EA just did the unthinkable and canceled Titanfall's release in South Africa. The news came via a statement posted on EA South Africa's Facebook page in which they cited poor internet performance as the reason for the decision.
"After conducting recent online tests for Titanfall, we found that the performance rates in South Africa were not as high as we need to guarantee a great experience, so we have decided not to release Titanfall in South Africa at this time.
We understand this is a disappointment for local fans and will keep fans posted on any future plans regarding the release of Titanfall in South Africa"
This is likely a decision made to the Xbox One and PC Beta that they recently conducted, one which was used to test the game's servers under a high load of players, and South Africa apparently didn't make the cut. "[P]erformance wasn't as good in the area as we would like, don't want to sell you something that isn't great", said Respawn Founder Vince Zampella said on Twitter.
Gamers are taking it about as well as can be expected, with hundreds of people commenting and complaining that they saw no issues with the beta and want the game released anyway. It's sad to hear that so many people won't be able to join in on the fun but it's almost to be commended that EA is sticking to its guns with this- Titanfall is a game that requires good online performance and if they just can't get it, it doesn't make sense for them to take the criticism that would come.
Titanfall will hit Xbox One and PC on March 11th in North America. The Xbox 360 version (which is being created by another developer) will hit March 25th. A season pass for the game will offer three map packs and cost $24.99.