always been terrible for gamers (well consumers in general) and I sincerely hope they do future releases on Steam in addition to whatever platforms they support now. More choices!
 
I already said that before it happened. Keeping the game off the superior platform would make them regret it.
 
refraxion said:
I already said that before it happened. Keeping the game off the superior platform would make them regret it.
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This is essentially the equivalent of releasing an action FPS game on the Wii. Most people know that's not a wise decision, yet they did it.

70% of the games I have on Origin were EA's on-the-house games or they were games I already owned via Steam or other services that I was able to register with origin. The other 30% of games I bought heavily discounted. I do actually own Titanfall but haven't played it much. I thought it seemed fun but I did only play one match after doing the training.
 
zombielando said:
And we have the privilege of pre-ordering our unfinished games... yes!
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anyone out there that continues pre-ordering is part of the problem. it's funny, when we all saw dlc milking coming people seemed aware and knew they were going to attempt to fleece them... yet they bought it up. now, we have buggy and unfinished titles coming out, and time and again, people complain... but continue to take part. it's like voting for a political party and thinking "this time things are going to change"; it's stupid.
 
zombielando said:
You basically described all "AAA" games now lol. And we have the privilege of pre-ordering our unfinished games... yes!
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I wouldn't call Titanfall unfinished per-say. It worked, everything was there, controls were fine, the maps it had were good, etc. Titanfall's biggest issue is that it simply didn't stack up to the standards of the rest of the genre. It didn't feel unfinished so much as it just felt lacking, as if Respawn simply didn't realize the game needed more variety. It had a great concept behind it and all that, it just needed more stuff out of the box.
 
I wonder if he would say the same if the Xbox 1 outsold the PS4 in total sales :p
 
Eshelmen said:
I wonder if he would say the same if the Xbox 1 outsold the PS4 in total sales :p
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If the situations were turned around MS might not have been as desperate to sign a full exclusivity deal with EA. Titanfall may have ended up being just a timed exclusive.
 
Well, exclusivity is a double-edged sword. If the game is unique and offers something new, it can build a devoted fan base. It worked quite well for Halo, but ultimately COD outsold it and took over as THE console FPS.
 
Bad game blames EA/Origin and exclusives for bad sales.. Classic.

Make a good game and maybe it will sell more.
 
Guess you were not expecting folks to read the article like most do not, eh? In the entire "article", I saw not a thing that says they regretted going exclusive with the first Titanfall was the wrong decision. Click bait much? However, for me, I would not have bought the game at all because I really do not have time or interest in multi player games like I once did. (Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory! :D )
 
...or invested more in the single play experience,
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This needed to happen.

No offline single player mode for a game means I won't bother with it and I know I'm hardly alone in that.
 
ManofGod said:
Guess you were not expecting folks to read the article like most do not, eh? In the entire "article", I saw not a thing that says they regretted going exclusive with the first Titanfall was the wrong decision. Click bait much? However, for me, I would not have bought the game at all because I really do not have time or interest in multi player games like I once did. (Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory! :D )
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Early in the article the interviewer asked him a bit of a leading question regarding regarding Steam and Zampella responds by saying that it's too late to release the game on Steam and that in the future "...I think we should not make that same decision again" in regards to Origin exclusivity, which is a roundabout way of saying that he regrets the game not being available on more popular digital platforms.
 
I think we all knew after Activision went all psycho on them they weren't comfortable coming out on their own and EA got a chance to be the good guy so it was no biggie. Though I'm usually kneedeep in EA ranting I was pretty ok with this. Their reasoning was sound. My problem was TitanFall was about 5 minutes of game for $60

(Still a better game than destiny.)
 
Dion said:
Bad game blames EA/Origin and exclusives for bad sales.. Classic.

Make a good game and maybe it will sell more.
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Uh, no that's not what he said.

No one said Origin made the game bad. But being available on Origin only limits it's potential sales. Being exclusive to a console platform does the same too.
 
Titanfall.

LOL.

The game that went on sale for $10 on PC within a couple months of release.

I'm so glad I didn't touch this.
 
Too bad they still insist matchmaking offers a better experience over a server browser and rentable servers.
 
Hindsight is always 20/20. If Respawn didn't do a deal with Microsoft and EA, its likely Titanfall would've never seen the light of day. They had to do with what options were available. If I'm in the position of Microsoft and EA I totally make it exclusive. Yeah they wouldn't make the decision again, but they weren't in the driver seat when it came to funding. Seeing how difficult they said it was to fund Titanfall I think should be appreciative of EA and Microsoft.

Such is life, there are times where if I could go back do things over I would do it differently. Shit I wish I could have waited 6 months longer before I purchased a house, I would have gotten a much better deal. But I was in a situation where I wasn't sure if the prices would continue to go down or up. I had to make the best decision I could in that situation. There is no question I would do things different the next time around.
 
SonicTron said:
Titanfall.

LOL.

The game that went on sale for $10 on PC within a couple months of release.

I'm so glad I didn't touch this.
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So glad I found it for ~$30 on day of release. If I had paid full price I would have been upset, but I got $30 out of it.
 
Passed up the $10 sale since it seems like a rehash of Mechwarrior from 1989 that I didn't find interesting back then either.
 
mi7chy said:
Passed up the $10 sale since it seems like a rehash of Mechwarrior from 1989 that I didn't find interesting back then either.
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Open Mouth, Insert Bar of Soap.....

you obviously didn't play MechWarrior back in 1989 :)
 
Hornet said:
Uh, no that's not what he said.

No one said Origin made the game bad. But being available on Origin only limits it's potential sales. Being exclusive to a console platform does the same too.
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I kinda agree with Dion. Look at what HL2 did for Steam. Good games can push a content delivery service more than a good content delivery service can push games. If TF was truly an great game, people would of bought it regardless of what content delivery service it uses.

I admit I haven't played it but I have watched a lot of "Let's Plays" of it and it looks completely generic. It's almost like the developers believed having Xbox One exclusivity (and the accompanying marketing) along with 'OMGZ we haz m3chs" was all they needed to make it be great, ie sell.
 
Aren't the servers mostly empty now too? Not that a small player base makes the game bad, but this was supposed to be a AAA title that would be played for years and years, and from what I heard, it was dead within 6 months. Does anybody know if that's true?
 
chili dog said:
Aren't the servers mostly empty now too? Not that a small player base makes the game bad, but this was supposed to be a AAA title that would be played for years and years, and from what I heard, it was dead within 6 months. Does anybody know if that's true?
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Yep, that's why it went on sale for 10 bucks
 
I thought it was always destined to be an exclusive the first time, then open to others on the sequels.

Good game, I enjoy it. It did feel like it needed more, but it's still a very fun game.
 
"Hey guys, let's make an ONLINE ONLY game, and then RESTRICT THE AUDIENCE by not allowing PC/console crossplay and only releasing the console version on a stigmatised low-adoption new console!"

Yeah, none of us here saw any of this coming.
 
I was under the impression that the developer was compensated by Microsoft for the privilege of exclusivity.
Otherwise, it does not make sense for the developer to go after only one market as development cost can be leveraged across multiple platforms.
 
RadXge said:
I was under the impression that the developer was compensated by Microsoft for the privilege of exclusivity.
Otherwise, it does not make sense for the developer to go after only one market as development cost can be leveraged across multiple platforms.
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Yes that is pretty much what happened. They got funding from Microsoft and EA. If I was microsoft and EA I totally make it exclusive if I'm funding the project.
 
SonicTron said:
Titanfall.

LOL.

The game that went on sale for $10 on PC within a couple months of release.

I'm so glad I didn't touch this.
Click to expand...

Titanfall was actually a fun FPS. It had some stumbles, but it did a lot of things right. It wasn't great, but it was fun.

The PC community was DOA though, Xbox One was where it was at.
 
I don't blame them for going exclusive, the deal happened prior to either console being revealed iirc or certainly at least before E3 in 2013. They likely assumed the Xbox One would have the same ratios they held with the 360 and with Microsoft approaching them for exclusivity it really was not a hard decision.

I don't think anyone would have thought Sony would have the base they have today prior to E3 2013. Afterwards sure, but not prior. I knew it was going to be bad when the PS4 price was revealed but still didn't think it would get close to 2:1 like it did in NA, UK and Austrailia.
 
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