Over the course of the last generation, Respawn Entertainment has risen through the ranks to become one of the strongest, most prolific developers that publisher EA has in its arsenal. Starting with the reasonably well-received multiplayer-only shooter Titanfall, Respawn has become an unstoppable juggernaut, releasing hit after hit from the critically acclaimed Titanfall 2 to the free-to-play battle royale Apex Legends and the galaxy-faring action-adventure title, Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order.
Titanfall 2 succeeded critically and commercially, believed to have sold between five to six million copies, but didn't receive the attention it deserved due to being sandwiched between EA's own Battlefield 1 and Activision's Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare. Nearly four years on, there has been little to no sign of a Titanfall 3 and while it's clear the success of Apex Legends is at least a minor contributing factor, is it Respawn or EA that's calling the shot?
The Legacy of Titanfall
Respawn Entertainment was founded in 2010 by Jason West and Vince Zampella, the original co-founders of Infinity Ward and creators of the Call of Duty franchise. When things fell south during the development of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, the pair were fired by Activision and, in turn, founded Respawn Entertainment with the goal of creating the next big first-person shooter franchise, something that EA was immediately on board with. Titanfall released in 2014 as an always-online multiplayer shooter, exclusive to PC and Xbox, and was praised for its innovative gameplay but criticized for the lack of a campaign and thin offering.
By itself, Titanfall was a fun game that brought a lot of innovation to the genre. It was immediately clear that Respawn was onto something but ultimately fell short, and so Titanfall came and went and would've been forgotten to time if it wasn't for the sequel. When Respawn Entertainment released Titanfall 2 in October 2016, it was met with critical acclaim, receiving dozens of nominations including 'Game of the Year' at The Game Awards and 'Outstanding Achievement in Online Gameplay' at the D.I.C.E. Awards that year. Titanfall 2 demonstrated just how good Respawn Entertainment is at creating innovative combat, levels, characters, and boss fights, traits that were later expanded on in 2019's single-player only, Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order.
EA "Won't Forget" About Titanfall 3
In February 2019, Respawn Entertainment shadow dropped the free-to-play battle royale, Apex Legends, set within the universe of the Titanfall series and using many of the series assets. When the world assumed Respawn would be developing Titanfall 3, it was starting to look like that might not be the case considering Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order was due out at the end of the year, and a third game, a VR first-person shooter later revealed to be Medal of Honor: Above and Beyond, was also in development. In a matter of days, Apex Legends blew up and as of October 2019, the battle royale was said to have had approximately 70 million players worldwide. Whatever plans were in place, the success of Apex Legends meant that Respawn was delaying Titanfall 3.
During EA's quarterly earnings call at the end of October 2019, the publisher spoke about the success of Apex Legends and how the roadmap created by Respawn meant it viewed the battle royale almost as an "annual shooter" franchise, with the intention of turning Apex Legends into a "10-year business." EA also briefly touched on Titanfall 3 and confirmed that the IP won't be forgotten about, potentially teasing a return later down the road. "We really want to keep the team hyper-focused on [Apex Legends] because we see there's so much opportunity there," EA COO and CFO Blake Jorgensen said. "I can't give you a sense of if and when [Titanfall 3] will come, but it's still a great brand and we certainly won't forget about it down the road."
EA Shouldn't Forget About Titanfall 3
Vince Zampella has expressed the developer's desire to be more than just a shooter-based developer when discussing the release of third-person action-adventure, Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order. At an estimated 315 employees as of 2019, Respawn Entertainment hasn't publicly mentioned the exact number of development teams it has internally, but there was at least two for the development of Star Wars: Jedi Fallen Order, one for Star Wars and one for Apex Legends.
Assuming the Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order 2 rumors are true and the game is in pre-production, the Fallen Order team has either moved on to help with Medal of Honor: Above and Beyond which is due out sometime in 2020 or a third team exists. Needless to say, Respawn's assets are seemingly stretched pretty thin. And it sounds like even if the team had the manpower, it doesn't want to be stuck working on first-person shooters forever.
Between Apex Legends, Medal of Honor: Above and Beyond, and the inevitable Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order 2, right now it's just not realistic to release Titanfall 3. However, with next-gen consoles like Xbox Series X and PlayStation 5 on the horizon, it's not a bad time for the team to be working out the groundwork for what a next-generation Titanfall 3 could be in a few years time. There's no need to release Titanfall 3 right now, but fans do need to know that it's something being considered. Titanfall is far too beloved to be forgotten about and Respawn Entertainment had only just begun to realize the IP's full potential with Titanfall 2 (although one could also make that argument for Apex Legends too).
Titanfall 3 is not known to be in development.