According to anonymous sources independant of each other, Respawn Entertainment, the former Infinity Ward developers who made an explosive exit from that Activision studio, have entered into an agreement to release their next game exclusively on the next-generation Xbox.
Word comes by way of unrelated individuals speaking with Kotaku, who agree that the Respawn project will not land on PlayStation or Nintendo platforms, but disagree on whether or not the Xbox 360 will get a port of the game as well. We don't know anything official about the game, but these sources say it'll draw on the story of David and Goliath, giving some players control over "Titan" mech suits while others will hit the battlefield heavily armed and on-foot.
Respawn trademarked the term "Titan" earlier this month, but the concept of a third-party exclusive suggests the console wars are set to catch fire all over again. Despite Jason West's departure, the nasty business between Respawn, EA, and Activision, and the fact that EA's Partners program recently announced the planned end of business, could this assumed scifi shooter help Xbox achieve dominance early in the next-generation?
One of Kotaku's sources also claims this game will utilize always-online multiplayer features, adding fuel to the constant-connection pyre the gaming community has been building for Microsoft. EA's SimCity launched earlier this year with always-online problems of its own. Remember that Alex reported back in February on the rumor that EA and Microsoft would unveil a partnership of some kind.
What I see in all this conjecture, if it turns out to be true, are a handful of parties with little care for the product itself. Respawn and EA just want to screw over Activision and Destiny (because Call of Duty is handling itself). It's to the point that the central hook, the Titans, is trying to step all over Blizzard's code-name Titan MMO. Microsoft doesn't care so long as they have games for the machine they're grossly unprepared to talk about or release.
Is Microsoft looking to buy up further console exclusives from third-parties to strengthen it's launch lineup? Will Respawn's new game match the success of Call of Duty? What does always-online mean for consumers and if the feature is used, how will Microsoft break it to us?
I don't fucking know, OK? All these damn rumors….
