The Untold Truth Of Titanfall

There have been first-person shooting games. There have been games with giant mech battles. But have you ever seen a game that combined those two concepts together and somehow, someway, made it work? That was the promise of the original Titanfall, and to Respawn Entertainment's credit, the studio delivered on it. That game spawned a larger, more ambitious sequel in Titanfall 2, and once again, Respawn absolutely killed it.

If both of those facts are true, then why isn't Respawn ever in the conversation about gaming's best development studios? The answer: because it hasn't always been smooth sailing for the Titanfall franchise. Bridges have been burned. Tough decisions have been made. Grudges have been long held. And Titanfall has been met with time constraints, fiscal realities, some occasional hubris, and finally, extraordinary fortune.

Below, we'll attempt to tell you the tale of Titanfall that few know — how this promising game series couldn't catch a break until it did, and how Respawn Entertainment was studio few could name until its name was everywhere. We'll explain where the first Titanfall went wrong. We'll fill you in on the decision that kept Titanfall 2 from selling like gangbusters. And we'll pause Apex Legends long enough to talk about how it is potentially keeping the Titanfall universe alive.

This is the untold truth of Titanfall.

In the political world, there exists this thing called spin: a way to make something sound positive regardless of how it actually looks. Respawn had to employ some of that when it first started showing off Titanfall to the world, as the game lacked the single-player campaign that so many had come to expect from the genre.

Respawn's Vince Zampella attempted to deflect concerns about the lack of a campaign, remarking that few players actually finish it, and that Respawn could make Titanfall's multiplayer modes better thanks to the added focus. But that wasn't the whole truth. Years later, Brent McLeod — the lead designer at Respawn — admitted that the studio simply didn't have the resources to add a single-player campaign to the original Titanfall. "We wanted to have a campaign in the first one, but there were a lot of constraints and timing restrictions that didn't allow us to do it," McLeod said.

There were some narrative threads to follow in the quasi-campaign Titanfall did have. It took place in a special multiplayer playlist that put players on either side of the game's conflict, letting them experience the story from one of two perspectives. But it wasn't the type of experience players were looking for, even if many did enjoy the work Respawn did on the multiplayer side of things.

Fortunately, fans would get their much-desired campaign later down the line.

Titanfall felt great as a shooter, and introduced mechs to the genre in a novel and satisfying way. But just about everyone who played it felt that Titanfall had the potential to be something better, if only it had come packed with a single-player campaign. We know the scoop on that — Respawn just didn't have the manpower to include one in the first game. On the plus side, though, Respawn knew it had to go above and beyond with Titanfall 2 to really make the game shine.

The result: Respawn delivered what might be one of the greatest single-player campaigns ever seen in a first-person shooter.

Titanfall 2 starts out feeling incredibly familiar, as though Respawn took the traditional Call of Duty campaign formula and crammed Titanfall's giant mechs and gameplay mechanics into it. But the more you play, the more you realize that there's a whole lot of innovation contained within Titanfall 2's various missions. Platforming takes on a bigger role than it does in most shooters, asking players to navigate through an assembly line for prefabricated homes, defeating hostiles while leaping from moving object to moving object. And there's even a level that implements time travel in a way that totally catches you by surprise.

The campaign in Titanfall 2 won the game a whole lot of praise, and rightfully so. Unfortunately, it didn't quite light the sales charts on fire, and there's a reason why.

Respawn Entertainment had the look of a game studio that would remain independent forever. Both Vince Zampella and Jason West had come from Activision, after all, and it was assumed that the two had grown tired of working for a large publisher. But West retired before the original Titanfall even saw the light of day. And then Titanfall 2 happened, and didn't quite perform the way everyone at EA and Respawn expected it to.

That's why it wasn't exactly a surprise when EA announced its acquisition of Respawn in November 2017. What was shocking, however, was the price tag. It's been reported that EA spent as much as $315 million in cash and stock, along with a $140 million bonus, to bring Respawn under the EA umbrella. And at the time, Vince Zampella stated that the acquisition wouldn't negatively affect the Titanfall franchise in any way. "For fans, my message is we are still Respawn and we are going to make things better," he said. "It doesn't change the future of Titanfall. Only positives come from it, like more resources."

Even knowing what we know today, we can't say for sure if that statement was true or not. It's possible we could find out sometime later in 2019.

At the start of the day on Feb. 4, 2019, most of the world was playing Fortnite: Battle Royale as usual. But by the end of the day, a whole lot of people were battling it out in a brand new battle royale game: Apex Legends, which launched at the conclusion of an hours-long live stream hosted by Respawn Entertainment.

It wasn't the Titanfall 3 many were hoping for, but it was still plenty good — and was at least set in the Titanfall universe.

Apex Legends took some tried-and-true ideas from the battle royale genre while adding fresh new takes on the formula. True to the studio's name, Respawn made bringing teammates back to life possible in Apex. The game also introduced a highly useful ping feature, which enabled players to point to items and make call-outs without the need for voice chat. Finally, Respawn made Apex more of a hero shooter, giving each character unique abilities and ultimates.

Some thought Apex Legends might be the next fad that would quickly die out, ceding the mountaintop once more to Fortnite. But the game has shown it has true staying power, and has only built a larger audience over time. And Respawn — a company that once appeared defeated — suddenly roared back, showing that the studio did, indeed, have what it took to make an extremely popular shooter.

No, Titanfall 3 didn't happen. That third entry in the series wound up being Apex Legends, a game that's getting plenty of love in its own right. But there's no need to worry about the future of Titanfall, and we know that thanks to Respawn's Vince Zampella and EA's Andrew Wilson. We feel pretty good about the Zampella quote, and even better about the Andrew Wilson quote, because EA has never canceled anything, right? Right?

We kid. But we can remain at least somewhat confident that we'll see more Titanfall in the near term, because Respawn is actively working on another game in the franchise that isn't a direct sequel to Titanfall 2 but is still something.

"We are also working on more Titanfall for later in the year (yes, I said the T word)," tweeted Respawn's Vince Zampella the day after Apex Legends' launch. "We love being able to experiment in this crazy universe!"

Later in the month on an investor call, EA's Andrew Wilson added that a "truly creative take on what Titanfall is in a premium context" was being developed, but didn't add any other details about what that might be.

We're not quite sure what Respawn Entertainment is cooking up with regard to this mysterious Titanfall project that is not, in any way, shape or form, Titanfall 3. But we're anxious to get our hands on it.