Microsoft has locked-up EA’s Titanfall as an exclusive for Xbox consoles (and PC), and it certainly intends to go all the way with its marketing efforts in the lead-up to the game’s March 11 launch. Whether or not Titanfall actually end up being the next big console multiplayer shooter, Microsoft has made sure that the brand will be synonymous with Xbox consoles for some time to come.
Microsoft today revealed the first game-branded controller for its Xbox One console. The controller will take on the style of Titanfall and will be available sometime before the game’s launch on Xbox consoles.
The controller has been designed by the art department at Respawn Entertainment, the development studio behind Titanfall. The design of the controller mimics that of a specific gun in Titanfall, the C-101 carbine. According to Microsoft, that gun is one commonly used by the game’s “elite IMC Titan pilots.”
“In a collaborative effort with the Xbox design team and the Respawn art department, our goal was to create a controller that feels as if it is a piece of military spec hardware transported from the universe of Titanfall and into players hands,” said Joel Emslie, lead artist at Respawn.
Since last year’s E3, Titanfall has been touted as a new leap for first-person-shooters on consoles. The game is multiplayer-only and features quick-paced multiplayer battles that include controllable mechs called Titans.
This new controller is almost certainly one of many Titanfall-branded peripherals that will be announced in the weeks leading up to the game’s announcement. Though Microsoft has not been able to sell as many Xbox One consoles as Sony has PlayStation 4 consoles, Titanfall appears to be Microsoft’s first real attempt to capture Call of Duty fans with an exclusive multiplayer shooter and entice them into buying Xbox One consoles.