Titanfall Companion Apps for iPhone, Android & Windows Hit Hard

With four new applications for Titanfall developer Respawn Entertainment is extending the game’s reach into the pockets of iPhone, Android, Windows Phone and Windows 8 users.

Respawn announced the new Titanfall Companion app for all major platforms today. Available immediately in the iTunes App Store, Windows Store and Google Play, the apps are more than just the basic companion guides that major video game developers routinely make available for free. Instead, the Titanfall Companion app comes loaded with absolutely all the information that users need to dive into the game and a few extras to help them win matches.

The Titanfall Companion app is part encyclopedia; providing users with all the necessary information about the different in-game weapons, the characters that they meet in the campaign and the motives behind the game’s two warring factions, the Militia and the IMC.

Users playing Titanfall can follow their and other team member’s kill-to-death ratio in real-time. Users can also check to see what an opponent’s favorite weapons are and how much time they’ve spent in the game. That way users have a bit of information to adjust their play style against. That’s the functionality that Xbox 360 users will get though.

When paired with the Xbox One dominating a round of Titanfall thanks to the Titanfall Companion app gets more likely. The Titanfall Companion app will allow users to play against other users and get a map of their entire environment on their iPhone or iPad. Users are able to see exactly where their team mates are and where the battle is still raging. That’s definitely going to help users, especially those who have a hard time getting back to the action after they’ve been killed and are sent back to the game’s character spawn points. Users are going to be able to zoom in and out of that map as well, just in case they needed an even clearer view of where everything that is happening. Respawn says that a special map filter will also provide users with need-to-know information that they just can’t get anywhere else.

Despite it launching two months behind Titanfall itself, the Titanfall Companion app was sorely needed if for no other reason that Electronic Arts and Respawn Entertainment are hoping to turn Titanfall into a top franchise over the next few years. Today, almost every single important video game franchise makes companion apps available so that users can quickly dive into the action. For most games, the companion app is little more than just a way to find out more information about the game’s characters and track stats. The hope is that mobile apps will make console video games every bit as addictive as mobile games. Of course, for that to happen these companion apps need to offer some key functionality that users can do in their spare time.

Last year’s Assassin’s Creed: Black Flag is the gold standard currently. It allows iPhone, iPad and Android users to earn in-game supplies through a naval battle mini game on their smartphone. Those in-game rewards are ready for them the next time they open the console version of the game where they can upgrade their ship and buy more supplies for the fleet or for their own ship, the Jackdaw.

Really, the interesting thing here is that Electronic Arts launched a version of the Titanfall Companion app for Windows and Windows Phone alongside their iPhone, iPad and Android counterparts. Usually, that doesn’t happen and Microsoft users are stuck hoping for a native version of a specific companion app on their devices if it ever arrives at all. It’s been roughly seven months since Assassin’s Creed: Back Flag launched and there’s no version of its mobile app on Windows Phone.

For some reason, Respawn Entertainment and Electronic Arts decided to release their own companion app rather than make these features available to users of the Xbox SmartGlass app. Why that decision was made is unclear, but the Xbox SmartGlass app already powers companion app experiences for other title’s like Microsoft’s Ryse: Son of Rome. It’s possible the company simply felt better launching its own app to promote and market instead of Microsoft’s.

Since launching this past March, Titanfall has been the must-have multiplayer game to have on Microsoft’s Xbox One console. Mostly, it’s because the game is exclusive to Microsoft’s platforms. PS4 and PS3 users don’t stand much of a chance of ever getting the game. Titanfall is also available on the Xbox 360 and Windows PCs. The Xbox One wasn’t able to ride the success of Titanfall into sales dominance over Sony’s new PS4 gaming console. Still, critics and players have raved about the game since its release.

Comments made about the Windows app indicate that there’s no way for users of EA’s Origin gaming service to log in. As such, it doesn’t look like the current versions of the Titanfall Companion app will work for Windows PC users.

Read: New Titanfall Maps & Missions Release Slated for May 15th

Right now, Xbox One and PC users can also download Titanfall: Expedition, a pack of three new downloadable maps for just $9.99. Xbox 360 users won’t see the Titanfall: Expedition DLC arrive on their console of choice until sometime in June.