The reasons are clear at least for me and now that Titanfall we can finally talk about this franchise freely without upsetting anyone here. The Titanfall hype was absurd and as the online community months after release proved, it was completely overhyped. It was promoted by both devs, Microsoft and the press as the COD killer, the game that would by itself decide the console war (Have you seen Titanfall?), the game that would change FPS forever like COD4, basically a turning point in everything, every game from now would have to adapt to the mechanics of Titanfall!
I don't remember the last new IP that had this kind of expectations and and market awareness before launch. Then market reality kicked in and people felt the game was good but not that good to support it for a long haul which is the biggest sign that the game wasn't a gamechanger. COD4 changed FPS because people kept playing that game for years. Titanfall community died quickly and now those same people are less inclined to buy the game because they are afraid the sequel will not have a lasting impression especially when BF1 and COD release the week before/after.
Then to me it was never proven that mainstream really like the new movement mechanic in competitive FPS. Because of that silly marketing push from EA/Microsoft to push Xbox One, it felt like the mechanics of Titanfall succeeded before it even released. Now Battlefield 1 strong sales definitely prove two things, people are not tired of past wars like everyone seemed to believe after World at War and the futuristic jumping, wallrunning, free flow movement aren't needed to make a very successful FPS. That marketing spiel that fooled Activision was definitely proven entirely wrong this month.
Call of Duty Advanced Warfare as the first game with "exo" movement failed to mantain a community and COD:IW seems to be a complete failure in Activision hands. I would be shocked if they stick with this type of approach for every COD game from now on.
Of course there is room for good games like Titanfall 2, but then the other big reason why this failed appears which is the release date. Most people have to make choices with their money and most often then not they usually go and buy the more known commodity which is Battlefield and Call of Duty. Then the very strong hold of Battlefield 1 in the second week (-30%?) shows that word of mouth is really strong with that game which effecitively killed any chance of Titanfall 2 being a moderate success. Those sales of people that bought the game on the second week because people recommended BF1, didn't bought Titanfall 2 at launch. And this week you might forget about it because of COD.
Like someone said before, why not wait for February/March even if the game is ready? Typically COD users either love the game and play it for the entire year or they hate it (most likely with COD:IW) and they want another game around January/February which would the perfect opportunity to capitalize on that.
Respawn should've stuck with MS. That's where the audience was. Game is dead. RIP,
Funny because I was convinced Titanfall 2 released on Xbox One.
He probably means marketing push, awareness, bundles etc that would've come with Microsoft exclusivity.
Microsoft had the marketing rights for Titanfall 2. They could have done the exact same thing. You know like they did with Battlefield 1. Even Microsoft quit on Titanfall 2. Trying to push the agenda that making the game not "XB1+PC" exclusive was to blame is incredible silly considering the game sold 17k on XB1!!!
