Titanfall may have released back in March, but that hasn't stopped developer Respawn from continuing to support the game in the form of both paid downloadable content and free updates. The latest update brings a brand new game mode to the popular first-person shooter, albeit one without the iconic Titans from which the game draws its name.
Where normally players would call in their giant death robot after securing enough points in a match, the new game mode, called Pilot Skirmish, removes Titans from the equation entirely.
In addition, the game mode will include teams of eight versus eight, an increase from the standard six versus six. This is because Pilot Skirmish will also not include the enemy A.I.s that usually populate Titanfall's multiplayer-only battlefields as a way for players to kill and up their score. No word yet on when the update will release, but it should be sooner rather than later.
Those are some pretty big changes for a game that sold itself on promises of players feeling powerful as they mowed down computer controlled enemies or smashed enemy players in their giant robot. While those features will still exist in other game modes, it is still interesting that developer Respawn thinks there is enough interest among the game's player base to support stripping the core game of its primary selling points, transforming it into a game not so different from a futuristic Call of Duty with wall-running. Interestingly enough, some players criticized the upcoming Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare for looking too similar to Titanfall as well.
Prior to Titanfall's release Respawn took flak from gamers over the small number of players able to play against one another in matches compared to other shooters like Call of Duty and Battlefield. The developer responded by saying that six versus six was sort of a sweet spot, as when every player has a Titan companion plus dozens of A.I. controlled opponents, adding additional players to the mix created an overly chaotic battlefield. By taking Titans and enemy A.I. away, it looks like Respawn feels more comfortable upping the maximum player count.
Respawn is likely working on Titanfall 2, so the fact that the developer is taking time and resources away from their new game and continuing to support their older one is a nice move on their part. The Xbox One and PC exclusive game quickly became the best selling game on the Xbox One, and combined sold close to a million copies in March. The Xbox 360 version of the game released a month later. While Microsoft obtained console exclusivity for Titanfall on Xbox One, the game's inevitable sequel will likely also come to Sony's PlayStation 4.
