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[beast786]

Titanfall sigma on ps4 nov 2014 ;p

 

[tino]

I like how this thread is going to be as big as the other thread.

At lease Respawn is smart enough to keep the IP.

 

[Nightengale]

Probably won't happen, but since the the eggs have fallen into the places, wonder if Respawn could share on any office drama or stuff that they were obliged to not reveal prior to this, given the previous state of the game...

Shouldn't be any harm in letting us know whether or not there's a PS4 build of Titanfall, given that it's practically of no use anymore ( if there is).

 

[disastermouse]

Mass Effect 2 being Xbox exclusive is what made me replace my RRoD'd Xbox 360. That won't happen with the Xbone - at least not for me.

 

[satam55]

I think since PS4 has a small install base the first year, EA would rather take the shit load of money from MS. By the time TF 2 comes out, install base + hype will mean more money if they take the game to all platforms and build on the franchise. Long term it makes sense I guess.

You're forgetting MS paid EA to keep it off both PS4 & PS3.

 

[puebla]

it feels great to be a pc gamer.

 

[Mifune]

Except for the guy asked about a PS4 game after that tweet.

This post will be ignored but good catch.

 

[Racer1977]

Not saying it won't do really well, but there's a lot of assumptions being made about Titanfall being a guaranteed "home run" title.

This is no reflection on its qualities, its just that the state of Xbone and what the competition (Acti-Bungie particularly) will be doing is an unknown quantity at this point. Its worth considering that the 360 version will almost certainly be the top-selling SKU also, and if the quality of that isn't up to Respawn's standards, it may taint the brand somewhat as it will be most folks first experience of it.

The reality is that its not beyond possibility that one of these high-profile shooters (including the present champs CoD and Battlefield) will underperform. Its a hyper-competitive genre and with these two new heavyweight contenders entering the scene who knows whats going to happen.

Titanfall had been pushed to the forefront because of the exclusivity deal (which we knew about before today).

As well as the established CoD/BF4 competition, Destiny, with Bunjie & Activision behind it, is the biggest player, particularly as it's multi-format.

Wouldn't be surprised if this game has the biggest marketing budget seen to date, and of course being a long-term project, the money and marketing will continue to flow.

 

[Wille517]

Uh... if they weren't in the board room, and lose out on potential $, they will DEFINITELY go to court, and have a strong case.

So I just want to ask are you saying everything is fine here if EA gives Respawn a portion or are you saying that EA with all its lawyers and money assumed they could pull a fuckjob like this over on Respawn and are going to regret it.

 

[Nightengale]

Didn't Gies say in the last month or so that people he spoke to had pretty much assured him that Titanfall would never be on PS4?

God, it would be so shitty if Gies knew before Respawn...

He said he was assured of the exclusivity for a 'good while.'

Good while =/= forever. One year is a long, long time.

 

[Faustek]

You are weird. Do you know how sad faces work

EVERYTHING IS GREAT I JUST GOT MORE MONEY = (

Of all the insults, snide remarks and general wickedness I've seen on GAF since I joined.
This takes the price as the most innocent but still hurtful as hell.

 

[TheDarkKnight774]

So it seems EA had distribution rights for only the first game and made a deal that only benefits EA. MS also appears to go for quick fix solutions to strengthen their barren 1st party lineup but instead of growing it with their own studios or partnering with smaller studios that could grow, they front load with EA...again.

How could this give anyone confidence that MS won't try to pull the same tactic as 360. Front load your games early to get you to buy the console. Then wander off and ignore the game later and only milk the same 3 IPs you have left for the last 3 years.

 

[CadetMahoney]

Now it's a full exclusive on the first game.

So was CBOAT right about the first game being a 1 year timed exclusive, cos to me it sounds like he is wrong.

 

[GrizzleBoy]

How Is old information most of the gaming internet already knew half a year ago for some reason spawning multiple bazillion posts threads and why out of the whole gaming internet is Vince supposedly the last guy to know the score?

Kind of strange tbh.

 

[10k]

Only EA could get a dev to be sad about being exclusive to one publisher. (BioWare, Respawn, Crytek, etc.)

 

[PBY]

So I just want to ask are you saying everything is fine here if EA gives Respawn a portion or are you saying that EA with all its lawyers and money assumed they could pull a fuckjob like this over on Respawn and are going to regret it.

I think EA is going to give them a cut- maybe its not ideally what Vince wanted, but I don't think he's gonna get screwed financially.

Thaaat being said, if he loses out on $ due to this deal, he will definitely have a judicial remedy.

 

[C.Dark.DN]

How Is old information most of the gaming internet already knew half a year ago for some reason spawning multiple bazillion posts threads and why out of the whole gaming internet is Vince supposedly the last guy to know the score?

Kind of strange tbh.

It went from timed to full.

 

[RdN]

I called this months ago: It'll be the same as the Mass Effect series.

First one is exclusive, second one timed exclusive and the third will launch simultaneously on both consoles.

 

[BigDug13]

EVERYTHING IS GREAT I JUST GOT MORE MONEY = (

If you are a new company trying to launch a new IP to become hopefully a runaway success, you would want as many potential buyers of your game as possible. If the terms of the original deal were truly timed exclusive and PS3 and PS4 owners (over 80 million people) eventually were going to gain access to your new IP, getting your IP brand name in front of as many eyes as possible, isn't that possibly more valuable than a truckload of money to recoup lost sales from exclusivity?

These days are different than the Halo 1 days, especially since the genre has blown up so much more on consoles, and they didn't treat Respawn like they treated Bungie where they took them under their wing to be their first party studio, they basically said "we're going to pay you and you are going to sell less copies of your new IP and that's the end of it, so thanks for your continued effort towards OUR cause."

 

[Akainu]

That pretty much insures I won't play titanfall 2. Just like The Witcher.

 

[stonesak]

Lol no. No one goes to ubisoft.

Dude, you never go full Ubisoft.

 

[RibMan]

I find it very hard to believe that EA can negotiate the title's exclusivity without:

A) Respawn being in the room.

or

B) Respawn getting a cut from the deal.

It's easy to blame Microsoft for this, but I really doubt Respawn didn't sign off on the deal. I don't think EA has that much control over the IP.

 

[Malvingt2]

why are people assuming that Respawn is not getting a cut of this deal?

 

[diamount]

This guy left EA to go to Acti to get treated like garbage while making the biggest series last gen just to go back to EA and get "screwed over" again? Either this guy is ultra naive or he knows exactly what's going on and just wants to get paid. I'm assuming its to get paid because if someone went through what he did with Acti and get involved with a multimillion dollar lawsuit, I'd think they'd watch what they sign a bit more closely.

Oh well. It will be a shame to see what becomes of this title with not just EA, but MS looking over their shoulder as well lol.

Of course it's about the money. Do you see how quickly they settled outside of court with Activision? Sure they could've been awarded more money but if there was a chance to lose then it's not about principle.

 

[EmptySpace]

that's what respawn gets. trusting ea and choosing the xbone because they think the xbone will serve their game better.

hard to believe this guy did not know any deals. he said titanfall has always been exclusive, but what is "the rest"? what is there left to make a deal with?

 

[QaaQer]

Tales from my ass? Tales from my ass. I'm a lawyer, so I would know- my specialty isn't in IP or copyright, but I guaranteeee you that regardless of what a contract says, if someone is getting fucked, they will go to court and can win regardless of "clauses."

.

 

[Ghost Cell]

it feels great to be a pc gamer.

Tell us more.

 

[Neuromancer]

I wonder if this will tip the scales towards the Xbox One or not. On the one hand, this is the studio that brought us CoD. On the other hand, it's a scifi game and that may put a limit on how much of the 'casual' gaming audience will buy into it.

Either way it's going to be really interesting.

 

[PBY]

If you are a new company trying to launch a new IP to become hopefully a runaway success, you would want as many potential buyers of your game as possible. If the terms of the original deal were truly timed exclusive and PS3 and PS4 owners (over 80 million people) eventually were going to gain access to your new IP, getting your IP brand name in front of as many eyes as possible, isn't that possibly more valuable than a truckload of money to recoup lost sales from exclusivity?

These days are different than the Halo 1 days, especially since the genre has blown up so much more on consoles, and they didn't treat Respawn like they treated Bungie where they took them under their wing to be their first party studio, they basically said "we're going to pay you and you are going to sell less copies of your new IP and that's the end of it, so thanks for your continued effort towards OUR cause."

I mean, you could flip it too. You're a new studio, with a new IP, launching on new hardware. Wouldn't a huge marketing partner, combined with risk mitigation help?

Not sure which is preferable, but it isn't as one sided as you make it.

 

[op_ivy]

this is about as great an exclusive ms could have nabbed.

 

[BigDug13]

why are people assuming that Respawn is not getting a cut of this deal?

Sure they're getting a cut, and in return they are getting less eyeballs and hands enjoying their new IP which means less worldwide mindshare for their creation.

 

[Nightengale]

that's what respawn gets. trusting ea and choosing the xbone because they think the xbone will serve their game better.

hard to believe this guy did not know any deals. he said titanfall has always been exclusive, but what is "the rest"? what is there left to make a deal with?

has always been exclusive at launch aka timed. The rest refers to EA making it a permanent exclusive.

 

[Jest Chillin]

It rarely works that way.

Developers are typically paid for each milestone delivery. Whether a game is successful or not... doesn't impact that. It only will, in the sense that it will affect if your studio gets a subsequent game from that publisher (their choice).

Here's an example:
I worked on a game; which ended up getting cancelled during our last milestone (right before the set release). We had our last milestone delivery paid off (our contract stated that if the project is cancelled; we should be paid for the milestone it happens). We ended up making just as much money without release; as we would have if the game actually shipped.

As a publisher; you're putting your money on the line and contracting a studio to deliver a product. The publisher then profits from their investment; while the development studio gets paid for their work noted in their contract.

When Respawn settled on a contract for this project; it would have detailed milestone expectations and platform targets. If we even go so far as to assume the PS4 was originally in the cards; the only thing this changes, is one less platform to deliver.

Similarly; when I was working on the Publisher end. We had a project that was not localized and destined for North America only. After completion; we went on to localize it (not even with the original developer) and distributed it to the rest of the world. It ended up being a hit in Europe and our profits exploded. The developer didn't see an extra dime.

It's not all perks for the publisher. Imagine if the game tanks. The developer is safely paid for their work; with the publisher taking the hit for the failure in sale expectations. It's their monetary risk; as such, it's their reward.

Source:
I've worked over a decade between publishing and developing.

Is this how it works under the Partner program though?

 

[Tripon]

I think EA is going to give them a cut- maybe its not ideally what Vince wanted, but I don't think he's gonna get screwed financially.

Thaaat being said, if he loses out on $ due to this deal, he will definitely have a judicial remedy.

It depends on how its structured. Respawn just lost a huge chunk of potential royalties from not being able to go multiplat.

EA might be able to keep the lionshare of the exclusivity revenue as well versus having to share earnings from revenues from actual sales.

 

[Darren_z33]

Good thing I'm gonna have both systems. Can't wait to play in March.

This is the same for me

On past experience, there's always gonna be exclusives on each console that I will want to play. Infamous then Titanfall a month later, is a great start to 2014.

 

[mysteriousmage09]

So was CBOAT right about the first game being a 1 year timed exclusive, cos to me it sounds like he is wrong.

Based on comments from Respawn themselves, it was timed exclusive until EA went over their head to make a deal with MS to prevent a PS4 version from being made. So, CBOAT was right at the time.

 

[xxracerxx]

How Is old information most of the gaming internet already knew half a year ago for some reason spawning multiple bazillion posts threads and why out of the whole gaming internet is Vince supposedly the last guy to know the score?

Kind of strange tbh.

 

[Lion]

It rarely works that way.

Developers are typically paid for each milestone delivery. Whether a game is successful or not... doesn't impact that. It only will, in the sense that it will affect if your studio gets a subsequent game from that publisher (their choice).

Here's an example:
I worked on a game; which ended up getting cancelled during our last milestone (right before the set release). We had our last milestone delivery paid off (our contract stated that if the project is cancelled; we should be paid for the milestone it happens). We ended up making just as much money without release; as we would have if the game actually shipped.

As a publisher; you're putting your money on the line and contracting a studio to deliver a product. The publisher then profits from their investment; while the development studio gets paid for their work noted in their contract.

When Respawn settled on a contract for this project; it would have detailed milestone expectations and platform targets. If we even go so far as to assume the PS4 was originally in the cards; the only thing this changes, is one less platform to deliver.

Similarly; when I was working on the Publisher end. We had a project that was not localized and destined for North America only. After completion; we went on to localize it (not even with the original developer) and distributed it to the rest of the world. It ended up being a hit in Europe and our profits exploded. The developer didn't see an extra dime.

It's not all perks for the publisher. Imagine if the game tanks. The developer is safely paid for their work; with the publisher taking the hit for the failure in sale expectations. It's their monetary risk; as such, it's their reward.

Source:
I've worked over a decade between publishing and developing.

Thanks that explained a lot.

 

[Neuromancer]

How Is old information most of the gaming internet already knew half a year ago for some reason spawning multiple bazillion posts threads and why out of the whole gaming internet is Vince supposedly the last guy to know the score?

Kind of strange tbh.

What information did you have that the rest of us didn't?

 

[PBY]

It depends on how its structured. Respawn just lost a huge chunk of potential royalties from not being able to go multiplat.

EA might be able to keep the lionshare of the exclusivity revenue as well versus having to share earnings from revenues from actual sales.

Right. And if this happens, and Respawn didn't sign off on it and got screwed- you'll know soon because they'll be in court

 

[BigDug13]

I mean, you could flip it too. You're a new studio, with a new IP, launching on new hardware. Wouldn't a huge marketing partner, combined with risk mitigation help?

Not sure which is preferable, but it isn't as one sided as you make it.

But like I said, the deal was already in place to have it as timed exclusive so that their IP can get played by more gamers. This isn't a situation where they signed this deal from the start. This is Vader altering the deal and Respawn better pray that he doesn't alter it further.

 

[TheDarkKnight774]

this is about as great an exclusive ms could have nabbed.

No. Creating your own is always better. This is a short term fix that will help Xbox one sales some, but not as much if it was Xbox one only.

 

[totowhoa]

Just had a weird thought (maybe it's been mentioned, I haven't read everything), but if a portion of their bonuses were based on hard sales figures, then I hope there's also a few lines in there that prevent the developers from getting boned by this.

 

[Strike]

Yup. Nothing to see here.

 

[FranXico]

So was CBOAT right about the first game being a 1 year timed exclusive, cos to me it sounds like he is wrong.

Yes, a changed deal retroactively makes everything CBOAT heard back in June a lie...

 

[Principate]

Tell us more.

Ah well you know you get all these ports from Microsoft's not so exclusive console games. Also EA wants Origin to do well so they'll probably at least make a decent effort on the pc version.

 

[LiquidSolid]

So was CBOAT right about the first game being a 1 year timed exclusive, cos to me it sounds like he is wrong.

Wrong. Zampella's tweets prove that he was RIGHT.

How Is old information most of the gaming internet already knew half a year ago for some reason spawning multiple bazillion posts threads and why out of the whole gaming internet is Vince supposedly the last guy to know the score?

Kind of strange tbh.

Read the thread and maybe you'd find out.

The initial deal was a timed exclusive, they were working on a PS4 version as well but EA went behind Respawn's back recently and signed a deal with Microsoft to gave them full exclusivity.

 

[NervousXtian]

He said recently, not right now. If they signed a contract that allowed EA to sell the exclusive rights to their game that's on Respawn for signing the contract.

People are reading too much into an emoticon. Dude could be unhappy that it's not going out to more gamers, but in no way does it imply he didn't sign off on the deal.

If he didn't sign off, nor had any rights to money from selling the exclusivity of the game.. then that's on him 100%.

..but as a guy who left Activision because of freedom issues, you'd think he'd have someone smarter make a contract with EA.

I'm sure it'll come out years from now, but until we know it's just speculation.. and some of it is downright Tales From My Ass at this point.

 

[Principate]

But like I said, the deal was already in place to have it as timed exclusive so that their IP can get played by more gamers. This isn't a situation where they signed this deal from the start. This is Vader altering the deal and Respawn better pray that he doesn't alter it further.

They own the IP so if the games does well they can mosy on outta there.

 

[Entrecôte]

That probably wasn't the best analogy.

The best way I can explain my perception of it is:

While Sony invests a lot of both time and money so that their first party studios output quality titles, Microsoft shops around for the output of other publishers, and just dumps tons of money for other quality titles.

Short term, I could just think "hey, I'm getting great games either way, why should I care", right?

Well, by supporting this practice (i.e., buying said games), you are sending to publishers the message that they should do this. Long term, this means that the amount of third party exclusives grows to a point that games simply get published on the platform of the highest bidder.
In which case, if a manufacturer can't buy games for his platform, it dies (the term "exclusives" even becomes redundant then).

Finally, we are left with a monopoly. At which point, the spoils (control over the market) go to the platform holder who simply had the most money from the beginning.
And this is the worst bit: in order to compete, any other company who wishes to do so, must be able to outspend the current monopolist (barrier of entry). And as is common knowledge, not all companies currently in gaming are equally difficult to outspend...

Which is why I think full exclusivity money hats are a bad thing in general.
I do tolerate DLC exclusivity moneyhats, because they don't really make a big difference, and are a compromise that offers one platform value over another, without preventing anyone from playing a game.

Just my two cents.

Bit of a rosy vision No?

Naughty Dog could have unparalleled creative freedom, or they could have narrow minded execs that can't see past their vision of the profit margin.

Going by that logic the Xbone hardware engineeringteam would have vast creative freedom as they are a part of MS etc etc. Seems there might be tales of suits stamping down on their ideas, visions of a media future pushing out engineering realities and all that.