Titanfall Will Be Released on March 11

I agree, it's certainly not "magic" but it's hardly blown out of proportion to simply point out the very tangible difference in sheer infrastructure that suggests why Titanfall is exclusive to Xbox. The fact remains Sony has no substantial dedicated server infrastructure on offer and this game clearly benefits from that support beyond the superficial.

Regarding EA publishing this game, let's just say the fact Respawn reached outside of their own publisher for server support to create their flagship franchise rather than consider using their own given the additional control they might have should speak volumes. Again, I'm not saying Azure dedicated servers are some voodoo magic, but when a company like Microsoft has spent the past couple decades building data centers and propietary servers around the world with access to over 300,000 strong for XBL, neither Sony let alone EA is anywhere near offering that level of support, the investment alone would be staggering considering they have no back-end revenue streams like corporate licences, operating systems or productivity software to justify it.

In more relevant terms, there's a reason SimCity was a disaster. Look, I'm not an expert by any means, but when the developer working on the game themselves, like Jon Shiring, are saying things like this, you have to question their confidence in EA's servers or the current lack of dedicated servers for PS4:

With the Xbox Live Cloud, we don’t have to worry about estimating how many servers we’ll need on launch day. We don’t have to find ISPs all over the globe and rent servers from each one. We don’t have to maintain the servers or copy new builds to every server. That lets us focus on things that make our game more fun.

Most importantly to us, Microsoft priced it so that it’s far more affordable than other hosting options – their goal here is to get more awesome games, not to nickel-and-dime developers. So because of this, dedicated servers are much more of a realistic option for developers who don’t want to make compromises on their player experience, and it opens up a lot more things that we can do in an online game.

Anyway I respect your opinion. More to the point let's face it, concerns about player experience will run pretty low on the list when Respawn runs numbers on PS4 install base and potential increased revenue by expanding to that platform in a year's time.

It looks like the first CoD since 4 that is actually good and worth buying.

However, I'm definitely prefering the DaS II (PC) CE over this, so I'm going to get Titanfall maybe a month later. Also for PC, of course.

Hopefully it will be on PS4 by the end of 2014, since I don't have any plans to pick up a Xbox One any time soon

@ei8htbit: Very interesting post, thank you for sharing! But reading that had a certain irony to it, considering how it had been Infinity Ward (With the Respawn guys still at the helm) that tried to sell us on this "Nobody needs dedicated servers.. That's soooo 90's.." idea with Modern Warfare 2 on PC.

Now they are back and singing the "Dedicated servers are all the rage, P2P sucks so hard" song...

Also i found this bit quite interesting:

Titanfall uses the Xbox Live Cloud to run dedicated servers for PC, Xbox One, and Xbox 360.

How exactly does that translate for people who want to host Titanfall (PC) on their own boxes? Will this even be possible? Or are PC Players, who want to host their own server, gonna be forced to go trough Microsoft for renting them? So when Players can't freely chose their server-hoster, who's gonna guarantee that Microsoft won't nickle&dime the shit out of them instead?

@mjhealy said:

Greatness Waits

That price tag is NASTY!

Me too. I wish I could care about Titanfall but I can't.

No thanks, I'll get Dark Souls

@nethlem: that's an interesting scenario regarding personal hosting on PC I guess we'll have to wait and see. Forgive me for being naive, but what is the advantage of hosting from your box versus private matches as leader "host" using the MS server assuming private play allows custom rules and mods if wanted anyway? Or is that your concern?

But what happens if you put the Titan on the portal of power?

Now we must cross our fingers and hope they don't gimp the PC version.

Dead Space 3 style. A legitimate worry indeed.

@demonbear: word

the real question..... Origin Support or Steam Support?

Thank god, now I don't feel the desire to get an Xbox One before then. I'd rather spend that money on upgrading my PC by that time, unless of course other exclusive One games persuade me otherwise by then.

@striderno9: I don't think anyone actually believes that; it's just tongue in cheek.

Also, you guys should check out Origin again. It's come a long way.

I bet it will be at least a one year exclusivity deal, especially with all the hype it is getting. MS expecting this to be their console thing for as long as possible especially if it does as well as it is should do.

Considering that it's running on Source which works ridiculously well on PC, I doubt that there's a chance of them fucking up the game performance on PC

I'd still be concerned about how they are going to handle servers, update support post-launch, and their anti-cheat implementation.

The day after my birthday. That seems like a good enough excuse to buy an Xbox, I suppose.

...This game looks fantastic.

My favorite part of these comments is how desperately some people are trying to convince themselves that this is coming to a platform that it hasn't been announced for.

Chances of X360 and PC version being good are slim. Respawn is ONLY making the XBone version. The other 2 are ports by an outside company.

I would doubt origin exclusivity, most EA partners games are released on Steam, and valve would be crazy to give their competition Titanfall, with their engine.

The Respawn guys did mention that they choose Source because of the Portal 2 PS3 performance,but Microsoft wants to own the next Call of Duty, so Money Hat. One could guess that it would be a 1 year exclusivity, but it could also be a 1 year deal with an option for full exclusivity based on performance. If it were me, I would also have a clause about the sales figures of XBone, it would be a poor choice to be exclusive to the runner up in sales.(assuming that the co-marketing deal involved a mandatory renegotiation)

The real question is "The Cloud", somehow dedicated servers are only for XBone, not x360 which has a strong chance of being the sales leader. "Offloading AI calculations to Azure" sounds fancy but it is exactly what blizzard did in Diablo III, it is code for dedicated solo server, the server running bots. I mean there is no single player experience, in a story sense atleast (as far as they have said and shown). So, does that mean PC will have to run bots in the background (cobbled together by a 3rd party) and will the X360 be online only?

In the end Microsoft was rumored to have dumped a large sum on Titanfall. Will this be a good thing, for Microsoft yes, Respawn no. We saw with the long exclusivity in GTA IV DLC that rockstar sold far fewer units than they would have wanted to, enough so that they did not repeat that.

And who even knows about its performance on XBone. Valve surely isn't porting source over. So Respawn must be, and they are not a large team. And the XBone has some "intersting" aspects. so the 720p rumor fits.

Bottom line, the game might be fantastic. But if PC and x360 each outsell the "Real" version, then what is it's future in a world without EA Partners. Titanfall 2 needs a publisher.

I could have sworn the PC version is being done by Respawn.

Source?

also, I'm sure DLC will be released March 11.

PC same day? Awesome! I wonder how many Xbox ONE purchases that will affect. This was the ONE game that was making me think about getting ONE. Sorry... Couldn't help it...

All the love for Dark Souls in these comments really warms my heart. I just hope the rest of the world doesn't totally ignore it now that it's up against such a big-name mainstream release.

Can't wait for titanfall, and my XboxOne for that matter.

This game was simply amazing when I tried it at Gamescom, sad I won't have a Xbox One or powerful enough PC at the time needed. Here's hoping to a future PS4 release.

These are the same people who cheered at E3 when Sony announced that online multiplayer is no longer free on PS4.

I think Titanfall will be one of the bigger new games to come out for next gen - at first at least. The philosophies and concepts behind what Bungie and Respawn Entertainment did after their big hits were taken away is telling.

Man, I really hope this isn't a Origin only product for PC. I really like having all my games in one place. I have over 350 games on Steam, so I'm a bit invested there! I've been skipping the whole Battlefield thing since Origin got into the picture so hopefully won't have to skip this.

Same date PC release?

Dude. Sweet.

Yep. Titanfall seems like something I should be really keen for - Destiny just looks to be in a league of its own though.

@almightyboob:

It will be awhile, if not a long while.

Yeah. I really don't think Respawn or MS are sweating it.

Damn you EA. Looks like an amazing game but its got EA, and that's a disease as bad as cancer.