There are, of course, big guns galore in “Titanfall,” a first-person shooter game played online with others.
There are also the big-name celebrities Microsoft lined up to attend some of the midnight launch parties scheduled Monday at several Microsoft Stores around the country. (Almost all Microsoft’s retail stores were scheduled to hold launch parties Monday evening.)
Among those celebs was Seattle Seahawks cornerback Richard Sherman, scheduled to appear Monday night at the University Village and Bellevue Square Microsoft Stores.
There were also launch events scheduled worldwide, including in Austin, Texas (at the South by Southwest festival), London and Toronto.
It was all in service of the biggest gun of all: “Titanfall” itself. The game is coming at a crucial time for the Xbox One console, the sales of which have fallen behind those of Sony’s PlayStation 4.
“For us, ‘Titanfall’ is really an important moment in the early stages of Xbox One,” said Yusuf Mehdi, chief marketing and strategy officer for Xbox. “It’s taking advantage of the Xbox platform — for example, the cloud servers to showcase the speed and fluidity of the title. It’s the type of game that has people wanting to buy a brand new console.”