Respawn Entertainment has been giving some mixed signals when it comes to the future of the Titanfall series. The studio's community coordinator, Jason Garza, recently said that fans shouldn't get their hopes up for Titanfall 3 as the studio is busy with "too many other games" to work on a third entry. Following Garza's statements, Respawn made a cryptic tweet regarding the Titanfall franchise saying that no one knows "what the future holds," implying that there might be more Titanfall games somewhere down the road. Based on the way that the studio seemingly can't get its facts straight about the future of the franchise, it seems like a new game isn't in active development and won't be for quite some time.
While game making isn't as simple as a studio saying "let's make the game we want to make," it seems like Respawn might be missing out on another successful title by shelving Titanfall 3 for the foreseeable future. There's a lot that the game could bring to the table and, based on the studio's other recent successes, Titanfall 3 could be one of Respawn's biggest releases yet.
Titanfall 2's Sleeper Success
When it was released, Titanfall 2 was put in something of a poor position. It was dwarfed by the release of Battlefield 1 which released one week prior causing it to be missed by plenty of fans of the first-person shooter genre. Despite this, the game went on to be held in high regard due to its excellent mechanics, fun premise, and surprisingly solid story elements. While it didn't see the success that Respawn was potentially hoping to see, Titanfall 2 has only grown in popularity since its release, quickly becoming one of the "must-plays" of the PS4/Xbox One generation.
Nearly four years following Titanfall 2's release, the game is as big as ever and plenty of fans are calling for a new title. Despite the issues that have been plaguing Titanfall 2's multiplayer, the series just keeps growing in popularity and if Respawn were to announce that it's bringing the franchise back, it would likely continue to grow from there. Because of how much attention the franchise has received in recent years, Titanfall 3 would likely be able to grab far more attention than Titanfall 2 did when it released, even if the third game were to get unlucky again with an unfortunate release window.
Expanding the Plot of Titanfall and Apex Legends
Set in the same fictional universe, Apex Legends ended up being Titanfall's successor and fills some of the gaps in the franchise's story that a third Titanfall game would be able to bridge. That said, there are still plenty of places where Titanfall 3 could expand the series narrative that just isn't possible in a multiplayer-only battle royale. As interesting as the overarching story of Apex Legends is, it can't always tell straightforward narratives through the actual gameplay because of its genre. A third Titanfall title would be able to tell some of that extended lore in a much simpler way by the nature of its single-player campaign.
There are a lot of different directions that Respawn could take the story of Titanfall and Apex but it seems like a single-player campaign could do a lot to further the narrative and also set up new elements for Apex Legends' various upcoming characters. The ending of Titanfall 2 wasn't a cliffhanger by any means, however, it would be nice to see some of the characters again in a follow-up that continues the story of the war between the IMC and the Militia. The ending even has Blisk offer Cooper a spot on his team of Apex Legends which could tie the two franchises even tighter together if that plot point were to be expanded upon.
Titanfall 3 is not in development.