Titanfall draws fire over 6v6 max player count, Respawn respond

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Here's some news that's almost more notable for the fallout than the main reveal. Responding to a question on Twitter last night, Respawn's Vince Zampella announced that the maximum player count for Titanfall matches would be 6v6. At which point the world collectively said "okay", and went back to flambéing their coq au vin. No, wait, I'm thinking of the parallel universe full of sensible people who don't instantly rage about a game they've yet to play. Back in this universe, some people " had a reaction ", to such an extent that a developer at Respawn took to NeoGAF to explain the decision.

Obviously not everybody on the internet decided to bash their head against a keyboard until the words "FUCK THIS GAME" fell out. More than a few did, though, and it's a bizarre attitude to take. There's no real reason why higher numbers are better, and many games that support extra players don't necessarily benefit from them. TF2, for instance, is a significantly worse game with 32 people than with the suggested 24. If the map design supports the chosen player count, then the game will feel natural however many people are in it.

And let's not forget that Counter-Strike is "only" 5v5 [Edit: competitive , if that's not clear], and that Counter-Strike is brilliant.

The response was significant enough that Titanfall producer Drew "DKo5" McCoy responded to the complaints on NeoGAF .

"Lots of armchair game designing going on in here. I'd suggest playing before judging a something as insignificant as a number in a vacuum.

"Vince is right - we tried a huge amount of playercounts (all the way down to 1v1 and up quite high) and designed the maps, gameplay mechanics, and entire experience around which played best. If anyone wants to chase the numbers game, perhaps we're not the experience they're after? I dunno.

"And FYI, for amount of stuff happening at once in a map you'll be hard pressed to find a game that keeps the action higher. I literally have to stop playing every few rounds because my heart just can't take it some times. Remember, you can get out of your Titan and let it roam on AI mode - meaning there can be 12 Pilots wallrunning around, 12 Titans stomping below, and dozens of AI doing their thing.

"Oh, and I keep seeing people thinking we've got "bots" when we talk about AI. Thats not how they are. The AI in Titanfall are not replacements for human players. Our playercount is not 6v6 because of AI - AI play their own role in the game and are a different class of character in the game.

"Can't wait! Only a couple months until speculative threads like this are gone and people are actually talking about their experiences with the game. Its truly fun stuff, and I hope everyone at least gives it a try."

Long story short: just chillax, folks.

Thanks, MP1st .

Phil Savage
Phil Savage
Editor-in-Chief

Phil has been writing for PC Gamer for nearly a decade, starting out as a freelance writer covering everything from free games to MMOs. He eventually joined full-time as a news writer, before moving to the magazine to review immersive sims, RPGs and Hitman games. Now he leads PC Gamer's UK team, but still sometimes finds the time to write about his ongoing obsessions with Destiny 2, GTA Online and Apex Legends. When he's not levelling up battle passes, he's checking out the latest tactics game or dipping back into Guild Wars 2. He's largely responsible for the whole Tub Geralt thing, but still isn't sorry.