Titanfall 3 is coming! At least, it might be according to a vague comment from someone who works at Respawn Entertainment. But, chances are the mech shooter isn’t getting a third shot at success, and we only hurt ourselves by constantly getting our hopes up. The second entry was dealt a bad hand courtesy of Electronic Arts, and the developer behind it is now busy enough making money with Apex Legends and Star Wars Jedi to bother with another Titanfall.
Studio founder and CEO Vince Zampella has said he would love to see Titanfall 3 happen if it doesn’t distract from the continued success and development of Apex Legends, which translates to ‘it isn’t in production and won’t be anytime soon’. It remains a pipedream for not just fans, but those who birthed the series in the first place. EA just isn’t willing to bankroll Titanfall 3, especially if it might cannibalise its own audience and take away from a hugely successful live-service product.
The industry isn’t in a place right now where a third Titanfall can succeed, nor would it arrive in a form many of us would be hoping for. Apex Legends takes place in the same world and uses its shooting and parkour mechanics as a base for its own excellence, but for years now Respawn has been building on what Titanfall started with no intention of returning for a final round. We’ve seen returning characters, mechanics, and even select locations at times, but with the very clear acknowledgment that a traditional shooter to sit alongside it just isn’t a focus right now. It could be one day, although I won’t be holding my breath for its arrival.
Titanfall 2 wasn’t doomed to fail, it was released at an inopportune time when two titans in the genre were always going to emerge victorious. Electronic Arts was launching Battlefield 1 while Activision had Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare, so of course the week gap between both games seemed like the perfect place to pop Titanfall 2. Predictably, it crashed and burned in spite of critical buzz because everyone had already spent their money elsewhere. EA tried to save face by saying it offered a worthwhile experience that didn’t conflict with Battlefield, but mainstream consumers chose to ignore it as a consequence. Millions of us decided to pick it up for pennies a few months later, but by then its failure had already solidified its future. The servers were lacking in players and a stellar solo campaign wasn’t given its deserved credit.
It’s a classic in hindsight, although word of mouth and lacking sales doesn’t exactly translate to positive buzz in a corporate boardroom. EA dumped it, pivoted to the live-service creation of Apex Legends and a single-player Star Wars game I’m not sure it expected would set the world on fire like it did. Lots had changed, and traditional shooters like Titanfall 2 don’t have a place in the medium anymore. At least not without significant evolution and drawbacks in their design that would alienate those who keep on asking for it anyway. Not to mention how long a game like this would take to make, so in a few years time we’ll have a bunch of new changes to take into account. Respawn simply isn’t interested in it right now, at least not at a stage where we can hope for an inevitable announcement or return to this universe that takes priority over bigger successes that have already proven to deliver substantial returns.
I would do terrible things for a Titanfall 3 that follows in the footsteps of its predecessor with no compromise, but the realist in me knows that game ever coming to light is very slim, and even if it did, we’d have to wait years for it and rob Respawn of other opportunities. While I’m not much of an Apex player these days, it and gems like Jedi: Fallen Order and Survivor show me that this studio is capable of achieving so much, even if it isn’t the sequel we’re hoping for.