Alongside Watch Dogs, Titanfall is arguably 2014’s most heavily anticipated AAA game. As an Xbox and PC exclusive, Microsoft has an awful lot invested in it and expects it to sell like hot cakes. Early showings of the game have been hugely impressive, and it seems on track to become gaming’s next big shooter.
If it lives up to the incredible amount of hype surrounding it then, as is the case with the release of any huge new game, the landscape of mainstream gaming will likely somewhat shift to accommodate for the changes it makes to gamers’ taste palettes. With that being said, here are 5 ways Titanfall could change mainstream gaming… for better or worse.
5 Ways Titanfall Could Change Mainstream Gaming For Better and For Worse
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No Tacked-On Single-Player
The two ceaselessly squawking cockerels that rule the roost of the FPS genre, Call of Duty and Battlefield, stand on opposite sides of the fence (or hutch, if I am to continue with this poultry-based metaphor) when it comes to their approach to multiplayer gameplay. However, they are unfortunately similar when it comes to offering tacked-on single-player experiences, which aside from Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare's superb campaign, have always been a bone of contention for fans.
Titanfall looks to do away with this issue by offering no single-player campaign at all, instead focusing all of its attention on the multiplayer. Considering the majority of gamers view the single-player experience of FPS's as little more than superfluous additions that offer a little extra bang for their buck, developer Respawn's firm commitment to multiplayer could be a good thing...
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Less Features for the Same Price
...but it could also be a bad thing. Respawn promises that Titanfall's story will be integrated into its multiplayer, though we've yet to see how proficient this method will be at successfully delivering its narrative, and whether or not it will justify it being sold at the same price point as other, more feature-packed FPS's.
Rest assured that we're not the only ones anxiously awaiting to see whether or not Respawn can pull off selling a multiplayer-only game for $60, though. Expect Activision to be keeping a keen eye on them, too, and deciding whether Call of Duty's annual campaign modes are worth the added expense.
In an ideal world, Activision would remove the next CoD's single-player mode and sell the game for less money, with a campaign available as DLC for those who are interested. However, this is not an ideal world, and Activision isn't exactly known for selling its output at a bargain price, even if said output was packed with less features.
If the Call of Duty series takes queues from Titanfall, then, its single-player will be removed and it'll still retail for the same price. This is obviously just speculation at this juncture, but with the Call of Duty series' track record of overpriced DLC, if they are to do away with the single-player aspect of the game, we should prepare ourselves for the worst possible alternative.
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A New Huge Multiplayer Game
Titanfall has the potential to be the next great mainstream multiplayer game, and could launch a new IP that will rival the likes of Call of Duty and Battlefield for their continued dominance of the FPS genre.
This year saw Call of Duty: Ghosts release to declining sales and Battlefield 4 launch with a myriad of crippling problems, with both games facing the most consumer backlash in their respective series' lifespans. This is the perfect time, then, for Titanfall to swoop in and steal away those who are disenchanted with the genre's two most well-performing series, becoming gaming's newest behemothic IP in the process.
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Yet Another FPS Giant
Along with sports games, the FPS genre continues to be the most dominant in console multiplayer gaming. The declining appeal of the Call of Duty series seemed to indicate that this trend would eventually come to a halt, and that another genre would swoop in to usurp it.
However, the only newcomer on the horizon with the gall to stand toe-to-toe with CoD is Titanfall, yet another FPS, albeit one which features some innovative tweaks to the tried-and-tested formula. We're excited for its release, yes, but we're not excited by the prospect of it spawning inevitable clones, and of the FPS genre once again becoming oversaturated. Console gaming is lacking heavily populated multiplayer games outside of the sport and FPS genres, and Titanfall will continue this trend.
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It Will Feature No Microtransactions
The Xbox One's launch line-up has been littered with microtransactions, with Forza Motorsport 5, Ryse, Killer Instinct and Crimson Dragon all featuring them in varying degrees. It's refreshing, then, that arguably the console's biggest game of the year will reward those who put the time and effort into it, rather than their credit card details.
The practice of retail releases adopting the same business model as free-to-play games is becoming increasingly obscene, but Respawn's refusal to go down this route is refreshing, and is hopefully a sign that Microsoft as a publisher isn't forcing its developers to put microtransactions into their games.
