Well you cant look at this completely that way. Early pitches can be very different from the look of the finalized project. Many games change in scope and form over their production, which is exactly what happened with Titanfall.
Recent example of this is Remember Me. Dontnod pitched a early draft of the game to Sony, who refused them. Then they redesigned the game a lot, found Capcom, and managed to get the funding to release pretty nice action/adventure.
It reads to me like Respawn were so stretched for cash that the platform holders would have had to fund the game. When they tried to 'talk' to Sony I'm betting it was about money to finish the game. Sony said no but MS said yes and here we are. It's interesting stuff for sure.
Yes money was involved but it isn't the type of money hatting people are thinking of when they make those posts, painting microsoft as evil and stealing the game away when in reality, without their funding, this game wouldn't exist.
It also makes a certain banned 'insiders' recent claims in the last NPD thread that Sony showed EA execs how much money they lost our by not bringing the game to PS4. And then had the EA begging forgiveness even more hilarious.
It reads to me like Respawn were so stretched for cash that the platform holders would have had to fund the game. When they tried to 'talk' to Sony I'm betting it was about money to finish the game. Sony said no but MS said yes and here we are. It's interesting stuff for sure.
They were speaking to platform holders to lock down their development at the beginning of 2012. The money issues didn't come up until the end of that year.
EA ended up having to find the funding for the project with a first party, and Microsoft were willing to put up the money to actually finish the game.
But that doesn't really explain what happened when the game went full-on Xbox console exlusive. That happened a month or so before the console launches. Is there something about that in the documentary?
Why didn't EA just put up the money? Very strange.
I guess this explains why TF1 will forever be an X1 exclusive.
Ah yes I remember that.
Sony also used it's own metrics in a meeting with EA last week and showed them what they would have sold on the ps3 and ps4. The money EA took from MS doesn't even begin to cover it. The EA guys went over the math and agreed. EA is in full "We're so fucking sorry, Sony" mode currently.
That's actually pretty interesting. Sounds like a Sony being Sony and not actually being aware of anything.
Which pretty much described them during a large amount of last gen.
It also makes a certain banned 'insiders' recent claims in the last NPD thread that Sony showed EA execs how much money they lost our by not bringing the game to PS4. And then had the EA begging forgiveness even more hilarious.
But that doesn't really explain what happened when the game went full-on Xbox console exlusive. That happened a month or so before the console launches. Is there something about that in the documentary?
I missed this. Can someone bring me up to speed please.
Sony also used it's own metrics in a meeting with EA last week and showed them what they would have sold on the ps3 and ps4. The money EA took from MS doesn't even begin to cover it. The EA guys went over the math and agreed. EA is in full "We're so fucking sorry, Sony" mode currently.
I'd view it more as a strategic move on Sony's part. Right or wrong, they obviously only trusted 1st party studios to keep PS4 hardware a secret right up to the reveal
Ok I get it. I don't understand why EA had to find funds though. Surely they have enough money to fund 100 Titanfall games themselves. Unless Respawn declimed direct funds from EA because they would have to give up the IP. I don't know what's going on lol
Yes, but this is the game from COD creators that they could have pumped like they ended up to. Even if the first title would have it tough sales-wise, the sequel would have been a great possibility for a financial hit. I mean they then went and spent money on stuff like Dead Space 3 or MOH:Warfighter.If I had to guess, they looked at the budget and thought they'd lose money after the original three year sum ran out, especially since the game was somewhat falling apart at the time.
The free chapter here reflects how troubled it was at the time: https://medium.com/p/cfc0fd1be7e
Well, I havent looked at EA's financials lately...but I do know they pay the NFL $250 million per year for the exclusive NFL licensing deal. Thats a lot of cash to shovel out annually. The original 5 yr deal was for a billion + and it was renewed at an escalating rate as far as I understand. So, yeah, basically they have a shit-ton of cash.
What i don't understand: aren't Zampella and West multimillionaires? Couldn't they make up the budget gap themselves?
I looked at the original message and that entire post of his reeks of BS.
Lack of a PS3 version, a console that ex IW guys have developed games on, suggests that its not just about "lack of PS4 information".
Because they had more than enough information about the 80 million user base of the PS3. And that version does not exist
Hence why MS funding the development makes sense. Why would Microsoft help fund a PS3 version or pay programmers to develop that version, it makes no sense.
Shiiiiiiiiiiiit.People asking why EA didn't put up the money, it might be because as of fall 2012, the game was kind of a mess by the sounds of it. At that point, it was still called Titan Wars, and the gameplay involved all pilots starting in titans until they were doomed, then jumping out and running around as a pilot on foot to act as a "second life" in an attempt to fix the insta-death issue of CoD. It was only around March 13 that they changed it around to starting as a pilot and earning the titan and dropping it in, thus the name change. The big unveiling to EA outside of the Partners guys was around Feb 2013, and even that's pretty different looking to the final game.
Essentially, the bulk of Titanfall was arguable designed and developed from January 2013 onward.
Did they? I could have sworn some 1st party mentioned the 8GB thing was a surprise to them too.
edit: you also could say that the decision to leave out the PS3 was alot more of a head turner. Why not just make it X1,360 and PS3? And if MS and Sony weren't feeling it then why not just make it a last gen game altogether?
So this is an actual 1-2 hour documentary? Or is it just a written up piece?Weird that the Titanfall documentary is up for sale on Steam.
Did Popcap run out of money, too?
If I had to guess, they looked at the budget and thought they'd lose money after the original three year sum ran out, especially since the game was somewhat falling apart at the time.
The free chapter here reflects how troubled it was at the time: https://medium.com/p/cfc0fd1be7e
Lack of a PS3 version, a console that ex IW guys have developed games on, suggests that its not just about "lack of PS4 information".
Because they had more than enough information about the 80 million user base of the PS3. And that version does not exist
Hence why MS funding the development makes sense. Why would Microsoft help fund a PS3 version or pay programmers to develop that version, it makes no sense.
Ok I get it. I don't understand why EA had to find funds though. Surely they have enough money to fund 100 Titanfall games themselves. Unless Respawn declimed direct funds from EA because they would have to give up the IP. I don't know what's going on lol
I looked at the original message and that entire post of his reeks of BS.
I'm seeing a lot of praise about this good work of gaming journalism, and I'm sure the writing and stories are probably very good. But I have to ask: did Geoff Keighley disclose he was working with Respawn on this while he was overhyping Titanfall during the VGX show last year? It's fine for a journalist to be genuinely excited about something, but it'd be nice to know when the journalist who's excited about that game is working with the developers of that game on a project he's going to be selling. Being a journalist is about more than just writing a good piece.
Yeah, they definitely cut out the single player. What's in there now is just a bunch of multiplayer matches loosely tied together by some radioplay gibberish. Hopefully, Titanfall 2 is more of a fleshed out experience.
That meeting title.
Jesus.
People asking why EA didn't put up the money, it might be because as of fall 2012, the game was kind of a mess by the sounds of it and "people at EA" wanted the plug pulled on it.
At that point, it was still called Titan Wars, and the gameplay involved all pilots starting in titans until they were doomed, then jumping out and running around as a pilot on foot to act as a "second life" in an attempt to fix the insta-death issue of CoD. It was only around March 13 that they changed it around to starting as a pilot and earning the titan and dropping it in, thus the name change. The big unveiling to EA outside of the Partners guys was around Feb 2013, and even that's pretty different looking to the final game.
Essentially, the bulk of Titanfall was arguable designed and developed from January 2013 onward.
Well, if thats the case I think it only drives my point home more. They pretty much protected PS4's specs like it was the Manhattan Project...and the end result is their primary competitor seems to have had no idea they were going to be outclassed.
I'm seeing a lot of praise about this good work of gaming journalism, and I'm sure the writing and stories are probably very good. But I have to ask: did Geoff Keighley disclose he was working with Respawn on this while he was overhyping Titanfall during the VGX show last year? It's fine for a journalist to be genuinely excited about something, but it'd be nice to know when the journalist who's excited about that game is working with the developers of that game on a project he's going to be selling. Being a journalist is about more than just writing a good piece.
To be fair, even the x360 version wasn't made by Respawn...money was involved or else there would be a ps3 version seeing as the specs for that were known at the time of developement...
It also makes a certain banned 'insiders' recent claims in the last NPD thread that Sony showed EA execs how much money they lost our by not bringing the game to PS4. And then had the EA begging forgiveness even more hilarious.
It's a 12 Chapter e-book, with lots of pictures and media.So this is an actual 1-2 hour documentary? Or is it just a written up piece?
It also makes a certain banned 'insiders' recent claims in the last NPD thread that Sony showed EA execs how much money they lost our by not bringing the game to PS4. And then had the EA begging forgiveness even more hilarious.
So this is an actual 1-2 hour documentary? Or is it just a written up piece?