Apex Legends isn’t Titanfall 3 and that’s okay

As a fan of Titanfall 2, I was extremely worried when Respawn was bought out by EA (Electronic Arts). EA has a history of changing the companies they acquire for the worse and their harsh business practices. Many Bioware original employees have left after the acquirement from EA and many studios have been closed down by them such as Visceral (Dead Space series) and Maxis (SimCity). Fans of Respawn were worried when they announced Apex Legends: A Battle Royal class-based shooters with no Titans, double jump, or wall running but was still based in the Titanfall universe.

Fans were devastated. The game didn’t have the same movement or interesting mechanics of Titanfall 2. Most people thought Titanfall 3 was canceled or EA forced Respawn to make a free Battle Royale game to make profits similar to Fortnite.

r/titanfall

It was reported that Titanfall 3 wasn’t in development at all. This only stoked the flames and fans began to crucify EA for ruining another beloved franchise.

Despite all the fan rage, Apex Legends has been doing really well. It’s been positively received by many players for the class-based system, fun shooting, and overall good gameplay design. While the game has only been out for 3 days, it already has over one million players.

Vince Zampella, CEO of Respawn, assures fans that Titanfall 3 will be coming out; just not anytime soon. The studio is currently working on new Star Wars title called Jedi: Fallen Order. There is also a Titanfall game coming out this year, but it isn’t Titanfall 3 according to reports from Eurogamer. They are mainly focusing on improving the Apex Legends experience for players. Hopefully, Apex Legends does well for Respawn to provide assurance that EA didn’t ruin them. With so many players, it allows people to learn more about Respawn and the Titanfall series. Trust Respawn to make a great game. While it isn’t the title Titanfall fans were hoping for, perhaps this game will lead the way to Titanfall 3.

In the meantime, you can play Apex Legends for free for PC, Xbox, and PlayStation. Might as well try it.

Sources

EA’s history

Kotaku

Eurogamer

New Titanfall title for 2019

 

Xbox Live comes to Nintendo, iOS, and Android

You’re reading that correctly. Xbox Live services are coming to Nintendo and phones. Microsoft announced that they will release their own SDK (Standard Dev Kit) that will allow game developers to integrate Xbox Live into any titles that run across PC, Xbox, iOS, Android, and Nintendo Switch. It will be fully announced during GDC (Games Developer Con) in March 22nd.

What will this do?

Xbox Live will provide achievements, friends list and Xbox Live functionality to existing mobile video games. Microsoft has been trying to reach out to a broader audience outside of PC and Xbox Users. Last year they announced their CloudX services that will provide will stream Xbox games to PCs, consoles, and mobile devices later this year.

It’s clear that Microsoft is moving toward a subscription-based service. They are one of the biggest revenue generating services in the industry (think Amazon Prime and Netflix). While Xbox has been losing in the exclusive game markets, perhaps this will be their new competitive advantage. The mobile gaming market makes over $1 billion in comparison to the hundreds of millions in consoles.

Sources:

GDC Schedule

Gamespot

The Verge

Eurogamer

Game Giants Podcast 11.5: MapleStory stole our Money

(Increased the volume. Thanks Jairus!)

This week’s podcast is not sponsored by Nexon. Game Giants and Sam talked about finishing JRPG’s, spending money on free games, and reminiscing about MapleStory.

Benjamin Le: NewsforGamers.net

Jairus Cambe: Youtube: Jairus C. Music