EA Can't Survive if Titanfall is a Failure

From the iAmXbox.com feature editorial:

"More than a year ago, on March 5th, 2013, Electronic Arts released the highly anticipated SimCity and nobody was able to play it. The servers were immediately overwhelmed and thousands of people all over the country were not able to play the game they spent their hard-earned money on. The game was downloaded onto their computer, their internet was working fine, but EA severely underestimated the popularity of SimCity and their servers were unprepared for the masses. Gamers were pissed."

[UltimaEnder]

Couldn't agree more, they really NEED Titanfall to be a success, as does Microsoft (in terms of Xbox One hype/support)... Especially with Infamous Second Son right around the corner...

[caseh]

Yeah because EA don't have a choke hold on the sports aspect of gaming (NHL,NBA,FIFA,NFL,BOXING, UFC) so if Titanfall fails they are clearly doomed. /s

Not to mention every other game they have their grubby little mitts on.

[Retroman]

it would take more than TITANFALL for EA to fail.

for hits these Editors will write a article just about anything for hits.

i know what, how about a article about any editor
FAIL!!!! or Doomed!!!! stop LIEING that is a GREAT hit story.

[Narutone66]

For a company voted worst 3 years in a row, and still standing, a game like Titanfall won't be their downfall.

[badz149]

Titanfall won't fail. NEVER! the hype for it is high and there's just no way it won't sell. it might not do CoD or BF numbers because it skips the PS3 and PS4 but 4-5 mil easy.

the worst thing that could happen to it is server/connection issues and bugs like BF4 but it will still sell regardless.

[ZodTheRipper]

Titanfall won't fail, I'm sure that EA will make a profit and Microsoft will sell a lot of consoles thanks to it.

I'm much more interested in the longterm appeal of Titanfall, I could imagine people getting bored of it relatively fast.

[guitarded77]

EA will be fine either way. Microsoft took all the monetary risk when they paid to have Titanfall as an exclusive. EA had to take a huge chunk of money and free advertising for the game to go platform exclusive.

[pompombrum]

I agree, if EA somehow lost their sports games, then they'd be screwed but while they hold onto their monopoly on so many sport games, they'll be fine.

[Reverent]

@badz, honestly, I don't even see any hype for Titanfall outside of gaming sites. Sure, on the internet, the game is hyped like all hell, but in real life, I haven't met a single person who's even heard of the game's existence. It's actually pretty odd.

[windblowsagain]

Exactly could not agree more.

Doomed my arse.

Stupid title and stupid article.

[ThanatosDMC]

Right? I'm hoping they'd come out with Fight Night all ready minus Mayweather.

[Kleptic]

the funny part to all this, for me at least...is Titanfall would definitely be a game that grabbed an impulse buy from me...

yet the single reason i'm not touching it is because EA is publishing it...

tried the beta...fun but shallow...and laughably easy...I wish the devs luck...but EA is not a company i'll be purchasing any products from for the foreseeable future...

[Mr Pumblechook]

EA is a massive company with money in the bank and many successful IPs.
Even if Titanfall tanks (it won't) it will be fine. Their business has not gambled everything on this one new IP.

Depending on how the Xbone version does or doesn't sell, what is liable to be reevaluated is their business preference of it and the PS4.

[ramiuk1]

but the millions they will lose because of going exclusive will cripple them as shareholders wont be happy

[Narutone66]

Titanfall is not yet on sale and it's not yet proven to be a big seller. So saying that it will lose millions because it's exclusive to a few platforms is not true.

[SixtyNine]

infamous is not a threat. And, Titanfall will probably do well, there's hardly any competition.

[Melankolis]

Yes, Infamous isn't at the same market/genre. And Titanfall, whether the game is good or not, the hype will make it sell

[Xer0_SiN]

i dunno man, i could give two shakes about titanfall. but i do care about dead space and mass effect which both fall under ea (publishing). thats just a small piece of the pie that ea has its hands in. i think itll be just fine even if titanfall was to flop.

[avengers1978]

How much did they get from MS for exclusive rights to the game. I mean EA might not even care of one copy sells, they may have already made money on the game, due to MS.
But they are in no way going to fail if TitanFall fails, they have so many games that come out every year.

[AceBlazer13]

Didn't Microsoft pay for this game? Yh, so i think EA is already safe.

[ThanatosDMC]

You make the most sense.

[MysticStrummer]

EA would be fine, just not as fine as they'd be with a huge hit title. MS would be fine too, though XB1's future would be in question even more than it has been until now.

[Blaze929]

EA not surviving in the gaming industry is the equivalent to there being NO gaming industry.

[Jonnyquest321]

EA are like cockroaches, they'll outlast even a nuclear war

[Magicite]

just 2 more days and truth will be revealed.

[gamer2013]

Infamous isn't a threat to anyone and MS doesn't need Titanfall for continued success because it has plenty of games including brand new IP's with more on the way.

[rainslacker]

EA will be fine if TF fails. Every time they have a failed launch people clamor about how it means the end of the company, yet they continue on. EA is pretty diverse, and while they focus on their bigger titles for marketing, they have plenty to fall back on. Their sports titles alone could sustain the company alone.

That being said, I doubt that TF will fail. It's the most hyped game of the new gen, is still available on the prior gen and PC, so it'll likely sell pretty well.

[DeathofSouls]

Titanfall dosnt even use EA servers, it uses Microsoft servers.

[LaurenKB123]

If early beta thoughts are any indication Titanfall will blow everything out of the water, now EA just needs that to translate into sales!

[pheature]

you have the looks, but you dont have the brains.
thats the way of the world.

[-Foxtrot]

EA would perish.....oh wouldn't that be a shame

[UltimaEnder]

HAHA, exactly, then WHAT would we do for the annual sports title that is no different other than a number and the price tag... #overdue

[MightyNoX]

I have my crocodile tears inducer (tm) on standby if that were to happen.

[ShowGun901]

EA's a cockroach, they'll be pushing madden 37 after the zombie apocalypse.

[beerzombie]

They are a cancer on gaming and so is gamestop.

[cabbitwithscissors]

Oh my, is there anyway I can help to hasten them to their untimely fate ?

[metalsonar713]

lol what?

[IanVanCheese]

Pretty sure EA can survive just fine. Despite all the negative press they get, they might as well be printing money, especially with the sports franchises they own.

[UltimaEnder]

I think the point is that EA needs Titanfall to be a massive success to show the gaming public that they can still create games that are not just tweaked, rebooted franchise titles. Also if you listen to the latest financial reports so much of EA's current success rides on mobile; a genre that doesn't exactly excite the current gaming market and/or investors...

[Lawboy2]

Then that's a bad point when does ea creat games....usually don't they publish the games...do u mean they buy bad franchises

[Iltapalanyymi]

I really hope EA dies out soon.

[DC777]

It's on 360. There's little chance it won't be a success. How much so? We will soon find out.

[Rimgal]

What a terrible tragedy if that happens. No more microtransactions, DRM, broken games released before they are ready... Smh

[Grave]

No more Origin. :*-(

[hiredhelp]

I dont want see EA out buisness despite how they may do things.
The buisness been running since 80s brought us many games http://en.wikipedia.org/wik...

[pompombrum]

They've also been the downfall of some of the most beloved studios in gaming. I won't go as far as to wish them gone but I'll happily vote towards them getting voted worst company in America for the third time running.

[hiredhelp]

And i agree but we cant change that many great studios back in retro days got gobbled up by whats now big corp company's not just EA.

[PrinceOfAllSaiyans]

As much as Titanfall is a generic FPS that offers nothing new it will still sell good. Xbox gamers tend to love FPS games.

[ShowGun901]

not to mention, on the xbone it will probably sell nearly as many copies as there ARE xbones... simply cause theres not much else to play on it right now.

same goes for inFAMOUS SS. like hotcakes man.

[thehitman]

Article is a joke... EA wont fail if Titanfall flops. Its sad that Titan Fall is so over hyped that people think it holds that much weight. Titanfall is an averagely fun game nothing more nothing less. It will sell oki numbers and probably get a meta of around an 8-8.5. I dont think it will sell more than the last BF or CoD and if EA thought this game had that much potential they wouldn't have taken a deal with MS alienating 85+ million gamers.

[n4rc]

Hahaha.. These articles crack me up..

1.. Titanfall is practically certain.. The beta was very well received.. Preorders are solid.. Hype is still high etc.. I do t really see how it's failing

And 2.. Ea doesn't need titanfall to do anything.. Ea isn't going anywhere anytime soon

[lonewolfjedi]

first that came t my mind when seeing the title wouldnt it be microsoft that can't survive if titanfall is a failure seeing that have alot more riding on titanfall. then seeing what website this article is coming from and thinks ohh they don't to get in trouble with big daddy microsoft. but anyway I will be glad when this game releases to see if the hype is real or manufactured.

[ShowGun901]

correction:

RESPAWN games will fail if titanfall is unsuccessful.

it will just be a red mark in EA's books.

(btw it won't fail, even if its meh)

[Activemessiah]

well I'm all for anything that will bring EA down personally...

[whyisthehorsestaring]

What a daft headline.

[Lucreto]

I wonder how many EA is expecting to sell?

It is risky with a new IP and even riskier making it an exclusive before the console is released.

I am expecting lifetime sales of 7 million across all 3 platforms. If there was a PS3 and PS4 release I would up that to 10 million.

Saying that word of mouth might start after release as looking at the pre-order on various websites Titanfall is not a system seller. Also from what I am hearing certain areas won't have midnight openings due to low pre-orders.

[Akira2020]

Enough people have purchased the Xbone for it not to fail. The sales will see a even higher bump for the loyal 360 owners savvy enough not to have purchased an Xbone.

Sales wise, it'll show a success (making the investors initially satisfied); though it'll probably go the way of Medal of Honor and Brink (both super hyped prior to their initial release).

Contractually, Respawn backed the wrong horse. I'm sure they (Respawn) were freaking out when Xbone received all the negative press and the subsequent 4-1 sales of the PS4.

Financially speaking (and due to investor pressure), EA and Respawn will ABSOLUTELY make subsequent Titanfall games for every platform.

EA will survive; and the next Titanfall will be leaps and bounds superior to this first limited version.

[Perjoss]

Would be cool if EA went under. All the teams working under them (more than 20 if I remember) could reform as smaller companies and just carry on making games. Gaming doesn't really need EA at all.

Just go away, and take Activision with you.

[andrewer]

EA already failed under my eyes...Not talking about Titanfall, but the company itself.

[wnek9]

EA's stock is doing fine its at an all time high in the past 5 years sure its still about half of where the company was 7 years ago but it would take multiple bombs to make the company flat line.

[tigertron]

EA seem to have been doing ok before Titanfall, so I imagine they will continue to be ok financially, though if they keep ruining their reputation with shoddy releases etc then who knows?

[UncannyValley]

Once you get passed the headline (something the internet can do 6% of the time), the article is more about EA losing consumer faith than it is about EA going down in flames. Honestly though, I'm not even sure if your average consumer could tell the difference between EA, Activision, Valve, or Atari. To the average 12 year old having their mom pick up the latest shooter, it might all be the same to him.

[xx4xx]

EN is consistently voted as one of the most hated companies in America. Not sure if there is much more faith to lose. :)

[Detritus47]

This writer clearly has almost no understanding of the business side of making games. EA's stock ($29.38 currently) and profits swing back and forth constantly, sometime they make money, sometimes they don't. But their asset totals are enormous. Titanfall, and dozens more games following it, could "fail" and EA would still be an economic powerhouse in the industry.

If titanfall "fails" (it won't, the worst they could do is probably revenue neutral at this point), the worst that might happen is that stock price drops a few dollars. Some would get fired for this, but the health of the company would barely be affected. It would take some serious long term game failures, years and years of them, and probably several really bad high dollar asset acquisitions on top of this to do real damage to EA.

Wishful thinking does not make something reality.

[pompombrum]

Titanfall is a win win situation for EA, the details of their deal were already published. Basically EA keep all the profits up to a certain point then Respawn keeps the rest. If Titanfall fails, EA will recoup what they put into it and leave Respawn screwed. Still, Titanfall will be a hit.. it might take a little time for it to get there but anyone who thinks it's going to fail is deluding themselves.

[xx4xx]

First it was Microsoft and the then the Xbox. Next or was Sony. Now we are seeing articles about EA. When will this pointless speculation end?

Surprised this article isn't from Forbes or one of their 'video game correspondents'.

[OC_MurphysLaw]

EA will continue on in the very very very unlikely scenario that Titanfall fails. EA through their dealing have shifted almost all the promotional advertising of this game to Microsoft. EA has basically paid/funded for the development as the publisher and that's it. The deal with MS kept this game from being a financial risk.

[mister_zolos]

love it or hate titanfall it will not fail...and EA...can survive ? that's one of last company's that will die in the gaming industry

[Ra3030]

PLEASE! You can't talk about Titanfall and failure the day before it releases. Now 3.5 million Xbot Dude Bro gamers are In full panic mode.

[e-p-ayeaH]

Titanfall probably wont sell alot but it will be a sucess because its on PC.

[Flames76]

EA is really gonna be in trouble when respawn goes to microsoft then

[worldwidegaming]

DOOOOOOOMSDAYY!! FLEEE!!! RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!!!

[ninjahunter]

EA can afford to mess up dozens upon dozens of times more.

[mochachino]

EA was already paid for the game from MS. The rest is just gravy.

It would have been a lot cheaper for MS to just have funded the development themselves not pay EA for exclusivity.

[D-riders]

BS opinion piece. Madden makes billions, fifa makes billion, battle field billions, titanfall hasnt made squat. how does the company put all their hopes in a basket that isnt even filled yet. dumb article

[ajax17]

The only i.p. I care about is Mass Effect. If it wasn't for that I wouldn't care what happens to E.A.

[aLiEnViSiToR]

Sadly EA is to big to fail now >_>

[Cherchez La Ghost]

Who approved this BS?!

[urwifeminder]

This site is getting like those trashy tabloid papers , alien baby stole my gaming soul and sold it for a space NES.

[Flames76]

Thats the greatest news i could hear as a gamer.EA is a sad excuse for a company.Now if respawn will just wake up and go to microsoft after titanfall comes out then the franchise could become as big as gears or halo