9 Reasons The Odds Were Stacked Against Titanfall 2

The original Titanfall burned like a match – brightly but briefly. It arrived to huge critical acclaim, giving Xbox One owners a bona fide reason to be smug about their platform, which was a feeling in short supply in those first six months of slow releases and operating system bugs. For a while, Titanfall was the game of the moment.

One month later, it wasn’t. Players who justifiably fell in love with its sublime movement controls, ingenious level design, and mech power fantasies found themselves tailing off, their interest waning despite the fact the game felt so good.

At the time, it was tough to put your finger on why. With hindsight, most agree that it was because the progression felt empty. There weren’t enough weapons, customisation was very limited and, crucially, the level cap was too low. You’d level swiftly to 50, then ‘prestige’ and reset to 0, restarting the cycle again with little to show for it besides an icon upgrade. Levelling only works when it feels like you’re heading somewhere. Titanfall’s was very obviously a loop – and that made it feel pointless.

With compelling unlock systems, frequent DLC releases and annual instalments, Call of Duty has typically managed to keep many people playing all year round. For them, the new instalment is less like a traditional sequel, and more like an upgrade to an active hobby. In contrast, much of Titanfall’s active audience was lost before its first new map even had a chance to land.