Titanfall Has Been Tough To Market Without Singleplayer, Says Respawn

Respawn's Drew McCoy recalls the early days of marketing Titanfall, saying that it was quite tough to market the game without a traditional SP campaign.

[G20WLY]

Maybe you should have included a single player campaign then? ;)

I wish... :(

[Gazondaily]

For the sake of it? No thanks.

[WalterWJR]

You protect this game like it's your baby.

[christocolus]

@walterwjr

Maybe its cos he has played it and knows how good the game is unlike alot of guys here,actually all those i know who have experienced this game act the same way as septic,all i hear is how much fun they had with it at those events. The previews/hands on have all been positive too,i think its going to be a really good game.

[Baka-akaB]

Weird , seems to me it depends who you ask . Many people i know dont care about the campaigns from COD or BF anymore . And i wouldnt blame them , BF's sp are regarded as generic whatever they do , and COD's Sp hasnt been really interested after MW1 or BO1 . They basically buy the game for MP

[Gazondaily]

@walter

Because I have played it and don't chat s*** without actually having a clue what it's about?

I also have stated that BF3 and 4 didn't need single player.

Just because Walter Junior was pretty much useless in the Breaking Bad and all he did was eat cereal doesn't mean you need to make even more useless contributions.

But I guess you want single player for the sake of it yeah?

[Alexious]

Not sure why they're disagreeing with you, a tacked on SP would have only wasted resources.

[minimur12]

That's exactly why Cod and Battlefeild include a 4 hours campaign, they mmake it just for marketing and to make the trailers look cool.

[Gazondaily]

Ooops..guess I was wrong. People want tacked-on Single Player. BF4's lackluster campaign...all is forgiven.

[WalterWJR]

Septic I was not just referring to this comment. All your posts lord the game based on a single tech demo you played.

No one said anything about tacked on single player, obviously we want a decent one.

Oh and please don't mock my breakfast eating habits. Breaking bad is nothing without jr and his veggy bacon.

[FlunkinMonkey]

Breakfast Bad.

[CELLA]

WE DO NOT WANT A SINGLE PLAYER GAME

[Gazondaily]

"No one said anything about tacked on single player, obviously we want a decent one. "

Yeah and I just said that we don't want a single player game for the sake of it. That was somehow akin to protecting the game like its my baby?

Oh how you'd much rather prefer to the copy and paste rage sentiments of fanboys berating a game they haven't played right?

Let's listen to sofa experts on what's best for the game, not the developers that actually made it in the first place.

"All your posts lord the game based on a single tech demo you played."

Any why is that? Is it all hubris?

And that's still more than most of the haters have done. The sad thing is, they can't even wait till March before making their minds up. Agendas mate...agendas...

[CynicalKelly]

It's a real shame to see more dislikes on your comment than likes. We as gamers complain about the state of game development and the quality of the games they produce and it's a real hit to know it's because most gamers enable them.

Battlefield started as a MP only game and now they take resources away from the MP to create a Single Player that nobody likes nor wants just for the sake of it.

I for one am glad Respawn is not giving in. We always complain about games that add a MP that is just not needed. I wish people would see the double standard and realise they are wrong.

[GarrusVakarian]

Not sure why you have so many disagrees, tacked on singleplayers are the worst. Ive literally just finished the BF4 campaign 5 minutes ago and it was pretty bad, bad writing/story, bad dialogue, bad everything apart from graphics.

I'd much rather Respawn focus all resources on one aspect (MP) rather than using some of those resources for a tacked on Sp. I wish DICE/EA would do the same with the BF franchise.

[ifistbrowni]

@septic, walterjr probably doesn't even have an XONE. Ps4 ppl just like to troll this game.

I dont understand why its so important to ppl to rag on the console that they dont own. I like gaming, i own both.

Idk what it is with gamers on the internet. I've always owned all consoles (until wii, i skipped wii and wii U).

SEGA, Nintendo. PS1, N64. PS2, Xbox, Gamecube and Dreamcast. X360, PS3. PS4, XONE.

Glad i've always been a gamer and not a loyalist. I'm only 22 y/o and through all those consoles, i've had tons of fun. I feel incredibly sorry for those of you who believe you have to be loyal to one company.

Infamous will be my single player and TitanFall will be my Multi-player. Because i own both, i can have it both ways. See how great it is?

Cheers to gaming!

[truefan1]

This game will do fine, every person I know that has an XB1, and plenty of people on my friends list are looking forward to Titanfall. This game is only tough to market to PS4 players, lol. They are the ones leading the charge to bring this game down. They hate the fact that greatness awaits........until at least 2015. No major exclusives for them besides rehashed single player games.

[amodestoccasion]

No kidding. I don't buy Battlefield for the single player, I don't buy CounterStrike for the single player. Some games just don't need it.

[NatureOfLogic]

So according to most above, devs should take less success by avoiding the singleplayer audience.

[nukeitall]

Actually I hope more developers take this path!

Why include a tacked on single player or multiplayer?

Put more effort into where it matters!

Sick of tacked on and meaningless game mode just so you can check it off on a list.

[KingDadXVI]

I agree completely. The fact that all of their focus has been on their concept of online multiplayer only means it is only going to be that much better.

[uncharted56]

I would you know why? Because they will sell this game for 60 dollars and if this game becomes a success you know what will happen? A new trend where online only games with no sp will be sold for 60 dollars. And then 15 dollar dlc will follow suite. Screw EA, Activision, Respawn and all cod creatros and Crapcom.

[moujahed]

They did, that's what the 50 count AI players are for... Blurring the lines between Singleplayer & Multiplayer like a true champ.

[kaiserfranz]

We haven't seen yet what they truly mean with "blurring the line between single player and multi", though.

[n4rc]

It doesn't need to be there just for the sake of having it..

People are just used to a certain formula that's been done to death.. Considering most games are essentially mp games with a crappy campaign added on almost as an after thought.. Why not just do away with it and focus on what people really want?

[SkippyPaccino]

OMG these poor babies don't know how they'll advertise their game to the world? I feel so bad for these people... Maybe if the media could write and talk about titanfall a little more, maybe we would know more about this game....

Sarcasm aside, can this game be more hiped then it is right now? It's starting to have the reverse affect on me and Ive started to get repulsed by the amount of coverage... Deep down I'm kinda hoping it fails... Anyways I'm sure it will do fine and many will enjoy it but... Stop treating it like The second coming of Christ

[KiLLUMiNATi_89]

Multiplayer and Co-op is the the future of gaming that's what sells and plus who wants a 5 hour campaign anyways? The way I see it eliminate the useless and work on the essentials.

[gamer7804]

exactly, i'll wait til it drops to bargain bin prices til i pick it up. a good portion of us don't play much multiplayer VS. I enjoy coop with friends, but without a SP campaign Titanfall is a hard sell for 60$

[cyphertech]

It's easy to market an exclusive. Uninteresting games become AAA to some and interesting games become shitty to others.

[G20WLY]

Uh oh, you can't say "exclusive" when talking about Titanfall without opening a can of worms..! Makes people squabble. :o

I think you're right though.

EDIT: Below, you can only edit for about 15 minutes. You won't pick up an all-out ban for that, I'm pretty sure. :)

[cyphertech]

What happened to the ability to edit comments? I don't want to get banned or anything for swearing, but it's a habit.

[SilentNegotiator]

You get 15 minutes to edit. And don't worry, people rarely get reported for swearing; usually just if the rest of the comment is really disagreeable or a mod comes by and reads that one comment out of the hundred others.

[LoveOfTheGame]

Don't be too sure, I had 5 bubbles before I used the word "F*ck", ***DISCLAIMER TO MODS*** using it as a reference not as an "obscene pornographic word".

Apparently any use gets you a bubble down, at least when it suits them.

[Gamer666]

Yep, perfect examples are Lair, Twisted Metal, Knack, the last three or four Ratchet & Clanks, GT5, GT5 Prologue, Haze, Time Crysis 4, Mag, Dust 514, PS All Stars Battle Royale, God of War Ascension, etc.

[e-p-ayeaH]

This wont cost 60 bucks right?

Multiplayer-only games shouldnt cost that much.

[badz149]

sorry to disappoint you like this but it will cost you $60 and it won't just stop there!

this is EA and they will milk the shit out of this game with Season Pass too which will cost another $50 and then the shortcuts for $10 each.

and they might not stop just there too. there might be Premium Edition already in the works.

[e-p-ayeaH]

Battlefiled 4 did include a singleplayer so it could justify the full price at least that´s the way i see it.

[JoGam]

Whats even more disappointing, people will still buy it at $60. And on top of that, still buy premium. Smh

[Alexious]

And why is that so? Single-player only games cost that much, even though they have way less longevity.

[Fishy Fingers]

Why? Single player only titles still charge full retail. If the content is there what difference does it make?

Edit: disagree without explanation at will :)

[e-p-ayeaH]

A singleplayer game is garanteed to offer a tangible experience without needing a web conection and multiplayer-only games cant garantee a satisfying experience because you may get lag/conection issues for various reasons.

singleplayer should have more value than multiplayer dont you think?

[Fishy Fingers]

All worthwhile arguements. I agree, that of course you need an internet connection to play MP, but really in this day and age thats hardly a rarity.

Each to there own I suppose, but if I look at any game ive played both multiplayer and single player, I tend to spend far more time on the multiplayer, so that is where my value for money is coming from. I think people need to move with the times, gone are the days of a traditional MP/SP games, there's plenty of scope for devs to focus on single aspects, be that SP, MP or co-op. But your naive if you suggest that a game that only offers MP cant be value for money when a game that only offers SP can.

[mydyingparadiselost]

SP games have a life after numerous years, the servers for Titanfall will eventually shut down and leave the game unplayable.

[Alexious]

@e-p-ayeaH: That is why the biggest success in the history of gaming is an ONLINE ONLY game like World of Warcraft, right?

You couldn't be more wrong. There isn't any inherent superior value in single player; they are different values altogether. If you have lag/connection issues talk to your provider, because we are in 2014 and a decent web connection is extremely common and basically necessary to do most things.

[Seafort]

Of course it's $60 it's an EA game with MS exclusivity "donations".

It'll probably have DLC and microtransactions coming out of every orifice :P

And for the added benefits PC gamers get forced to use EA Origin download client while paying a premium price.

[ravinash]

When Warhawk came out for PS3, that was full price and Multiplay only.
That was one of the best games I played.

[kaiserfranz]

It seems like there's an extremely vocal minority of multiplayer haters here. How sad...

[Ashby_JC]

The fact that titanfall is NOT ON THE ps4 is where all these people are suddenly against mp only.

Did you all feel that same way with MAG or Warhawk??

I paid $60 and got my money's worth.

[ravinash]

When Warhawk came out for PS3, that was full price and Multiplayer only.
That was one of the best games I played.

[CELLA]

its not a multiplayer game only its a moba to the maps are very big in the game lots of ai as well

[kaiserfranz]

Titanfall a MOBA? LOL!

[UnHoly_One]

Don't laugh.

Although it is an FPS first and foremost, it borrows some elements of a Moba for sure.

Read up on how it works a little, they are really doing something different.

[CynicalKelly]

Huh, strange. Why do you feel that way? Serious question.

I would feel the opposite because games like Battlefield are heavily MP based and I spend literally days of game time playing them while the single player lasts a day or two and usually has no replay value and is quite forgettable.

Just curious as to why you feel MP games are not worth the money that SP games are.

[Ashby_JC]

It's because titanfall is on the Xbox one...and not the ps4/ps3.

There have been plenty of mp only games. But somehow now it's a bad thing. Give me a break.

[christocolus]

Im really excited about this game. Its sad there isnt any sp,but im hoping the multiplayer experience will be able to offer something really fun and different,something which will hold up for months to come and keep players coming back.

[Bathyj]

I love the look of the game mechanics but I only play single player.

[Pandamobile]

You're going to have a rough time this gen if that's the case. There's been a huge increase on multiplayer focus in the last few years, which is likely to continue.

[CynicalKelly]

Factual statement. Disagrees. Stay Classy N4G.

You are completely right. A lot of games announced are either always online or blurring the lines between online and offline. Games like Titanfall, The Crew, The division,Fable, Destiny, Plants Versus Zombies, Elderscrolls online and Need For Speed even blurred the line now too.

While I love MP games and hope Respawn continue along this path, I just hope that publishers and developers don't forget about single player gamers. Not everyone wants to blur the lines.

[kingdip90]

Your right about companies seemingly trying to force our enjoyment of games online...

If this sets the trend this gen then consoles will force those who enjoy single player offline games into other markets, like handhelds for example.

Seems we (meaning those of us who enjoy an offline game) don't matter anymore.

[Pandamobile]

This is more of a calculated response to the needs of the majority (the social gamers), rather than catering to the vocal minority.

If you're one of those people that only plays AAA console games, you're going to be in for a bit of a rude awakening when you find out that much of the AAA console development is shifting to what PC was doing 5-6 years ago (i.e, multiplayer focus, live updating and soft launches).

[Eonjay]

With all the AI packed into this game, they could have had a killer single player.

[DigitalRaptor]

True in regards to AI, although it would probably be lacklustre. Looks like the game is having problems of its own in just multiplayer form.

I think it would help if they released more info as there's still loads we don't know about how it's going to work, modes, different versions, cloud functionality etc. It all seems very quiet and the biggest storm we've heard has been the 6v6 player count.

[XiSasukeUchiha]

Single player was in every single COD to be truly successful other than great multiplayer you need singleplayer as well

[TheFallenAngel]

I agree. I really enjoyed the modern warfare series single player. They were awesome trying to catch makarov. I know a bunch of people that bought cod for the single player only! Can you believe that?

[DeadRabbits]

Titanfall also needs PS4 to reach its full potential.

[badz149]

nah...they can already do it on high-end PCs but is it gonna be 6vs6 too?

[thrust]

Ps4 does not have azure so no!

[KonsoruMasuta]

Yeah, I forgot. That 6 vs 6 is only possible with the cloud. Without the cloud it would be 3 vs 3.

[Volkama]

Without servers it'd be a different game. Without Azure it'd be on EA's servers, and it'd lag like BF4.

Microsoft's cloud is pretty much critical to Respawn achieving what they want.

Whether or not that's the game you want to play remains to be seen, but I'm sure looking forward to it.

[Simco876]

@ Volkama

if they are going to rely on MS servers to achieve what they want, then it will never come to PS4. Glad I got a PC

[WeAreLegion]

Yes, it does. Azure is available to any company that wants to use it, including Sony. Microsoft owns Azure, not the Xbox division.

[Volkama]

@WeAreLegion You are right in so far as any old joe can use Azure. I can go and get an Azure server now, and set it up as a dedicated server for a game I should think. But that'd be hosted in a particular data centre, with a set amount of resource. There is a dynamic back-end and I can expect good uptime, but to all other intents it's just a server.

One of the key aspects of Microsoft's XBox offering is that they take care of the technical 'cloud' side for you, they manage the resources. You sign up, they spin up as many servers as you need wherever you need according to real time demands.

I don't know that you can sign up for anything equivalent to that as a standard commercial offering. You can sign up for servers (windows or Linux), you can sign up for purpose-built services hosting SQL or Exchange, probably a few other bits and pieces. But dynamic hosting and compute for games? Not sure.

Can Sony (or EA, or you or me) hire their own 300,000 servers and then set up their own cloud platform like Live? Possibly. I don't know. I haven't looked into it.

Have you? I'm not trying to pick apart what you've said, I'm asking because I'm actually curious.

[TheFallenAngel]

Why are people crying to have this game on ps4? It looks mediocre to me. But oh well .

[ruefrak]

I said somewhere else that I'm worried this game won't be the savior that people think it will be. This kind of highlights that further.

A lot of people complain about the incredibly short single player campaigns from CoD or Battlefield and Titanfall has no single player campaign. It's an "always online" multiplayer only game which has it's own pitfalls.

And it's an all "dude bro" game all the time. Maybe that will be a good thing or maybe it won't. Respawn took all the dude-bro stuff from CoD, and stripped out everything else. If being a bad ass soldier with unlimited weapons wasn't enough for you, now you can do it in a large robot suit.

[n4rc]

Actually most of the crap that came with cod came after these guys left..

[Fishy Fingers]

The games generated so much attention I don't think it has anything to worry about. People complain about "tacked on" multiplayer modes, surely that logic works both ways?

How many BF4 owners have completed single player?

[n4rc]

I did.. But only because it was there.

Better then bf3 but still not why I bought the game.. Maybe if they skipped the sp then the mp would be more polished?

[Summons75]

I agree. There are games with a multiplayer focus (BF, COD, now this) which don't need a story campaign. I remember BF not having a story before Bad Company, offline play was multilayer with bots. Cod started as story only but evlived and now they don't even need it honestly(there stories seem like they're written by first graders with no sense of story structure). Singe player games give a ton if stuff to experience and replay so it doesn't need multilayer. Than there are a few that balance the two like Halo and Kill zone.

Not every game needs multipayer, not every game needs a story (maybe a small narrative to justify why your doing what your doing like Shadowrun on the 360), and some games can balance both.

Tf seems risky with their bots out numbering players but they did say there is a narrative weaved into the multiplayer so thats fine.You're not allowed to play offline anyway so having a single player experience wouldn't make much sense since the few people who play the battlefield or cod campaigns don't have constant internet or are trophy hunters.

[infectedaztec]

I did...but only because the online was broken for so long (btw the SP isnt as bad as everyone says).

I wonder if BF4 would have been as broken if it had access to azure and not EAs crappy servers. There definitely wouldn't be the queues that currently plague the game

[UnHoly_One]

Agreed wholeheartedly.

I have owned every CoD game since the first Modern Warfare. Haven't played a single player campaign on any of them since Black ops.

I bought Killzone Shadowfall at PS4 launch and never even booted up the single player.

It goes both ways. And neither way is wrong.

I wouldn't complain about this game having a solo campaign, but at the same time I don't think it NEEDS to have one, either. I'm fine with it the way it is.

[Edvin1984]

Just MP will do for me, as long as its tested to hell it should be awesome. I am pretty excited for this, as it will be my first purchase on X1 since well the launch games KI,Forza, BF4, Ryse.

[PantherDST]

This game and the hype they are pushing reminds me of BRINK. BRINK looked great and had a great concept, but it turned out to be boring and lacked staying power.

[SharnOfTheDEAD]

Yeah and Brinks Campaign was pretty short, Titanfall will need plenty of content for mp only, 12 maps won't cut it. It needs to have plenty of substance.

[UnHoly_One]

Brink had no campaign, it was all multiplayer.

[JoGam]

BRINK was very disappointing. I just recently recovered from how bad it was.

[CorndogBurglar]

This seems kind of weird to me, especially when you consider that franchises like Battlefield were born without single player, and that was back in a day when online gaming was an even smaller community than it is now.

Granted, there technically was a single player mode, although all it was, was the same thing as online multiplayer, only all the other players were bots. Its not like it had a campaign or anything. Now look at the juggernaut Battlefield has become.

[ELCUCO]

**Deleted EA rant**

[jamz4]

Then charge half price for half a game :)

[UnHoly_One]

So all games that don't have multiplayer should be half price as well, then?

Every God of War game except for Ascension should have been 30 bucks because it was only "half a game", right?

[jamz4]

Yeah, my comment was completely tongue in cheek. You know what that means, right?

[UnHoly_One]

Yeah I know what it means, but it didn't seem that way.

Sorry!

[user7402931]

seems its worth about $40.00

[JoGam]

Naw, maybe $39.99. $40 is too much. Lol

[UnHoly_One]

To each his/her own.

I'd say it's worth about 559.98. The price of an XB1 and the game.

[GoPanthers999]

BF4 has a SP campaign, but I don't know if I will ever finish it. The MP is where I spend my time. And thats only a 5 or 6 hour campaign. Tacked on SP content is a waste of time.

[Alexious]

Someone sensible, finally!

[Hayabusa 117]

Tell that to Valve please.

[etownone]

Wish it had a single player campaign.

I doubt I'll be buying it.

[reaperofsouls]

Titanfall is an overated, overhype cod multiplayer knock off

[WeAreLegion]

Yeah. MAG had that problem, too. :/ MAG was an incredible experience though.

Judging by pre-orders, I think Titanfall will do just fine. I'd love to see it on PS4, but I can live with a PC version. I just like trophies... :/

[nategrigs]

They have done a terrible job marketing.
The game has been hard to market because they haven't released any information about it. How is the AI implemented? What game modes are there? How does the "campaign" work? Is the 360 version going to be playable?

I'm fine with multiplayer only if I knew what I was getting. The confusion surrounding this game makes people think that it's not going to be ready.

[CELLA]

i played mag on the ps3 my problem was i had to wait for in hour just to fine people online the player count was to high in the game they should had it to be a mmo game

[curtis92]

It basically is single player.... but with a handful of other players thrown into the game. Too bad there isn't a 100% offline SP though.

[Dewitt]

The problem with the hatred on here has nothing to do with player count, or no single player, or the resolution.. It is simply because this game is not coming to the PS4, pure jealousy and it is embarrassing. I've played it at PAX East and it is insanely fun, but I'll just be discredited by the army of couch devs here who know better than the devs and the testers. Let's wait for release so everyone can see just how much of a blast this game is.

[ichdich]

agree, this epic game will speak for itself soon.

Read this people:
http://www.tentonhammer.com...

[curtis92]

People keep comparing this to battlefield and how Battlefield doesn't have much of a SP campaign and that people buy it for multiplayer... Yes, but Battlefield allows far more players than 6v6. They don't just fill in all those 64 players online with bots.

[Alexious]

And what does this have to do with anything?

More players doesn't equal more fun at all, or even a polished game, as shown by BF4 itself.

[GirlOnFire]

I'm sure the next game will include an Single player campaign and will be on X1/PS4. I think I can wait seeing as I played this game at comic con. I didn't care much for it its really good looking(at least on a pc) 60fps and pretty nice graphics but I got bored of it. I can wait even though I'm getting an X1 I'll probably get it on PS4. ^~^

[boskoz]

This lack of singleplayer disturbs me

[tbon3man]

I know the game will do good but to pull in big responses you should have put it on the PS4 too. It seems simple to me the more platforms the more interest, the more interest the more money you make. Simple logic.

[strigoi814]

single campaign will at least make you feel comfortable with the controls and practice tactics..unless this is just basic COD style then i guess it will be fine, yet $60 for a multiplayer only is a big question

[flaming_scorpion]

They're 1st mistake was making it an Xbox exclusive.

[quenomamen]

That and the 6 vs 6 with last gen graphics aint helping either.

[Section8]

Please. Gamers the world over have been screaming for MP over SP for the last 2 years. That's why someone got MP in my Batman and GOW. MP that was never needed. Almost 70% of gamers play the MP first/only for any COD. I prefer SP over MP any day but I do play a lot of hours in MP and yes, for Respawns first game they should have aded SP.

[Nintenja]

Still haven't played single player on BF4 or CoD. Don't care too. Seems like time wasted that I could be getting XP online.

[H0RSE]

This is the logic I don't get...

How is a MP only game a "hard sell," yet a SP only game is not? A MP game likely has a much higher replay value, due to everything being in real-time and having no definitive end to the game. It's funny how so many claim a MP only Titanfall is not worth $60, yet adding in a SP campaign, which would likely not be a proper/lengthy campaign, suddenly justifies a $60 price tag, even though they will never/rarely touch the MP, which is the core aspect the game. Essentially, these people are willing to pay $60 for a portion of the game that isn't the prime focus and would offer less than the part they claim isn't worth the money...

Some of the greatest and most inspirational shooters of all time, are MP only games, such as Quake 3, UT, CS, TF2, BF, and Tribes, to name a few. Quake, UT, BF, and Tribes all sold for full the full retail price of the time.

It likely just comes down to familiarity and expectations. SP has been the norm in shooters for so long, that not shipping with a SP component, feels alien to many. Frankly, I'm glad they aren't giving in to the concerns.

I'm so sick of companies feeling obligated to put a SP component in their games, regardless if the primary focus/audience is interested in MP. They just add a SP aspect to earn quick buck off players who wouldn't have bought the game otherwise.

All games do not have to appeal to all players - Dark Souls took this approach by being notorious for its unforgiving, difficult gameplay, while offering no relief for more casual players, and it has done pretty well for itself.

If you won't buy Titanfall due to a lack of SP, then don't buy it. It is completely selfish for people to complain and boycott the game, in an effort to persuade the devs' into adding a SP component, just so they can get their way and play a portion of the game that was nothing more than a last minute addition.. It completely undermines the core audience and what they were looking forward to - a solid, MP focused shooter.