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Ex-Respawn Devs Comment on Titanfall 2 Being Released Just a Week After Battlefield 1

IbizaPocholo

NeoGAFs Kent Brockman

While Titanfall 2 was well receieved critically when it launched, it probably didn’t sell as well as it should have given its release window. For those unaware, publisher EA made the baffling decision of releasing Titanfall 2 just a week after Battlefield 1 — arguably, the publisher’s biggest multiplayer IP.

In a video interview talking about their new studo Gravity Well, former Respawn devs Drew McCoy and Jon Shiring commented on Titanfall 2’s poorly planned release date.

Question: What was it like having that release schedule and then having it released one week after Battlefield 1? A popular wisdom is that it crushed you guys, is that the internal wisdom as well?
Drew McCoy:
I think it hurt us in the sense that multiplayer competitive games are a very nearly a zero sum situation to players. If you’re not not one of the top five most played shooters in the online space, you’re a quote-unquote “dead game” and then it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy because players convince their friends not to play the game “Ah the game;s dead” dont play, come play this other game with me, everyone else is on this game with me. Everyone wants to be in the popular crowd.
 
Sorry but TF2 MP was dreadfully boring .. this is the game everybody praise but no one play .. MP was hugely overrated IMO
its just a COD game with mechs and open field maps .. nothing special about it at all

I highly disagree. Titanfall 2 was far improved over Titanfall 1 MP department. Titanfall 2 deserved way better treatment than it got. Single player was fantastic too. What a shame that EA had to be a bunch of ignorant idiots.
 
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The MP issue was they went way too casual with it and killed what made the original feel so unique. The Titans were no longer imposing, they were almost like a CoD killstreak. The maps were also dogshit in comparison. Look at TF maps like Boneyard or Lagoon or Relic or Angel City or Smugglers Cove or Airbase or Corporate or Fracture or Nexus or War Games then look at TF2 maps like uh.... idk I guess Complex was cool?

I get why they opened up the accessibility of the game and made it more casual friendly but it just became more of a CoD clone, so why not just play CoD? Even the parkour was toned down from the original maps.

Now, the SP in TF2 was fucking epic.
 

Codes 208

Member
It got sandwhiched not just by BF but by cod. Double whammy. GG EA.

I highly disagree. Titanfall 2 was far improved over Titanfall 1 MP department. Titanfall 2 deserved way better treatment than it got. Single player was fantastic too. What a shame that EA had to be a bunch of ignorant idiots.
It really wasnt. The overall flow in one was actually pretty solid and despite having less, it played more like halo where every gun had its purpose and there were hardly any irrelevant weapons, whereas in TF2 they added a bunch of redundant weapons.

and dont even get me started on how they nerfed the titans by removing shields on spawn and each weapon and ability were locked to a specific chasis. (Plus they gave the players so many ways to kill titans in 2 that they quickly felt redundant compared to the more imposing titans in TF1 which were harder to kill, but they were balanced enough where it was definitely possible for pilots to kill them as a group or solo if you knew how to rodeo well enough or had a good anti-titan weapon.)

the MP felt watered down from 1 which was hugely disappointing.
 
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I loved TF2. Played the campaign 4-5x, dabbled with the MP.

It should have launched with Frontier Defense Mode so the PvE co-op crowd had something to dive into right off the bat. TF2 MP was okay, but not good enough to compete with BF1 and CoD
 

Rikkori

Member
Thanks for posting, ended up watching it all the way through, this was very interesting actually.

As for Titanfall, honestly I think its future if they ever go back to it is as a more singe-player with/or online co-op type of game, kinda Anthemesque (but not a failure). I would love just a longer & more expanded upon campaign. To me that was the biggest strengths of Titanfall 2, as I'm sure a lot of people say the same, the campaign. Sadly it's gonna be a long time till we see something on that front, but there's a great opportunity there. It's the type of the game that would benefit tremendously from next-gen. Just think, done in UE5 with all that Chaos engine destruction..! Proper Titanfall battlefield battles.
 

StreetsofBeige

Gold Member
The usual flood gates open answer when it's a forgotten game. But when a game gets trashed when it's new, devs shut their mouths.

Still waiting for Randy Pitchford to admit Aliens: Colonial Marines was a scam.
 
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TwoDurans

"Never said I wasn't a hypocrite."
While it was a dumb move by EA, blaming all of TF2's online woes on Battlefield is wrong. It actually was boring and didn't bring anything new to the TF1 formula, unlike COD that year and Battlefield 1. Solid campaign, but if you're an MP gamer TF2 wouldn't scratch that itch for you.
 

phil_t98

#SonyToo
I prefer titanfall multiplayer to the sequels. Both good games but multiplayer wise 1 edges it for me, the campaign on the second games was amazing. With the first not realy having a campaign I guess the second games edges it in terms of being a better game
 
I do miss TF’s MP. That was fun as hell. Would have been cool to see something like it in TF2 along with the SP campaign


I still keep the dream alive that I’ll play TF3 one day. I know APEX is killing it but maybe eventually we get TF3?
 
I was one of those that did buy it....and regretted for doing so. Campaign was too short and nothing special, average at best and the MP was another wallrun shooter with some unique ideas but overall a boring pack. Sold it after 3 days.
 

ZywyPL

Banned
Releasing a MP-focused FPS right between BF and CoD couldn't end with any different result. That being said, the permanent bunny hopping made the MP utter garbage anyway, no release window could fix that. And they made Titans completely useless compared to the first game. And coop was added when the game was already long time dead. All they had to do was add more weapons and maps, if it ain't broken don't fix it, but instead they turned everything upside-down, just like they did with MW2.
 

Batiman

Banned
I do miss TF’s MP. That was fun as hell. Would have been cool to see something like it in TF2 along with the SP campaign


I still keep the dream alive that I’ll play TF3 one day. I know APEX is killing it but maybe eventually we get TF3?
I’m still waiting for an Apex character to have a Titan ultimate. Not sure how it’d work but make it happen!
 
It was Respawn's decision. They wanted to go head to head with Infinity Ward.

Well they fucked up, then. Sadly.


I’m still waiting for an Apex character to have a Titan ultimate. Not sure how it’d work but make it happen!

Everytime I hear rumors of Apex getting a PvE mode with Titans I get so excited. Frontier Defense mode is pretty dead in TF2 by now. A Titan ultimate would be awesome, maybe a little hard to balance but awesome
 

Mobilemofo

Member
While it was a dumb move by EA, blaming all of TF2's online woes on Battlefield is wrong. It actually was boring and didn't bring anything new to the TF1 formula, unlike COD that year and Battlefield 1. Solid campaign, but if you're an MP gamer TF2 wouldn't scratch that itch for you.

It certainly wasn't boring.. As opposed to battlefields Ww2 bollocks.. I mean jesus wept.. How many times can you play Ww2 games with tarted up gfx? Tf2 was far more entertaining that that pile of arse.
 

Mobilemofo

Member
Sorry but TF2 MP was dreadfully boring .. this is the game everybody praise but no one play .. MP was hugely overrated IMO
its just a COD game with mechs and open field maps .. nothing special about it at all

It's your opinion. However wrong you are. Shit was different to the ultra fuckin boring lane running cods and the ultimately bland battlefield 1.
 

Bolivar687

Banned
Really weird to hear them in that interview say the game was not made for hardcore player retention and if you had that kind of relationship with the game, you're the outlier. I get they're trying to put a positive note on it but that's not what I would have expected from Respawn.
 
Loved TF2 multi-player! Played a shit ton of it. Also the SP was one of the best FPS of this current gen.

They should have never made TF1 console exclusive to the Xbox. TF1 is the real reason the game did not sell well on PS4. Many gamers had already convinced themselves it was low tier xbox shovleware after that first game came out overhyped and bombed.
 

The Alien

Banned
I prefer Titanfall 1 MP.

I played the beta for TF2 and did not like it. After the game releases I jumped in and thought it was pretty good (but still prefer TF1).

Regardless, Respawn done got screwed on the release timing.
 

diffusionx

Gold Member
I don’t think Titanfall has the potential to be some massive franchise and this futuristic sci fi game wear you fight in giant mechs was hurt because of a world war 1 FPS where you fight with bolt rifles on horseback.
 

Belmonte

Member
I didn't play TF1 so I don't have this reference but judging TF2 by its own merits, it was a blast in the multiplayer. Even the single is very well done, with great pacing/cool ideas and I'm not much into the cinematic FPS campaigns.

It was sad to abandon the game because of the low number of players.
 

Blond

Banned
I don’t think Titanfall has the potential to be some massive franchise and this futuristic sci fi game wear you fight in giant mechs was hurt because of a world war 1 FPS where you fight with bolt rifles on horseback.

In-between Battlefield 1 and the FPS Juggernaut Call of Duty EA basically sent the game out to die with it's release date. It's original one was much better place to be a great summer drought game.

And it delivered on the chance it got. Still making more money for Respawn and EA than Titanfall 2 ever did.


APEX is a F2P game and Free is always appealing.
 

MrFunSocks

Banned
I highly disagree. Titanfall 2 was far improved over Titanfall 1 MP department. Titanfall 2 deserved way better treatment than it got. Single player was fantastic too. What a shame that EA had to be a bunch of ignorant idiots.
No no no no no no no no no.

No.

TF2's multiplayer was a massive step back and "dumbing down" of the gameplay from TF1. They were trying to appeal to the COD crowd too much with basically reverting titans to shitty killstreaks, among all the other terrible changes.

The release date didn't hurt the multiplayer as much as the Multiplayer Tech Test did. Titanfall is my equal favourite game of this generation, but even I didn't buy TF2 at launch after how terrible the tech test was.


Loved TF2 multi-player! Played a shit ton of it. Also the SP was one of the best FPS of this current gen.

They should have never made TF1 console exclusive to the Xbox. TF1 is the real reason the game did not sell well on PS4. Many gamers had already convinced themselves it was low tier xbox shovleware after that first game came out overhyped and bombed.
TF1 was a huge success, it didn't bomb. It sold to a massive percentage of the userbase.


edit: holy cow this is an old topic
 
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D.Final

Banned

While Titanfall 2 was well receieved critically when it launched, it probably didn’t sell as well as it should have given its release window. For those unaware, publisher EA made the baffling decision of releasing Titanfall 2 just a week after Battlefield 1 — arguably, the publisher’s biggest multiplayer IP.

In a video interview talking about their new studo Gravity Well, former Respawn devs Drew McCoy and Jon Shiring commented on Titanfall 2’s poorly planned release date.




The biggest mistakes in the marketing choices
 

Tesseract

Banned
it could be remarketed with a sufficient cash infusion and skeleton crew

dopey companies don't know how to handle established assets
 

Spukc

always chasing the next thrill
Sorry but TF2 MP was dreadfully boring .. this is the game everybody praise but no one play .. MP was hugely overrated IMO
its just a COD game with mechs and open field maps .. nothing special about it at all
wrong

it's the best controlling fps game we could this gen next to destiny 2
 

01011001

Banned
Sorry but TF2 MP was dreadfully boring .. this is the game everybody praise but no one play .. MP was hugely overrated IMO
its just a COD game with mechs and open field maps .. nothing special about it at all

I mean yes. it is CoD with better movement, better controls, better gunplay, mechs with different abilities and way more open maps and more player freedom. + a better campaign than any CoD campaign

meaning it is CoD BUT GOOD ;)
 
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CobraXT

Banned
I mean yes. it is CoD with better movement, better controls, better gunplay, mechs with different abilities and way more open maps and more player freedom. + a better campaign than any CoD campaign

meaning it is CoD BUT GOOD ;)

better movement : BO3
better controls : AW
better gunplay : MW 2019
better campaign : IW

Titanfall have nothing better than Call of Duty
 
My problem with TF2 and TF was the dead environments, no destruction despite you stomping around with super powerful mechs, no terrain deformation from super powerful weapons. They needed a better game engine that was more advanced in physics like Frostbite.
 

mcz117chief

Member
Nah, it is just a bad game. This excuse that "the game is dead so nobody will play it even though it is good" is insane when you got Rainbow Six Siege and FFXIV as great examples of games that made s great revival.
 

Kerotan

Member
Two great games launched within a week. Imagine Sony did that with tsutshima and TLOU2. These are multiplayer games so it's even more important to space them out. T2 should have been a spring launch.
 
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