Publishers/developers will aim large-budget games at a dedicated core audience when that dedicated core audience can guarantee millions of sales for a single title. Which is to say, never.
CS:GO is a better game than CoD by every metric that matters but as business ventures go CoD's got it nailed right the fuck down.
I think you misunderstand what I meant but I probably didn't articulate it well enough. Games can appeal to the masses without sacrificing the integrity of the game.
Take Halo for instance. Using its own formula for what a FPS plays like and feels like, with longer kill times, slower movement speed, etc, it sold millions and millions of copies. Granted CoD sold MORE, but it did just fine in its own right. Then they watered it down and added elements from "other" FPS franchises into the MP portion in Reach and Halo 4, and both titles were considered worse by a lot of people than the more 'traditional' Halo experience. I'm not just talking about core fans either. Friends of mine who have never even finished a single campaign in the single player Halo experience said Reach felt "weird" and "not like Halo", and they didn't even buy Halo 4. By changing the game to appeal to a 'broader audience', Bungie with Reach and 343i with Halo 4 ultimately lost sales they might've made otherwise, because the core Halo faithful were displeased by the game and didn't talk it up/hype it to their casual friends (who aren't day 1 adopters of anything), and therefore the casual friends didn't even bother getting it.
Since this is a new IP it's not an entirely apt comparison, as they aren't taking something that has worked in the past and trying to make it have a more 'broad appeal', but to me the intent behind it is the same. They could make this game tough as nails with a steep learning curve and I bet it would still sell millions of copies. I don't like it when I hear devs say they want to make it 'easy to pick up and play' just because they're trying to target the casuals. Get one serious, dedicated FPS player to pick up your game and I bet you dollars to doughnuts he'll get his more 'casual' gaming friends to come along for the ride, and they'll love it once they get over the learning curve hurdles.
Another example of ill-thought 'broad appeal' approach is shoe-horning MP into SP-centric games like Bioshock or Mass Effect. Those games didn't NEED multiplayer. They sold millions of copies as stand-alone single-player games. But in the interest of appealing to a 'broader audience' they stuffed in multiplayer in the series sequels, and the main game suffered because of it.
Hopefully the reverse doesn't happen with Titanfall. Since it's a MP-centric game, trying to shoe-horn single player elements, or a campaign-like experience, into the MP gaming space might adversely affect the MP experience. Judging from the videos we've seen it looks like they may pull it off, but the people we've seen at the controller have been skilled players. I worry how those same casuals (who the 'broad appeal' is targeting) will get along and whether they will enjoy the game or feel like it's a dichotomy since they can't fluidly kill other players while taking in the dynamic story-telling portion. It will be an interesting tight rope to walk.
Forget about trying to have 'broad appeal'. Just make kick ass games, and if you do, they will sell themselves.
