EA: “committed” to Titanfall franchise. Respawn CEO: “Whatever the **** that means”

Glixel posted a fascinating Q&A with Vince Zampella (Titanfall, Call of Duty) that’s absolutely worth a read. But it’s the end of the interview that gave the internet something to talk about, after Zampella’s curious remark regarding EA’s “support” of the Titanfall franchise.

Interviewer Chris Suellentrop asked:

“Will you make another Titanfall game?

Zampella replied:

“We don’t know yet. The game is, critically, a huge success. We’re really happy with all the reviews and the positive sentiment. Sales, it’s too early to tell. We’d definitely like to tell more of the story and the universe. I think it’s pretty safe to assume that we’ll explore more of it. EA might have announced more. Devin?”

Devin Bennet (EA Publicist):

“What we’ve said is we’re committed to the franchise.”

Zampella:

So, whatever the fuck that means.

Without video, we can only guess the body language behind the statement. Zampella could have been good-naturedly ribbing his ol’ pal Bennet, or he could have been expressing frustration at the messy handling of Titanfall 2’s launch.

Titanfall 2 received glowing praise from critics but was given a tough release spot, sandwiched in between two of the biggest shooters of the year: Battlefield 1 and Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare. Confusingly, EA publishes both Battlefield 1 and Titanfall 2, so it seems odd that they’d potentially cannibalize their business by flooding the market with AAA shooters.  A case could be made that Titanfall is different enough from Battlefield, and that it’s mainly competing with Infinite Warfare for top futuristic FPS. Perhaps EA was hoping to use this double whammy to assert their dominance over Activision’s Call of Duty franchise, which was reeling from the most disliked video in Youtube history.

The story is even more interesting when you consider that Zampella was the producer of the very first Call of Duty, not to mention the recently remastered Modern Warfare, which is currently available with deluxe versions of Infinite Warfare.

To top it all off, EA’s @Titanfallgame account tweeted this snarky comment

Respawn tweeted two replies a few hours after

With a launch like this, it’s understandable to read frustration from the comment “whatever the **** that means”. 

On the bright side, with Titanfall 2, Infinite Warfare, Battlefield 1, DOOM, Overwatch, (and for some, Battleborn) 2016 has shaped up to be arguably the best year for shooters ever.

Whatever the fuck that means.