EA Explains Titanfall's Exclusivity on Xbox and PC

EA's partnership with Respawn just makes sense, EA exec says.

Titanfall is releasing exclusively for Xbox One, Xbox 360 and PC in March, 2014, and will never make its way to the PlayStation 4. In a recent statement, an executive at publisher EA explained the business reasons behind the shooter's exclusivity.

At the UBS Global Technology Conference, EA CFO Blake Jorgensen said that EA's partnership with Microsoft on Titanfall is a basic business agreement, and, for EA, it made sense to keep the next-gen title on Microsoft platforms.

"That's a process that's been done through the industry for many years," Jorgensen said. "There's lots of single-platform titles. Obviously, you work with the first-parties to make sure the economics make sense for all sides, and we made that decision on Titanfall."

Jorgensen described the dynamic between EA and Titanfall developer Respawn as a mutually beneficial relationship.

"It's a business partnership. We're trying to make sure that we've developed a great relationship with them," he said. "We helped them on marketing, we helped them on development where they need it. And we try to maintain a strong partnership with them over time."

This partnership is only one of many as the next generation approaches (and arrives, in the case of the PS4 in U.S. stores) and companies such as the aforementioned EA, and contemporary Activision make exclusivity decisions based on established marketing strategies.

And while Titanfall will always be a Microsoft exclusive, EA said that any potential sequels could possibly be coming to PS4.

"So obviously it's the first title that's committed to a single platform," Jorgensen said.

In another partnership, Respawn announced today that it will be coordinating with K'Nex to release Titanfall-branded building sets.

http://www.ign.com/articles/2013/11/19/ea-explains-titanfalls-exclusivity-on-xbox-and-pc?utm_campaign=ign+main+twitter&utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social

TLDR: money hats. From the way this reads, MS is basically footing the bill for all marketing related to the game across all 3 of its platforms. I assume they'll also be making use of MS's Azure services to avoid MP issues like they're having with BF4 and providing any other assistance they can (who knows what else).

Evidently that adds up to being more money than they projected that they could make on PS3, PS4, and WiiU versions combined (minus paying for their own servers, marking, manufacter and shipping of those versions).

I wonder how many more of these "agreements" gamers will have to stomach this generation. We've seen shit like this from Nvidia and AMD lately as well.

Exclusivity has a new meaning apparently.

lol indeed.

company exclusive!

Moneyhat exclusive. Oh well, maybe future installments will make their way towards the Ps4. Perhaps WiiU(lolnotreally)

I sure hope Microsoft will use their own studios to properly to push out games. Support your damn system until the end of the gen this time, please.

Dreams doesnt even know how it works here. Clown

:(

<3

It's next-gen console exclusive.

Not true exclusivity but nonetheless important in the war.

Unfortunately for MS they didn't get the publishing deal with Respawn.

Sure, the first game will sell Xbox Ones, but what about Titanfall 2/3/Modern Warfare/World at War/etc etc?

If the PS4 is still selling well when those release (and it'll most likely sell as well as the Xbox One, or better guaranteed), then EA/Respawn will obviously see that there is more money to be made as a multiplat.

I can only imagine the first game being on Xbox is only possible because EA only predicts only a few million PS4s to be sold by time of release. They can just take the bags of money from MS without suffering.

But once the PS4 has 20+ million units sold? Then EA will be going multiplat fo sho.

Translation: Lems are the beta testers while cows will end up with the better version down the road.

The word Partnership in the gaming industry just means, "They are paying us alot for this"

Eh....I don't think the game is that important to consoles anyway.

Could just boil this down to "we got paid lots of money and we really like money".

Is that just a long way of saying MS drove up with truck full of cash and we took it.

As long as it's on PC I'm happy

Well, I certainly don't think that TitanFall: Platinum Director's Cut would surprise anyone.

Even then, Titanfall 2 will most likely be released 2016 on all platforms, unlike COD(yearly release) which has two developers(Treyarch and Infinity Ward) and Assassin's creed which has multiple studios developing games across the world.

Respawn is only one studio. Development time for shooters usually take 2-3 years.

Sony fans will have to wait a long time if they don't play it on PC or Xbox 360.

its not time exclusive, its really not going to come to PS4 ever

Well for now M$ has only paid for the first TitanFall, so if the PS4 does end up out selling the X1 by like 5+million (a big margin), then EA/Respawn would like to have TitanFall on the PS4 if M$ doesnt completely buy it up by then. But IDK if the PS4 will out sell the X1 by that much and M$ could easily keep buying the yearly installments of TitanFall while EA waits to see if the PS4 has created a big enough margin.

I'd imagine anyone that really wants it...will pick it up for PC if they don't have an MS console. So I'm still not seeing how it's a system seller....

well now that people are FINALLY over COD, they'll look for something new and fresh but that is also similar to COD... so.... It will be a big fucking deal

Consoles are much more affordable then a PC. Casual gamers flock to consoles.

Casual gamers are flocking to tablets and smart phones now....

More important to consoles than PCs, PC gamers have been trashing this from the outset as an inferior fps...

That doesn't mean there aren't many casual gamers in the console market. A $500 PC is low-end, $700-800 mid-end, high-end = $1000

Right because the X1 wouldn't get the sequels. thanks for proving my point about you lacking common sense.

...I think it looks fun

I've said it before and I will say it again. If this game moves Xbox One systems it will never see the light of day on a PS4. Never. MS will ensure it.

they've already said that he first game will never be on PS4. But no one has commented about sequels.

If a golf club allows latins, whites, and blacks, but EXCLUDES Asians, then the club is exclusive to those it includes by definition. Now that isn't how SW defines exclusive, but it is a definition of the term.

Ye$ that i$ exactly the rea$on.

Rename PC to Wintel PC since it doesn't run on MacOS X, AmigaOS/AROS, QNX, BeOS, OS/2 Warp/eComStation, Google Chrome and 'etc'.

Sure, why not.

But this exclusivity still sounds retarded. In System Wars terms.

Yea, like wow..haha

I meant part 2, forgot to say that.

Its being made by the guys who created CoD.

it will probably be the same as this gen

MS will buy exclusives at the beginning because they have a weak first party

and then the last couple of years MS's weak first party will dissappear

$ure i$.

and why is that?

Fairly hilarious that Microsoft is willing to foot the bill for a multi-platform shooter. I look forward to playing it on my PC after EA works out their inevitable server outages for the first few weeks of their launch.