Support NeoGAF

[Lucifon]

Honestly.. all CoD will do is highlight just how much better Titanfall is :/ For all the shit Respawn got over the tech test, the game is still leagues above anything COD has put out recently.

Titanfall can still do "fine" but EA needs to get behind it bigtime and give it a huge marketing push over the holidays. Respawn needs to do what they can to keep it being talked about (announce free DLC plans, etc). Make it a game people ask for their Christmas, not a game that most people don't even know released yet.

The game is out, it's better than CoD, it's got very good reviews and will no doubt have good word of mouth. It's up to EA to market the hell out of it and make people want it for Christmas now and give the game strong legs. Unfortunately I seriously doubt thats going to happen considering they've barely done anything so far and... I mean, there's a FIFA bundle this holiday but not a Titanfall bundle?

Problem is this year MWR will absolutely save the game. Without it IW would be in the worst position of any cod ever in my opinion, but with MWR bundled it's still going to sell well and sadly will probably make Acti boast about how great the game sold.

I have multiple friends just in my circle who are passing on Titanfall because the beta didn't wow any of them and "next week is MWR".

 

[Tovarisc]

I want to hear from you what a good season pass is? And please for the love of god don't say The Witcher.

"Tell me what good season pass is, but don't use good example of good season pass"

What?

All part of EA's plan. Buy BF1, buy TF2, no money left for CoD.

Not very strong plan because they force a lot of people to choose one out of three, instead of one out of two. Push TFall 2 into early 2017 and suddenly extra income is in grabs, as few months have gone by and people are getting over BF1 and CoD.

 

[UserDoesNotExist]

Good word of mouth will bring it there. I've no interest in the game before and it was what bring me here.

Yeah anecdotal evidence and all of that, but it's not like Respawn didn't know any of this and not doing any form of mitigation.

Anecdotal evidence right now is that even the dedicated "I buy two video games a month that you've probably never heard of" crowd is skipping Titanfall due to oversaturation. How can one possibly expect xXxCoDKILLAHxXx to not do the same?

Game sales with long tails, especially AAA games, are statistical abnormalities. Either games make a huge splash at the beginning, or they become $20 on Steam within a month. Any studio head that counts on a long tail needs to be replaced immediately; they're gambling recklessly with their stockholders' money and employees' futures.

 

[excaliburps]

Eh? Just like TR, making the game exclusive failed to give the IP the best launch it possibly could and it turn hurting them and potential future games in their respective series. Holding out on a far bigger install base cost the IP from potentially being a break out hit and making it a top tier shooter. What's left is, by initial anecdotes, a mostly unknown quantity to PS4 gamers and a shocking release schedule, a poor launch of a sequel to an IP that was supposed to be the second coming of Christ. So as you see, on both occassions they were botched leaving a franchise that could now be closer to dead than a rising star, if sales of this one are indeed bad.


Good luck with that one.

Ah, yeah. It was pretty public that Respawn didn't know about the deal until after the fact...

 

[Animator]

If a game is good like Titanfall it has nothing to worry about. Sales and word of mouth will keep increasing the player count. Siege started the same way and has increased player count month after month.

I have spent full price on sp games like Deus ex and doom and Titanfall 2 not only has a better campaign than %99 of the games that came out this year (seriously if you played Vanquish get this game now) the MP is stellar as well. I have yet to see someone who played it and have anything bad to say about it.

If you skip it because of some bullshit "game is dead" preconception you are skipping one of the best games to come out in recent years, your loss.

 

[That Damn Kid]

Hopefully the Target B2G1 Free sale helps a bit

 

[CouchMaster]

Agreed with him, a good game will sell well regardless of its release date, and TF2 is one exceptionally good game.

 

[Woo-Fu]

Not very strong plan because they force a lot of people to choose one out of three, instead of one out of two.

I suspect "one out of three" is OK with EA as long as that one isn't CoD.

 

[DMiz]

This franchise honestly seems to keep getting 'rescued', and then put into worse situations, each time it nears release. Which is so strange, considering that it seemed like quite a few people enjoyed the first game and only bemoaned that the player population dropped significantly. The same seems to be the impending case for this sequel.

Out of curiosity: for 'pure' shooter fans, is this game good? Does it mechanically offer you something different and satisfying that other shooters are not? If that's the case, why did the first game suffer from so much player population dropout - aside from the fact that it was a console exclusive - and where does that leave the company in position to its peers?

 

[Tovarisc]

I suspect "one out of three" is OK with EA as long as that one isn't CoD.

Very likely. Just shame what it most likely ends up doing to weakest and least known IP out of those three.

 

[Navidson REC]

Yeah, the release date is definitely the reason why I'm not getting it right now. Just bought Gears 4 and can't justify spending another $60 on a game.

BUT, as someone who loved Titanfall 1, I'll definitely get this down the line. Recent word of mouth left me pretty intrigued.

 

[AzaK]

Not sure if you two are being serious but the game launched in between Battlefield and COD. Two of the most popular shooters around, which will no doubt affect Titanfall's sales.

Thanks

 

[mreddie]

I feel BF1 and TF2 releasing so close might hurt them but luckily, the hype COD isn't the same as it was last year so...it could go either way.

I hope one of the 2 games tops COD in sales.

 

[Xater]

I feel BF1 and TF2 releasing so close might hurt them but luckily, the hype COD isn't the same as it was last year so...it could go either way.

I hope one of the 2 games tops COD in sales.

Spoiler: Neither will.

 

[excaliburps]

Right. Our full chat with Respawn is up now: http://www.playstationlifestyle.net/2016/11/02/titanfall-2-interview-drew-mccoy/#/slide/1

Putting this in the first post (if mods can change the title to reflect this?) with some choice excerpts.

PlayStation LifeStyle: You announced that all maps and modes would be free post-launch. So does that mean weapons, Titans, etc., will be paid DLC?

Drew McCoy, Producer: Anything that affects game balance, anything functional, is free. Maps, modes, weapons, anything like that is free. We learned an obvious lesson, but it’s extremely apparent on the last [Titanfall], that when you sell things like maps, you segregate the playerbase in a very unhealthy way. Even though it’s obviously going to leave money on the table, when you buy them, it’s much better for the health of the game and the community to not charge for them.

PSLS: Angel City has been announced as the first DLC map this coming December. What sort of time table do you guys have for other DLC?

Drew: I don’t think we’ve talked about it yet. With multiplayer games now, you kind of have to constantly have a drip-feed of things. You can’t wait five months and do a big drop, so we are planning on fairly regular [releases]. We’ll keep people engaged.

PSLS: What would you say you guys have to compete with other games, like Battlefield 1 and Infinite Warfare this holiday in terms of retaining your player base?

Drew: I feel like Titanfall offers ways for you to play the game [that are] different than any other game, which gives you the opportunity to master things in more ways than one. Case in point, the first game I’m watching, Titanfall players who’ve stuck with the game, they’re doing things that I couldn’t have even dreamt of! But you go watch players of other games, who’ve been out for two or three years, and they’re doing the same things. Maybe they’re chasing a carrot, and making a bar fill up, and leveling up more, but the actual mechanics of their experience, they’re not doing anything different. So I think that’s where our strength lies, it’s a game that lets you play in a bajillion different ways.

Check out the full interview since there's a lot more stuff there.

 

[KiefbladeMaster]

This franchise honestly seems to keep getting 'rescued', and then put into worse situations, each time it nears release. Which is so strange, considering that it seemed like quite a few people enjoyed the first game and only bemoaned that the player population dropped significantly. The same seems to be the impending case for this sequel.

Out of curiosity: for 'pure' shooter fans, is this game good? Does it mechanically offer you something different and satisfying that other shooters are not? If that's the case, why did the first game suffer from so much player population dropout - aside from the fact that it was a console exclusive - and where does that leave the company in position to its peers?

Absolutely, the gear you take can entirely change the way you play. Movement mechanics are also on another level from any other shooter I've played, even Blops 3.

The population dropout, from my understanding, was due to segregating the playerbase with map packs via the season pass. I think Respawn have a bright future, EA just made a poor business decision releasing it between two giant, long running franchises along with a remaster of one of the most popular FPS' of all time.