Respawn won't ban or stop early Titanfall players with legitimate copies

Those who start playing Respawn Entertainment's titan-centric shooter, Titanfall, ahead of its release won't be banned, Respawn founder Vince Zampella confirmed via Twitter, noting early adopters may experience some service turbulence.

"About playing early: We won't stop or ban legit copies," Zampella wrote. "It is pre-launch, so there may be interruptions in service as we prep servers."

In the past, companies like Microsoft have promised to hit users of pirated copies of games such as Gears of War: Judgment and Halo 4 with a lifetime console ban from Xbox Live. Treyarch has also used similar threats against those who accessed Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 through dishonest means.

It was announced overnight that the first-person shooter will not see a release in South Africa following poor performance rates in the region during its beta tests last month. Electronic Arts South Africa stated that the decision was based on findings that the performance was not "high enough to guarantee a great experience."

Titanfall is slated to launch on Xbox One and Windows PC on March 11 in North America and March 13 in Europe. The Bluepoint Games-developed Xbox 360 version hits March 25 in North America and March 28 in Europe.