Titanfall 2 dev accidentally stokes console wars in just two tweets

Over the weekend, Titanfall 2 designer Drew McCoy marked a milestone: Production on the action game has wrapped, as evidenced by the disc copy of the game that he tweeted. But Xbox One loyalists are taking issue with the fact that McCoy — and developer Respawn Entertainment, who retweeted the celebratory image — posted a PlayStation 4 copy of Titanfall 2, although the game is also coming to Windows PC and Xbox One.

McCoy and Respawn weren’t trying to show allegiance to PlayStation consoles, however. Instead, there’s a very logical reason for why McCoy chose to share that Titanfall 2 had gone gold by tweeting a photo of a PS4 disc.

When a studio is ready to print a game, it requests an early disc ahead of manufacturing retail copies. The tweet above shows that, unlike PlayStation 4 pre-release discs, the Xbox One version — called a green disc — isn’t especially attractive. The colorful, branded, final retail PS4 copy makes for a far better tweet.

But "green disc" is not the most commonly used term, especially with the layman. When Respawn attempted to clarify the tweet and stem the imminent controversy, it instead engendered more ire. That’s because the Xbox brand is heavily associated with the color green — where the PS4 disc has blue coloring, Xbox One discs carry green logos.

To the average person, referring to an Xbox One green disc as "not sexy" is akin to saying that Xbox One discs in general aren’t sexy. And if there’s one thing an Xbox One fan doesn’t like to hear, it’s that their beloved console is not the pinnacle of sex appeal.

That was what got people in a tizzy even before Respawn's comment. McCoy's simple, jokey rebuttal to former Microsoft staffer Eric Neustadter that "green discs aren’t as sexy looking" was misinterpreted by Xbox fans, who got riled up to the point where Respawn felt the need to do damage control.

Respawn’s attempts to defuse the situation seem to have done the trick, with more muted Xbox fans tweeting back their condolences about their more easily riled up comrades. But just as many people are vowing revenge against Respawn and its supposed PS4 bias, despite the fact that Titanfall 2 is a multiplatform game. This could also stem from the fact that Titanfall was an Xbox console exclusive, arriving shortly after the Xbox One's launch as one of its most hyped early releases.

Titanfall 2 will launch Oct. 28 on PlayStation 4, Xbox One and Windows PC — and if anyone has a reason to complain, it's PC players, who missed out on its recent Multiplayer Tech Test.