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theprof00 on 30 January 2014
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Machiavellian said:
theprof00 said:
Machiavellian said:

I believe people should understand that this is still a Respawn game and EA only have publishing rights.  Without understanding the contract between EA and Respawn, no one can really understand what EA can or even will do for Titanfall.  Also without knowing how much money changed hands between EA and MS, who's to know if they will be losing any money on the deal.

Another thing to consider is the install base for the X1 compared to PS4.  Just because the PS4 sold more does not mean their customer base for a FPS game like Titanfall is bigger.  

As for porting the game to the PS3, that would mean more resources on Respawn end to insure a successful port.  Not know how well the 360 version will turn out, who can say having another team doing the PS3 port would turn out any better or even worst if people on the respawn team do not have the skill to ensure a proper port.  With a new IP that really did not have any buzz until much later than when this deal was done, the risk of going multiplat compared to exclusive was probably too much.  Going exclusive gave Respawn a focus and money in the pocket even if the game is not a great success.  It allows them to improve the game and continue to pay their people a salary.  If the game is successful they can easily do the second one multiplat just like COD.

Well, EA just said they only had enough money to develop for one console. Being the publisher, they provide the funding for it, so I'm sure they understand exactly what respawn will be able to do with it.

However, EA also said that titanfall would never be multiplat, which is incongruent with the funding argument. Obviously if the game is supposed to be a success, then it only makes sense to make a ps4 version. However, the argument there would be that if it's a success, they might just instead move right onto titanfall 2, and increase the funding to make it multiplat, which would make more sense than porting it to ps4.

Respawn was creating a game probably the PC version since that’s the one that finished.  Going from PC to X1 is a much easier process then going from PC to PS4.  If EA only had enough money for one console then I believe its not the X1 they are talking about, its the 360 version.  There is a reason why the 360 version is being outsource and that’s because Respawn does not have the bandwidth to do it.

New IPs are risky and even more so by a new studio no matter who is behind the company.  There have been many top developers who have formed their own studio to fail or have their first game not meet expectations.  EA was willing to accept an exclusive deal because they can get the project finance without suffering to much risk.  Respawn stated they approached Sony and MS, and its evident today to see that MS was willing to fund into the project, deliver the network infrastructure and make it affordable for Respawn to do the dedicated server part.

When you break everything down, money was always the solution.  Respawn needed a publisher and EA provided the best contract.  EA needed to reduce the amount of risk for a new IP with a new developer and MS provided the cash.  I am sure both Sony and MS had the opportunity to be the hero for this game and its Evident that MS stormed in and provided the cash to satisfy everyone.  Everyone is getting paid, Respawn, EA and MS.

The crazy thing is, people are calling Respawn liars because some tweet from EA stating they did some metrics.  Well of course EA is going to do some metrics so they can price a deal to what they feel the game is worth for exclusives.  Its one aspect of contract negotiations that does not cover the entire process.

 

Do people really think that we know everything that went on for this exclusive deal between EA, MS and Respawn.  We probably only have about 2% info on what went on but people are making all kinds of assumption.  The only thing you can really go on based on the info we have is that EA and Respawn accepted an exclusive agreement from MS and MS spent money to make it happen.

I agree with everything except the xbox360 being the money thing. What you say makes a lot of sense though.

My take would be:
Respawn needed money since they are the old infinity ward team, and probably are having a hard time finding work, based on their bad breakup with ATVI.
They partnered with EA, who has a great program for independant development (lot of major titles from that program, you should look it up if you haven't).
EA through the program basically provides funding, engines, direction support and dev support.
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I assume that with Titanfall being such a AAA game, they only had enough funding for a couple consoles. Being based in PC does indeed contribute. The x360 and x1 are very similar to pc, and porting to ps3 would cost too much since the platform is very difficult to develop for. Additionally, EA probably expected x1 to dominate, and it still has the chance to.

I'm sure MS also had offers available that helped sweeten the deal, but I'm not sure they were the make or break part of the deal. I simply believe that it was easiest to go with xbox, coming from pc, as you said.