With just under a week until the launch of Titanfall, both EA and Microsoft have been marketing it like it will be a world-changing event. With coverage on every major news website, as well as constantly being brought up on gaming message boards, Titanfall may be one of the most discussed games I’ve ever seen on the internet. While I’m sure EA are very happy about this, not all of the talk has been positive, with lots of people expressing a lack of interest for the game. This may have something to do with the fact that it’s currently an exclusive to the Xbox One, a console that many people don’t want anything to do with. It’s also available on the PC but a lot of people won’t play it there, and very little has been shown about the Xbox 360 version.
Go on to any major internet forum and you’ll find lots of skepticism about Titanfall. EA are not a very popular company online, with people distrusting them due to unethical business models, as well as heavily manipulating the way media covers their products. Anyone who has anything positive to say about the game is accused of being a paid shill, something that both EA and Microsoft have been known to use in the past. A recent example would be Microsoft’s announcement of the Xbox DRM last year. All of a sudden, multiple users started to claim they liked the move, this was largely seen as attempted damage control from Microsoft, although no evidence was actually found.
People are also suspicious of game journalists. Many modern game writers show complete apathy whenever a new FPS is released, claiming that the genre is boring and lacking in creativity. They typically praise smaller indie projects, claiming that they are more intellectual than their audience. Most well known journalists also hate online multiplayer, calling Xbox Live a cesspit of racism and childish behavior. Numerous articles have also been written about how online game are little more than killing simulators that don’t stimulate people intellectually. Yet now that a high-profile game with a lot of marketing money is about to be released, they have changed their perspective, now claiming that by adding jet-packs and wall running, it makes the tired FPS formula seem completely new. Resolution has been a hot-topic lately. It was only a couple of years ago that people were marking down console games in reviews, claiming that the higher resolution and framerate of PC games made the console versions unplayable. Now these same journalists are very boldly claiming that they can’t tell the difference between 720p and 1080p, making them look like hypocrites.
With some insincere marketing and some shady journalists claiming the game will be the second-coming, I get the impression that they may be causing damage to their brand. Titanfall is trying to reach Call of Duty’s level of success, however that game didn’t need tons of viral marketing to get people talking. Word of mouth and an appealing premise is part of what made Call of Duty such a hit. EA seem to think that all they need to do is get people talking, but a lot of discussion online isn’t actually about the game. People seem more interested in talking about the marketing surrounding Titanfall, as well as sale projections. With so much hype surrounding EA’s next big shooter, I get the feeling that you’re not going to find out the truth about how good the game actually is until weeks after launch. I’m still looking forward to Titanfall, but some of the ways they have gone about marketing it online have put me off. Either way, Titanfall launches on March 11 in America, and I’m sure we’ll be hearing about it a lot more.