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THEY CANCELLED TITANFALL 3 AND I'M AS MAD AS HELL

5/2/2019

25 Comments

 
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What's more important than critical acclaim? Moneyyyyyyyyy! 

You may have heard the news that Respawn Entertainment - now a subsidiary of Electronic Arts Global Megacorp Inc. - has released a free-to-play battle royale game entitled Apex Legends. It is, apparently, set in the Titanfall universe, but without the Titans which gave that franchise its name. That would be why they've given it that meaningless, self-consciously cool-sounding, focus group-tested, title.

Here are some alternatives they might like to consider for their next game:

Apogee Cusp
Zenith Saga
Lethal Salvation
Hostility Crusade
Fallen Void
Warfighting Skirmish
Hostility Conflict
Atomic Sheath
Cacophony Bong
Ephemeral Clash
Intrinsic Champions
Magnum Honk
Flocculent Sods

Frankly, put any screenshot of Apex Legends next to one from EA's next big release, Anthem, and you'd be hard-pressed to tell them apart. Whatever happened to games having their own identity?! But that's okay, because people don't like to be startled by new and interesting things. They just want to be spoon-fed the same old lukewarm roadkill ad infinitum, apparently.
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LOOT-ME-DO!
You know what a battle Royale game is dontcha, kids? It's a big, massive, online fighting game, and - often - encourages you to spend loads of monies on loot boxes, because that's how they recoup their investment. You know: like PUBG, Fortnight and Warfare.

EA? Free-to-play? Loot boxes?

It's only February, and this is already the worst news of 2019. Yes: and I include anything to do with Brexit, and nuclear arms races, and Donald Trump, in that. 

You see, Respawn is the studio behind Titanfall and Titanfall 2. The former was a decent enough online shooter, with a perfunctory single-player mode, but its sequel boasted the best FPS single-player campaign since - and this is no exaggeration - Half-Life 2. So, of course EA shoved it out in-between Battlefield 1 and Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare, where no amount of critical acclaim could save it. 

EA? B-EA-ve yourselves!

That was okay, though, because Respawn was known to be working on Titanfall 2 - and surely that would've have built even more upon the brilliance of its predecessor's campaign. Except: now we know that Titanfall 3 is no longer in development, and instead we've got this ruddy Apex Legends thing, and it's Buy! Buy! Buy!

​Electronic Arts? You are dead to me. I have buried you in a shallow grave, purely because it'll be easier to dig you up from time to time, so that I may get a random dog to do its fetid bottom-business on your meaningless corpse. 

It takes me ages to realise that a relationship isn't working. I've clung onto friendships and marriages years past their sell-by date due to the weight of history, but once I hit that tipping point... there's no going back. Sadly, it's no different with Electronic Arts.


See that big slope there, EA? Now watch as you and I go sliding down it. Wheeeeee! Watch out for those rocks at the bottom! Actually; don't. I hope you break your legs.
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ROLO TO THE RESCUE
My history with Electronic Arts goes back to the Mega Drive days. Some of the first games I bought for my Mega Drive were from EA, and though Rolo to the Rescue, Budokan and Sword of Sodan weren't very good, I'm easily pleased, and liked the unique cartridge design with that weird yellow tag on them.

Then John Madden Football came out, and though I didn't really know how to play an American Football game, I liked the sort of 3D effect on the pitch - or whatever they call it - and believed all the reviews which insisted it was the best sports game on the Mega Drive.

Furthermore, EA was pretty good to us in the Digitiser days, when the majority of publishers wouldn't even return our calls. We never had the relationship with EA's PR department that we had with some of the PR folk who pretended to like us, but they were always civil in a business-like fashion, and would invite us to EA HQ to see the latest games in development. That somehow instilled a bit of loyalty in me that I admit I've struggled to shake off.

Indeed, most of the criticism levelled at EA in recent years passed me by. Loot boxes? Yeah, annoying, but I had no intention of buying them, so how was that going to affect me? Don't get me wrong; I loathe Star Wars Battlefront 2 - but that's down to how scrappy and thrown away the single player campaign felt. When EA cancelled Amy Hennig's story-led Star Wars game I'd already started to question their handling on the Star Wars license.

Foolishly, perhaps, I gave EA the benefit of the doubt. Maybe the game wasn't as good as Hennig's track record suggested it would be. I continued to roll my eyes at every criticism levelled at EA, dismissing it as the usual "All-big-companies-are-bad" schtick that idiots spew out in order to look edgy.

But now this: no more Titanfall, and some free-to-play battle royale thing instead, which I've absolutely no interest in playing.

Please, EA, attend closely to the following statement: I'm with the rest of them now. You're an awful, greedy, corporate monstrosity, with no interest in art or harnessing the creativity and imagination of your employees. 
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PUSH STAR WARS
Admittedly, I'm not entirely despondent.

Respawn is also working on Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order - which will, by all accounts, be a primarily story-led game. Yet at the same time, there will be limits to how far Respawn can push Star Wars, whereas Titanfall was its own property, and Titanfall 2 was so great precisely because they'd rip up the rule book from one mission to the next. 

But I think this is it. This is the moment when the veil has dropped. Between Apex Legends and Anthem - another online multiplayer thing from EA, which will be laden with lootboxes - I no longer feel the company are making games for me, and is taking the piss. It has narrowed its focus to a myopic degree; Apex Legends, Anthem, A Way Out, Battlefield V... all are primarily online experiences, and the rest of EA's slate is made up of sports games.

​Yes, there's the occasional indie gem - Sea of Solitude or Unravel - but gone are the days when EA would release the likes of Road Rash, Desert Strike, or Syndicate. Their slate is made up of games that are only distinguishable by the relative grittiness of their theming.

I get it: games are expensive to make, and a company isn't going to pump money into something that it doesn't think will make it more money, but it's depressing nonetheless that EA won't invest in the imagination of a company like Respawn. What's the point of purchasing creativity, if you're just going to tell the artists to make the sort of stuff that everybody else is doing.

"Yeah, er, nice sunflowers, Vincent - but what I really wanted was a moody painting of a female tennis player hitching up her skirt so you can see her bum crack... Actually, don't worry about using a brush. Here; borrow my camera."

Apex Legends feels entirely designed to tick a box on a spreadsheet, at the expense of a game which could've contributed something meaningful to video games. 

Electronic Arts? More like Electronic FARTS!!!!!!!!

I'm so cool.
25 Comments
Robsoft
5/2/2019 09:53:41 am

I want to play Cacophony Bong! I want to play it on my phone, and I want to experience open wallet surgery every few minutes while I’m enduring the game.

Seriously though, I never got either Titanfall game, but I’m intrigued to see what was going on with T2 now.

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Pete Davison link
5/2/2019 09:56:50 am

As I said on Twitter last night, there are very few combinations of gaming-related words I can think of that are less appealing than "free-to-play multiplayer-centric battle royale FPS published by EA".

EA have been dead to me for a long time -- I think Mass Effect 3's day-one DLC was pretty much what killed them for me -- but, like you, I have fond memories of them from their early days. Those awesome LP-style disk cases for their computer games! M.U.L.E! The acknowledgement that games could be... well, electronic art! M.U.L.E! Did I mention M.U.L.E?

They haven't been making games for me for a long time, though. And that's fine, really; I certainly have no shortage of games that are "for me" out there, even with my own quite specific tastes. At this point, though, it's just hard to see how *anyone* is still defending them with all their shitty practices.

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Grembot
5/2/2019 10:00:11 am

Fallen Void is a brilliant title. I’d buy a game, film or book called Fallen Void, no doubt about it.

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Peter Sim
5/2/2019 10:29:01 am

'What's the point of purchasing creativity, if you're just going to tell the artists to make the sort of stuff that everybody else is doing.'

Pretty much sums the whole thing up. I guess I shouldn't have been surprised at the direction respawn are going in seeing what happened to all the other studios EA has bought in the past. Just really disappointed, Titanfall 2 has been my most played game for years, was absolutely amazing fun for both single & multiplayer.

Interesting to note now that a bundle of respawn staff left to rejoin infinity ward around 8 months ago - whether they were unhappy with the direction or not I've no idea but it might make the next cod a little bit better.


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HdE
5/2/2019 10:38:25 am

EXCELLENT stuff, Biffo!

True (and, I suspect, largely irrelevant) fact here: when drawing up the loose brief for how HdE's Totally Unoriginal Gaming Show was going to work, I had a good long think about how the subject of games with a substantial online component - and specifically EA games, as they were well established by that point as a company that pushed this stuff too hard for my liking - and how I'd cover that in videos about more modern games.

At that point, my tiddly little gaming channel was actually looking like it would have a few more people involved. We had a quick chat about it and decided this: Online only games, and games with any in-game infrastructure that required players to spend real money AFTER they'd already laid down cash for the game was BARRED from being featured.

The thinking was basically that these were practices we all hated, and didn't want to encourage or give any exposure to. Single player gaming is where it's at. And if company's like EA can't be bothered to offer that, or want to do so with caveats in place ("Hey! This game has a single player campaign, but you need to be online at all times to play it!") I really do think they deserve all the bad press they get.

If folks shovel money at these kinds of games, they'll become more frequent fixtures of the gaming landscape. And I for one don't want that.

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Pete Davison link
5/2/2019 11:09:53 am

You, sir, just earned yourself a subscription for this admirable attitude. Keep up the great work, and I look forward to exploring your stuff.

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HdE
5/2/2019 12:30:08 pm

Cheers, Pete - although I feel a bit self conscious snow that it might appear I only posted to gab about my channel! Not really! Scout's honour!

Really, I just wish more of the channels covering gaming stuff would be a bit more outspoken about these practices. It depresses me that you have entities like EA who would, I'm sure, LOVE folks to believe that single player games are dying when there's plenty of evidence to suggest they're not. It's all about what fits the corporate narrative. And that sucks.

Hope you find something on the channel you enjoy, fella!

kube
5/2/2019 10:49:09 am

I'm mad Respawn have made a trend-chasing battle royale game instead of being original and making *checks notes* the third instalment of an online fps franchise.

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Mr Biffo
5/2/2019 11:00:55 am

Somebody clearly hasn't played TF2....

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kube
5/2/2019 11:50:49 am

I have and I loved it, I'm just poking you in the ribs, man

Johnny Literal
5/2/2019 01:32:18 pm

TF2? Is that the one with the cartoon videos about soldier men, and all the hats for sale?

Clive Stone link
5/2/2019 11:11:23 am

I don't own a single EA game. I mean, I wouldn't anyway because their business tactics are absolutely cuntish....it's just that they haven't put out anything which has piqued my interest in fucking years. Same for Activision - evil cunts, cuntish tactics and shit games.

The sooner these two companies implode, the better. Could do with another crash. These chancers can fuck off, and the rest, those who actually care about what they're doing and not being buttfucked by rich men in rich suits can rebuild. Can you tell I'm fucking livid?

Also. EA SPORTS - IT'S IN THE GAME (only you'll have to pay a bit extra to get to it).

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Antony Adler
5/2/2019 11:34:15 am

Old man comment here - I think gaming has been on a downward spiral since doom, FPSs, lan parties, multiplayer etc. I remember wondering, as a teen, in the early 90s what the fuss was about running round corridors (initially, now open worlds etc) shooting other people before they shot you. Ffwd 25 years and an absolutely enormous amount of people run round corridoors shooting other people before they get shot. This fake Titanfall game (and anthem and destiny and fortnite and overwatch etc etc etc) are all variations on the same bloody thing - run round shooting people before they shoot you - with different costumes to wear, and different guns and bombs to use. It's mindless and it's not a surprise that EA, the most mindless of companies is happily going further and further down this path. Honestly, if people would just finally get sick of throwing cash at this genre, it would do wonders as companies would be forced into trying a bit harder.

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Spiney O'Sullivan
5/2/2019 04:10:07 pm

"I remember wondering, as a teen, in the early 90s what the fuss was about running round corridors (initially, now open worlds etc) shooting other people before they shot you"

"Get them before they get you and also don't get got" seems to be a gameplay style that just appeals to most people at some fundamental level.

I mean, "tag"/"tig"/"whatever your school called it" is pretty much the classic first game that kids play in the school playground, and there's a bunch of variants on it, like "freeze tag", "British bulldog" or the ever-popular "thinly-veiled disguise for your campaign of bullying".

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RG
5/2/2019 11:55:35 am

I remember lamenting the day that EA left the Steam store and launcehd Origin as I didn't want to install another store on my PC.

These days I've got half a dozen stores installed but still no Origin. Like others have said, EA haven't made a game since that I've wanted to spend money on. I did nearly break with the Sim City reboot, but that was plagued with EA nonsense, so I left it be.

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Withnailmarwood
5/2/2019 11:59:16 am

I tried Apex Legends last night.

It was ok.

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Spiney O'Sullivan
5/2/2019 02:10:40 pm

Have you tried spending a bit more money on microtransactions? I'm told that leads to feelings of pride and accomplishment that might enhance your experience with the game.

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notheBrightest
5/2/2019 12:12:49 pm

Apex Legends... moar like Epic Bellend

... heh?! huh?! ...am I right fellas??!!

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KE
5/2/2019 05:52:30 pm

It is telling for the industry that the reference point for the peak of first person shooters is still Half Life 2... I mean, that came out in 2004.

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Mrtankthreat
5/2/2019 06:31:47 pm

All big companies are bad though. It's not an edgy shtick to say so.

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FatDave
5/2/2019 06:49:33 pm

EA have always been buying and killing companies. Remember westwood with command and conquer.

They have no idea what to do with anything thats not a sports licence, it's outside what they do.

I also read that their CEO is not happy to have the star wars licence in the first place and he would rather concentrate on their own IPs.

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Dunc
5/2/2019 08:53:25 pm

Yknow I wouldn't have so much of a problem with some of the shit that EA shovel out, there's clearly a market for it after all. My problem is their insurance of burying anything good and closing down great studios. They made sure dead space is no more by not only cancelling the games (but presumably keeping the rights) but closing the whole studio. They killed two star wars games as part of the same move. Despite anyone being able to throw out another battle royale game, they have to do that in place of Titanfall. And don't get me started on what they turned bioware into. I wish they'd sell the studios they don't want along with game rights for franchises they're done with but no, if they can't make billions from it then no one can have it

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James Walker
5/2/2019 11:48:17 pm

That Electronic Farts gag at the end made me do a LOL!

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Meatballs-me-branch-me-do
6/2/2019 03:13:23 pm

As a wee one, my first ever PC game was Bill Budge Pinball Construction Set (by EA). I spent HOURS building tables and designing the graphics for them. I later got Adventure Construction Set, mistaking the images on the back for it letting you make Pacman style games (I was seven) but was delighted to discover a fairly gentle top-down RPG that you could edit at any time. It came with two built-in adventures as examples.

Then there was Desert Strike. Chuck Yeager's Air Combat. Need for Speed, Road Rash, Birds of Prey, NHL 94...

It started going skanky. Project Ten Dollar (aka the Online Pass) was outrageously cynical. I fired up NFS: Hot Pursuit 2010 and the first things you got was a 'enter your registration code' screen, a 'registered your EA account for Autolog' screen, and then an *unskippable* commercial for NFS: Shift.

Battlefield started pushing the 'Premium' thing heavily in BF3, and detailed the upcoming DLC as well as revealing the beta for BF4, which was the Osborne Effect in overdrive.

By the time the debacles around SimCity happened, or the cut down Sims 4 (as compared to 3), or the mobile version of Dungeon Keeper, I was past caring, past being their customer, and wasn't even surprised.

Let's not forget they bought Origin, Bullfrog, Westwood, Pandemic, Maxis and Danger Close (among others). Most were ordered to plop out substandard games and then shut down when said focus grouped dross failed to sell.

I think I miss Mass Effect more than anything. I loved the original and played through it four times. EA gave PS3 and PC owners a technically enhanced GOTY edition of Mass Effect 2, and sweet FA to the 360 owners who'd made the series a success in the first place. I thought this was very mean (given those versions were both enhanced and cheaper) and, together with the BF3 thing, was done with them.

Given the quality of their output as late, this isn't a bad thing. I feel bad for Bioware and Respawn being forced to make these awful, generic, uninspired games that the boardroom dreamed up to capture target demographics or whatever.

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Damon link
6/2/2019 08:52:59 pm

EA still makes The Sims series, which you either care about too much or not at all.

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