Titanfall will not launch in South Africa next week due to poor network performance in the region, Electronic Arts and developer Respawn Entertainment have confirmed.
"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," EA said on its Facebook page.
"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," the statement goes on.
Respawn cofounder Vince Zampella echoed this statement, saying on Twitter, "Performance wasn't as good in the area as we would like; don't want to sell you something that isn't great."
The Titanfall beta was available in South Africa on PC, and one gamer says though performance was not "ideal," it was acceptable to him. Fans have even launched a Change.org petition calling on EA and Respawn to release Titanfall in South Africa. It has 345 supporters at press time.
Just because Titanfall won't be available in South Africa at launch next week, that does not mean it won't eventually be there. Zampella said, "we will look further into it after launch."
Titanfall officially launches March 11 for Xbox One and PC. An Xbox 360 version--developed externally at Bluepoint Games--will arrive on March 25. Respawn confirmed this week that the game's DLC season pass will include three expansion packs and sell for $25.