Titanfall 3: Will We Ever Get A Sequel?
Titanfall and Titanfall 2 advanced the first-person shooter genre in exciting ways. Over three years have passed since the follow-up released, and fans continue to hope for a third installment — one that may never come.
Titanfall launched in 2014 as the highly-anticipated debut from Vince Zampella and Jason West's new studio. A well-publicized shakeup at Activision in 2010 led many members of the Infinity Ward staff to leave and form Respawn Entertainment. Respawn's first title, distributed by EA, became an exciting evolution of the genre, adding parkour and mech elements to refresh the usual shooter cliches.
In late 2016, the sequel included a welcome single-player campaign missing in the first installment, along with time travel and new movement mechanics. Despite these improvements, Titanfall 2 failed to meet sales exceptions, likely because it released between Battlefield and Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare. Since then, fans have been teased by news of more Titanfall, but no additional games have been forthcoming. Well, except for Apex Legends, a battle royale set in the same universe.
Player still love the franchise, and it seems like the shooter could have a promising future — if it returned with the type of innovation it brought to the industry with the first two installments. Are fans holding out for a day that will never arrive? Take a look.
Did Apex Legends kill Titanfall 3?
Titanfall 2 featured a mercenary unit called the Apex Predators, which may have been the inspiration for Respawn's surprise battle royale, Apex Legends. Released in early 2019 with very little fanfare, the free-to-play title could be considered a Titanfall spinoff since it's set in the same universe. Of course, as fans were expecting news regarding the development of a new Titanfall, some media outlets speculated the work done on Titanfall 3 evolved into Apex Legends instead.
When Apex Legends was released, Respawn's producer Drew McCoy spoke to Eurogamer, stating that a traditional marketing campaign would not have worked for Apex Legends. According to McCoy, the company's regular audience would have been pretty skeptical.
"The world thinks we're making Titanfall 3 and we're not — [Apex Legends] is what we're making," he said at the time. "We're doing a free-to-play game, with essentially loot boxes, after we were bought by EA, and it's not Titanfall 3. It's the perfect recipe for a marketing plan to go awry, so why have that — let's just ship the game and let players play."
In retrospect, that was probably the right move. Today, Apex Legends is going strong and is now in its fifth live season, despite the disappointment of Titanfall fans.
EA teases Titanfall game for 2019 — but fails to deliver
As Apex Legends was causing a stir, EA confirmed in a Q3 earnings call that a new Titanfall-related title was planned for the end of 2019. CEO Andrew Wilson noted in the call that Apex Legends "will engage fans for a long time to come," and added, "As the live service evolves, Respawn also plans to launch a premium game this year that is a new twist on the Titanfall universe. More to come on that in the months ahead."
However, since then, there's been no word on what that next Titanfall project was meant to be — and no release. Some wondered if the next Titanfall was going the virtual reality route, but former Respawn head Vince Zampella quashed that notion quickly. Zampella has since expanded his purview to include Dice LA, which is working on its first game.
Respawn has also moved forward. Although no official announcement has been made, Wilson has hinted that Star Wars: Jedi – Fallen Order is EA's newest franchise. A Respawn art director also posted job listings on Twitter (since removed) looking for new talent to work on Jedi: Fallen Order, Medal of Honor VR, and Apex Legends. That appears to be confirmation the company has set its sights elsewhere for the moment.
Is there still a chance for Titanfall 3?
Although those involved seem to be working on different projects now, no one has outright said there will never be a Titanfall 3. Wwhen asked about the possibility, Zampella told IGN, "There's nothing currently in development. But it's always there. You see the little bits of stuff coming back [through the lore in Apex Legends]. At some point, I would personally like to see some kind of resurrection there. We'll see if I can make that happen."
Zampella's words offer hope that someday — perhaps after the next generation of consoles is established — the franchise will return with the next shooter in the series. Should a new Titanfall release, it may be influenced by the success of Apex Legends in terms of characters and gameplay. Hopefully, it will be as innovative and fun as Titanfall and Titanfall 2, despite the long hiatus.