Respawn Entertainment is focused on Apex Legends as it moves into 2020, and Electronic Arts is focused on Apex Legends alongside it. In its recent fiscal reporting, EA lauded Apex Legends' performance at launch and displayed a positive outlook regarding Season 3's Meltdown update looking forward to the rest of the year. The continued focus on Apex Legends as one of EA's core franchises this fiscal year brought up a question about Respawn's other well-known FPS franchise, Titanfall. And EA's answer isn't inspiring.
When asked about the future of Titanfall at Respawn, EA CFO/COO Blake Jorgensen deflected. "We really want to keep the team hyper-focused on Apex Legends," was his initial response, before acknowledging that Titanfall won't be forgotten. But Jorgensen isn't able to provide a "sense of if and when" for Titanfall's return. In other words, so long as Apex Legends remains a priority for EA then Respawn won't have room for Titanfall. And Apex Legends definitely remains Respawn's priority.
The crux of the issue is that Respawn was effectively split into two different studios some time ago. Where the studio previously created single-player and multiplayer content in tandem with Titanfall and Titanfall 2, that divide became much more literal. Respawn's two games show it clearly, as Apex Legends is purely multiplayer and Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order is a single-player game. If Titanfall is to eventually come back, it would absolutely require Apex Legends to be deprioritized, as well as whatever the Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order team's working on, too.
That's not to say that Titanfall 3 or another major Titanfall project isn't possible in the future, but it's clear how challenging it will be to get to that point given Respawn and EA's current priorities. Until Apex Legends is no longer meeting expectations as a live service, which isn't a guarantee beyond even the next fiscal year, Titanfall is probably off the table.
As popular as the Titanfall franchise is among is fervent fanbase, it ultimately hasn't been the most successful franchise. Compare that to a live service game like Apex Legends, which had an incredible launch and is bringing in revenue routinely with comparatively smaller content updates, and it's easy to understand why live services are so popular. Then again, this year's Call of Duty, which boxes up a single-player campaign and a multiplayer mode much like Titanfall has, is the most successful release in the franchise for several years.