Respawn's Zampella Tweets Response To Titanfall Exclusivity

[Karloff]

Respawn's Zampella Tweets Response To Titanfall Exclusivity

EA's the one you want to talk to, says Zampella.

If you've been following Titanfall, then you know that the giant mecha shoot-em-up is a a flagship title [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/129140-Titanfall-Will-Not-Be-Released-On-PlayStation-4]. But it takes two to make a dream so real, the publisher and the developer, and Respawn Entertainment's Vince Zampella has taken to Twitter to point the finger at the villain of the piece: EA.

"Always exclusive at launch," went on to imply [https://twitter.com/VinceZampella/statuses/395325209521029120] that, in his view, longevity of the Titanfall franchise was harmed by not having it on PS4.

As far as Zampella's concerned, Respawn's main focus right now is to make sure Titanfall is the very best it can be, and any distractions are being ignored. Titanfall's due March 2014, and you don't need me to tell you what platforms it's appearing on.

Source: Vince Zampella Twitter [https://twitter.com/VinceZampella]


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[tdylan]

How many consoles does MS plan on having shipped by March? That versus the number of PS4s Sony has planned? Why on earth would you release it on the XBONE *only?

*referring to "of the next generation consoles." I know it's on 360 & PC

 

[Diablo1099_v1legacy]

And that is why it will not be the game to kill COD.
Having half the market of the game you are trying to beat is like a one armed man boxing.

 

[Orange12345]

How many consoles does MS plan on having shipped by March? That versus the number of PS4s Sony has planned? Why on earth would you release it on the XBONE *only?

*referring to "of the next generation consoles." I know it's on 360 & PC

My guess is because Microsoft finally payed out the money to make it exclusive, if it was going to be from the start why would they have waited so long to make a definitive statement

 

[Joseph Harrison]

I wasn't going to buy this game anyways but this is so dumb, exclusivity is just a stupid practice and I can't seeing this paying off for them.

 

[Ed130 The Vanguard]

Oh look Bungie making ANOTHER Microsoft vehicle. Really branching out this lot.

Err, Bungie is doing Destiny not Titanfall. This is Respawn Entertainment, aka the guys who left Infinity Ward due to shenanigans with Activision for EA.

 

[fix-the-spade]

And that is why it will not be the game to kill COD.
Having half the market of the game you are trying to beat is like a one armed man boxing.

Assuming that Titanfall is a hit it will make very little difference being on Playstation or not. It did Mass Effect no harm not being on PS3 until the second game (although ME1 did arrive on PS3, in 2012). More to the point, it did Call of Duty no harm either, the first two were PC only and then PC/360/Mac.

The first game in a series is rarely the one that crushes sales records (unless it's Half Life), it took Call of Duty eight games before it really took off for ridiculous sales with Modern Warfare 2. At the rate it's going it will be another four or five game before it's sales drop by notable amounts.

But, if Titanfall is ace, every Xbone has it and PC gamers go crazy for it too then by Titanfall 2 the amount of hype floating around will be absurd. It might not be CoD levels by the second game, but EA will be hoping for a lot of growth by the time it's on PS4 as well Xbone and PC.

Also, if all the rumours about Ghosts' graphics and Xbone's network issues are true then Ghosts could be the beginning of a decline for CoD, games often pay for the sins of their predecessor (see Crysis 3).

 

[Ed130 The Vanguard]

Oh look Bungie making ANOTHER Microsoft vehicle. Really branching out this lot.

Err, Bungie is doing Destiny not Titanfall. This is Respawn Entertainment, aka the guys who left Infinity Ward due to shenanigans with Activision for EA.

Aww shit. Well how long before EA puts a bullet in Respawn's head for underperformance? You think they'll get it before Bioware?

A better question would be which Bioware? Bioware Victory was renamed a few years ago and recently had its project (a new Command & Conquer) canned.

I think The Old Republic one will go first, by merger or simple shutting down.

Respawn is still in the honeymoon period, that and EA would want to keep them as a poke at Activision for a while longer.

 

[fix-the-spade]

Aww shit. Well how long before EA puts a bullet in Respawn's head for underperformance? You think they'll get it before Bioware?

Given the history, I think it's more likely Titanfall will be wildly successful, EA will try something stupid around Titanfall 3 or 4 and all the top staff will jump to another publisher, just like they did when they were making Medal of Duty... I mean Call of Honor.

 

[Diablo1099_v1legacy]

Assuming that Titanfall is a hit it will make very little difference being on Playstation or not. It did Mass Effect no harm not being on PS3 until the second game (although ME1 did arrive on PS3, in 2012).

The first game in a series is rarely the one that crushes sales records (unless it's Half Life), it took Call of Duty eight games before it really took off for ridiculous sales with Modern Warfare 2. At the rate it's going it will be another four or five game before it's sales drop by notable amounts.

But, if Titanfall is ace, every Xbone has it and PC gamers go crazy for it too then by Titanfall 2 the amount of hype floating around will be absurd. It might not be CoD levels by the second game, but EA will be hoping for a lot of growth by the time it's on PS4 as well Xbone and PC.

Also, if all the rumours about Ghosts' graphics and Xbone's network issues are true then Ghosts could be the beginning of a decline for CoD, games often pay for the sins of their predecessor (see Crysis 3).

Still, new IPs are born and die all the time in gaming, remember that whole mess about Dead Space needing to shift 5 Million copies to survive earlier in the year?

If this game doesn't break a crap ton of records, EA is going to cap it like it does for all the companies it takes over.
I know that you can't really break COD's records, but I'm not sure the Execs are going to see it that way.

 

[Makabriel]

Titanfall isn't a Console exclusive, it just isn't going to be on PS4. It will do quite well on the PC market where FPSs tend to thrive. I don't see it taking much of a hit because of this. It sucks, indeed because I was going to get a PS4, but having a gaming PC rig I'd most likely get it there anyway..

 

[NinjaDeathSlap]

Oh look Bungie making ANOTHER Microsoft vehicle. Really branching out this lot.

Err, Bungie is doing Destiny not Titanfall. This is Respawn Entertainment, aka the guys who left Infinity Ward due to shenanigans with Activision for EA.

Aww shit. Well how long before EA puts a bullet in Respawn's head for underperformance? You think they'll get it before Bioware?

I think that the fact that Zampella is willing to be this frank in public about calling out EA for making what he feels is a bad decision, would actually imply that's he's feeling very confident that he'll be keeping his job after Titanfall ships.

 

[RonHiler]

Developers: Exclusivity is NEVER good for you. Why are you limiting your audience, especially if you are a startup? You want maximum exposure! Whatever you are getting from the publisher isn't worth it. I really have no clue why developers sign up for this kind of thing.

I have the same issue with Naughty Dog. I buy a lot of games. I would probably own virtually every one of their titles. But oops, I don't have a PS3. So I have bought none of them. Bad for me (I don't get to play good games). Bad for you (you make no money from me). What's the advantage again?

 

[fix-the-spade]

Still, new IPs are born and die all the time in gaming, remember that whole mess about Dead Space needing to shift 5 Million copies to survive earlier in the year?

That was EA completely misjudging the situation, Dead Space sold around 1.5million, Dead Space 2 around 2 million, quite where or what they pulled the 5 million figure from boggles the mind. It's not a problem they're likely to have with Titanfall.

 

[fix-the-spade]

What's the advantage again?

Naughty Dog is wholly owned by Sony, the advantage is that you have to buy Sony to get their games. It doesn't work for you, but it clearly works for Sony.

 

[idarkphoenixi]

But remember, guys - EA totallyisn't being biased in any way towards Microsoft by giving them permanent exclusive rights to what they both believe is a system seller and having Fifa bundles ONLY on Xbone. (Which again, may very well be a system seller as far as Europe is concerned.

Nope, not seeing any bias at all. Move along, nothing to see here:

 

[Lightknight]

EA should become a verb for this. Or there should be some kind of term to specifically mean that EA did this crap again. Every time I think they can't surprise me, they do.