EA is buying Respawn Entertainment, the developers of Titanfall

[Bouzoo]

 

 

As it turns out, just a week after shutting down Visceral Games, EA is buying another studio for over $400 million all together (apparently $455 million). Fairly interesting timing I have to admit. Until now, EA were only publishers for Respawn. But there is not a lot to say here about the whole thing.

 

Quote from Eurogamer:

Quote

EA has announced it will buy Titanfall developer Respawn Entertainment.

The agreement will see EA pay $151 million in cash for Respawn, up to $164 million in long-term equity, and a maximum of $140 million in performance milestone payments.

According to Kotaku, South Korean publisher Nexon, which published the Titanfall mobile game, had made an offer to buy Respawn first. EA apparently had 30 days to match Nexon's offer, which they ultimately chose to do.

During the acquisition announcement, EA confirmed that Respawn currently has three games in development: a new entry in the Titanfall franchise, a new Star Wars game, and a VR gaming experience. The latter is almost certainly the "super secret" new VR game that Respawn announced for Oculus earlier this year. It's scheduled for release in 2019.

 

Quote from Kotaku:

Quote

EA said in a press release that the deal is worth $455 million, a number that includes cash, equity, and performance milestone payments. Respawn staff have spent the past few weeks exchanging whispers about a potential sale, two sources said, although there was no concrete news until the studio informed employees about the deal in a meeting today. Earlier this week, one source with access to some of Respawn’s forthcoming plans sent us what they said was a version of the acquisition contract, which reveals that EA is paying over $400 million for the Los Angeles-based studio. According to various documents sent by that source, EA outbid the South Korean publisher Nexon, which publishes the Titanfall mobile game and had also made an offer to buy Respawn. EA had 30 days to match that offer, which they chose to do.

Respawn will also receive bonuses tied to Metacritic scores for both its upcoming Star Wars game and the unannounced Titanfall 3, according to that documentation.

 

Respawn CEO says they will have their freedom, but lets's wait and see. In all honestly we're talking EA here:

Quote

We started Respawn with the goal to create a studio with some of the best talent in the industry, and to be a top developer of innovative games. We felt that now was the time to join an industry leader that brings the resources and support we need for long term success, while still keeping our culture and creative freedom.

 

I am fairly curious what people here think about that since their Titanfall games got a lot of praise here. I personally haven't played them, but as far as I know the games have a good fan base, even with low sales, and are being praised for not going the new EA route of loot boxes and micro transactions while still being good games. i have a feeling that might change. 

 

Sources: 1, 2

[NvidiaIntelAMDLoveTriangle]

Well Goodbye Respawn, you will be missed.

[Bouzoo]

1 minute ago, NvidiaIntelAMDLoveTriangle said:

Well Goodbye Respawn, you will be missed.

This gif is pure gold:

 

[Inkz]

3-4 years later in the news "EA closes Respawn Entertainment"

[RyomaSJibenG]

RIP

[Bouzoo]

16 minutes ago, Inkz said:

3-4 years later in the news "EA closes Respawn Entertainment"

Front page on Kotaku says everything:

 

[Notional]

I'm hating EA more and more each day. The only thing they are good at is killing devs, killing franchises and having insanely high pricing.

 

[ARikozuM]

10 minutes ago, Inkz said:

3-4 years later in the news "EA closes Respawn Entertainment"

2 years later, Titan Fall: Civil War, the most hard-core shooter with Mech-Lincoln and Robo-Lee.

[Drak3]

Eh, Titanfall wasn't that good anyways.

[Taf the Ghost]

11 minutes ago, ARikozuM said:

2 years later, Titan Fall: Civil War, the most hard-core shooter with Mech-Lincoln and Robo-Lee.

I laugh, but that could actually be a good game idea.

[ItsMitch]

Buying it so they can put it in the grave. 

[ARikozuM]

Just now, Taf the Ghost said:

I laugh, but that could actually be a good game idea.

Hopefully I just saved Respawn Entertainment from shutting down. 

[Notional]

24 minutes ago, Drak3 said:

Eh, Titanfall wasn't that good anyways.

They were actually very good. The second one sadly suffered from launching so close to Battlefield 1. It deserved better.

 

Added: Of course being an Origin exclusive harmed it a LOT too. Imagine if it was on steam. It would have sold like hot cakes.

[Crunchy Dragon]

I thought there was a reason the developers at Respawn split off from Capcom(or Activision, I forget which)....

[NvidiaIntelAMDLoveTriangle]

1 minute ago, Crunchy Dragon said:

I thought there was a reason the developers at Respawn split off from Capcom(or Activision, I forget which)....

They split from Activision. Respawn is just Infinity Ward with a different name.

[Drak3]

1 minute ago, Notional said:

They were actually very good. The second one sadly suffered from launching so close to Battlefield 1. It deserved better.

The only thing really good about the entire series was Titanfall 2's campaign. Otherwise, it plays significantly like a MW1 feel, with jump movement, and most of the battles feels like it comes down to RNG and not skill in any capacity. It's still decent, but I wouldn't be sad if the series and servers died tomorrow.

 

1 minute ago, Crunchy Dragon said:

I thought there was a reason the developers at Respawn split off from Capcom(or Activision, I forget which)....

They split from Infinity Ward, basically because they wanted to make a game just like TitanFall but Ghost was already being pushed into production.

[WMGroomAK]

Yet another dead Star Wars game coming soon from EA???  

[Kherm]

Titanfall 2: Microtransactions Boogaloo 

[AresKrieger]

Well normally I would be annoyed by EA killing another franchise I loved but I don't buy EA published games anymore so nothing of value was lost.

[apm]

1 hour ago, Drak3 said:

Eh, Titanfall wasn't that good anyways.

titanfall 2 singleplayer was really good.

[rowlYy]

Well, we had a good run Respawn, I guess Titanfall 3 will never happen now... massive fu*k you to EA 

[shadowbyte]

oh no

and I was excited to speedrun TF3, but it'll probably be a microtransaction

oh well

[RotoCoreOne]

Oh respawn... it was all planned from the start

[Master Disaster]

5 hours ago, Inkz said:

3-4 years later in the news "EA closes Respawn Entertainment"

They'll cannibalise TF3 by filling it with loot boxes and microtransactions, blame Respawn when it doesn't sell, force them to make a TF RTS then close them down because the RTS flopped.

[Master Disaster]

5 hours ago, Drak3 said:

They split from Infinity Ward, basically because they wanted to make a game just like TitanFall but Ghost was already being pushed into production.

I'm sorry but what? Respawn was formed by a team of ex IW employees who left the studios and sued Activision when Activision didn't pay them millions owed in royalty payments from previous COD titles because Activision claimed they had planned to form a new studio under EAs umbrella instead (and well, look at this very thread.....)

 

https://venturebeat.com/2012/05/31/activision-settles-lawsuit-with-former-infinity-ward-heads-west-and-zampella/