“Let’s break it.” These are the words said to Respawn head Vince Zampella by programmer Jon “Slothy” Shiring, ready to push servers to their limits. Over Valentine’s Day weekend and into the following Wednesday, Titanfall launched a public beta on both the Xbox One and PC. Initially being a closed beta requiring a code, these three words inspired the team at Respawn to swing wide the doors and let all Xbox owners in to see the game. The move was nothing short of encouraging, especially coming off of the seven-and-a-half hour server issue that kept many people from playing on Valentine’s Day.
Titanfall is being published by Electronic Arts, a company that has not made a good reputation for itself this past year. The problems started first with the launch of SimCity, which became a textbook example of bad PR and even worse launch preparedness. Months later, Battlefield 4 would encounter heavy server and stability issues across all platforms, leading people to accuse EA of pushing out unfinished software in an attempt to grab gamers from Call of Duty. The title is still undergoing heavy maintenance, even grinding DLC production to a screeching halt in an attempt to focus on playability issues. With such a lackluster 2013 fresh in the minds of gamers, there has been heavy skepticism about the reliability of Titanfall come launch.
And who can blame them? As an early adopter of both titles, I myself was extremely worried about the state of Titanfall on release. I experienced the silent stripping away of servers on Battlefield 3, which gutted the game and requested that players join custom matches. I was among those who got roped into the microtransactions that have been imposed onto a multitude of EA titles, including Mass Effect 3 and Dead Space 3. For two years in a row, they have stripped away consumer confidence and been voted “Worst Company in America.” How can we trust them, and how can we come to expect something better this spring?
Leave that to Respawn Entertainment. It’s the “Let’s break it” attitude that should give gamers the most confidence come March 11th.