Let me make this clear right from the get-go. I want Titanfall to succeed. Kirby wants it to succeed. The gaming industry needs it. The Xbox One needs it. Heck, even Activision needs it as the Call of Duty franchise could use some stiff competition and for many a wake-up call. There is likely no other development team (besides DICE) who would want to ‘stick it’ to Activision quite like Respawn. Despite this, I am worried. It is this feeling I have in the pit of my gut that somehow Titanfall won’t be all it is cracked up to be. I envision the Sony fanboys coming out in droves cackling away like hyena’s as Titanfall struggles out of the gate. I envision a server back-log, dropped games and my Twitter feed lighting up like a Christmas tree with Titanfall hate. I don’t want this to happen, but dear God, I see it and I see it coming a mile away. Like an unstoppable freight train, Titanfall is about 3-months away from release and here are 3 reasons why I am concerned:
1.) EA Sells Broken Games
Let’s not even look at SimCity or Madden 25 for a minute as we know SimCity was a complete bust and to this day Madden 25 on the Xbox 360 still has issues. Instead, let’s look at Battlefield 4 – a game that was released before Halloween and to this day remains broken. Not a day goes by when I don’t hear about some kind of BF4 issue. It is relentless and DICE is fully aware of the issues; yet they persist. Whether it be getting punted from an online session or your progress from the single player campaign somehow not saving, to this day BF4 gamers continue to play a broken game. I remain baffled how such a high profile multi-million dollar game remains so crippled. Why we accept it is beyond me. All those who paid $60 bucks have little to no recourse and instead remain stuck with a game that was never ready to begin with. I sure hope Titanfall doesn’t suffer the same fate. I want to believe it will be different with Titanfall. I really do but that doesn’t stop me from worrying.
2.) EA’s Track Record with Online Games Over the Past Year is Less Than Stellar
Now let’s shift our focus to SimCity. I still recall the weeks leading up to SimCity’s launch and how many were excited for its release.  It was the talk of the town and all those who have invested in EA’s beloved franchise over the years had already pre-ordered it. I am sure many even took time off work to play it when it launched. Well, that first week was a nightmare. The servers were congested. There simply wasn’t enough server capacity to get everyone into the game. People were essentially stuck in a line. EA had to turn several features off just to get the game functioning. It was a mess.  A frickin’ colossal mess. The damage seems irreparable. I now know so many who will not go back to the franchise including a couple of COG staffers.  It’s puzzling how the development team or EA for that matter could not anticipate how many would be jumping online to play the game day one. Take note of this EA and take note of how many will rush online to play Titanfall day one. Granted the game will be played on a Microsoft cloud server but if people have issues from the get go, you better ‘batten down the hatches’ EA.
3.) Multiplayer Only Games Don’t Sell on Consoles
Console gamers tend to prefer having the best of both worlds. Games that include both a solid single player experience and a robust multiplayer mode more often than not do quite well.  It’s one of the reasons why the Halo and Call of Duty franchises have been so successful.  Both series deliver spectacular online multiplayer modes and a reasonably solid single player mode. There are always exceptions but you get the point. Titanfall is an online experience only. Now this won’t hold me back from picking up the game but I know it will for many. Your average casual gamer may not even know this is the case. The PC crowd likely won’t care it’s an online only game but many console gamers will care and it may turn them away. Even a paltry 4-hour single player campaign may be enough to convince more console gamers to pick it up. Yet for now, it remains strictly a multiplayer game and for this reason I think sales may suffer. Again, I like to wrong on these kind of half-cocked assessments but somehow I don’t think I will be.
***So what do you think? Are you concerned? Let us know your comments below?***