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Titanfall's exclusivity based on EA's XB1/PS4 forecasts, still feel very comfortable

If you ask Respawn or Microsoft, they'll say it's because of the Xbox One's cloud servers. You may even remember, back in August, designer Fairfax ‘Mackey’ McCandlish calling Microsoft the "Apple of videogames" when it comes to multiplayer and communal gaming -- something Titanfall emphasizes (there's no singleplayer campaign). McCandlish at the time explained the exclusivity was based on Respawn being a small team and having to pick a single platform. "Xbox made the most sense," he said.

Microsoft and Xbox may have made the most sense, but it doesn't look like it was a decision based on console power, community, or cloud servers.

"I think you should assume that we made that decision when it was back a few years ago when we decided to go exclusive," explained EA's Chief Financial Officer Blake Jorgensen when asked if the deal with Microsoft for Titanfall's exclusivity would offset potential sales the game could have had if released on PlayStation.

"We had some forecast at that time from where we thought both Xbox and PlayStation would be and that's what we based our decision on. I think we're still feeling very comfortable with that," he said.

I think it's based on that bag o money
bagofmoneyk7xse.jpg


http://www.gamezone.com/news/2014/0...aystation-sales-forecast-not-xbox-one-s-cloud
 
If Ubisoft can release Watchdogs for the WiiU, you can certainly release Titanfall for the PS4.

EA's claim is 100% bullshit, as always.
 
If it's based on sales forecast, that means Titanfall 2 will be on PS4, right? And damn Canipus, don't steal the first post glory for yourself, ha ha.
 
"We had some forecast at that time from where we thought both Xbox and PlayStation would be and that's what we based our decision on. I think we're still feeling very comfortable with that," he said.

Well, the first sentence is probably true, anyways.
 
Duh. You dont do a deal like that without those types of projections unless you are incompetent.
So they anticipated that the Xbone would be selling so well that it would offset not having any sales on the PS4, huh? I'm just guessing that a few truckloads of gold bricks would really help with making such an idiotic business decision such as instantly losing about half of your possible sales.
Basically it goes like this: We project we'd sell XXXXX on PS4 if we released it there so we will need XXXX to offset those lost sales. If it was idiotic or not depends on who lost out more in the long run (the giver or the taker).
 
So they anticipated that the Xbone would be selling so well that it would offset not having any sales on the PS4, huh? I'm just guessing that a few truckloads of gold bricks would really help with making such an idiotic business decision such as instantly losing about half of your possible sales.
 
As per everyone else in the industry pre reveal it was expected the xbox would stomp ps this generation, as it turns out we were all wrong.
 
They fucked up. Titanfall will still be immensely successful, but nothing like sabotaging a new IP's full potential before it even gets out the gate.
 
To be fair pretty much everyone thought the next xbox was going to beat the next playstation in power, price, and sales two years ago.
 
If EA realy wants a big pice of the COD pie then they would definitely not keep this game exclusive to Xbox. Otherwise the game will fail to garner an industry wide player base and only attract those on Xbox.
 
Rubin and Patcher said 2 years ago the story was MS had this gen locked down


Wondering how much behind the scenes has changed for pubs since.
 
EA's Chief Financial Officer: It wasn't that Microsoft paid us money. No sir. It was a feeling. A feeling in our hearts. Our souls.

Our following our hearts is why we didn't tell our Investors BF4 was a buggy piece of rushed out shit before release too.
 
It makes perfect sense that they thought the XBOX One would sell more than the PS4 (at least in the territories that mattered for shooters) and a Armored Truck full of cash helped with that thought.

I definitely believe they wish they thought through that decision now, though.
 
That's what most people thought, that the X1 would be the leader, US stronghold, lots of money, created a strong brand.

Then February happened.
 
If it's based on sales forecast, that means Titanfall 2 will be on PS4, right? And damn Canipus, don't steal the first post glory for yourself, ha ha.

When the first game is exclusive and the second game is multiplatform, the game tends to sell better on the originally-exclusive platform because that's where the fans migrated to in the first place. I don't know if that can't be "undone" but I'm pretty sure the sequels to games that started off 360 exclusive sell worse on PS3.
 
Sucks for EA then if they didn't get updated moneyhats for actual sale numbers. And the 3.9 million number for XB1 in the article refers to shipped to, not sold through numbers

What's the latest sold to consumer number from MS?
 
At the time of the TitanfaIl release Xbox One is still not released in large parts of Europe, and probably won't be out for several months yet.
 
I really, really dislike it when companies make statements to rationalize exclusivity and act like it isn't a business agreement. Even when it's brought up in interviews (which it understandably is), I wish they could just say "We came to an agreement where we've partnered with a platform, which lets us focus resources and gives us added incentive to support the project. That platform benefits from exclusivity, and it's treated like any investment in that regard."
 
I mean, assuming every single X1 owner buys Titanfall, I can't see it selling as well as a COD game (to be fair it's a new IP.) But then again, I always assumed that it would sell better on 360, which would bring total sales up (because the 360 has a massive userbase). I dunno.

It just seems strange to me, to have a title like this be console exclusive at the beginning of a new console generation (where really selling to both would yield your best profits). Before someone points out first party titles, not really talking about that. Titanfall is a game that really wants itself to be the next COD (in terms of the overall franchise success). It's about MP entirely, and they want this to really grow.

That's what I mean.
 
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