Titanfall Devs Axe Game, Fans Fear for Franchise's Future

Titanfall fans are reeling from the news EA has canceled another incubation project at Respawn Entertainment, and simultaneously laid off staff across its incubation, Apex Legends, Star Wars: Jedi, and EA Experience teams.

Bloomberg reported the canceled game, codenamed R7, was an extraction shooter set in the Titanfall universe. Though not the Titanfall 3 sequel fans have been demanding, some are devastated that the beloved Titanfall 2 remains without a successor nearly ten years later.

"I just fell to my knees at Walmart," one player exclaimed, while another stated: "I CAN'T TAKE THIS ANYMORE."

"How many more times will this happen before they finally give up and leave us to our sorrow?" another fan lamented.

Not all fans see this as bad news, however, as some believe an extraction shooter in the Titanfall universe could have failed, potentially ending the franchise for good.

"Best thing that could've happened for the franchise's future," this Redditor argued. "A Titanfall extraction shooter would likely flop, and executives would conclude 'people just don't like Titanfall anymore,' ignoring the obvious reason that nobody asked for a Titanfall extraction shooter."

"I’m fine with this cancellation," another user responded, adding: "Extraction shooter? Good riddance."

"I'm so tired of extraction shooters. They're formulaic and dull. I don't want to loot useless items, camp in attics, hide in bushes for 20 minutes, or risk crossing open fields. Give me fast matches, wall-running, and Titans in action," this fan expressed.

"Felt sad initially. Read 'extraction shooter' and was immediately okay with it," someone else summarized.

The roughly 100 job cuts at Respawn affected development, publishing, and QA staff on Apex Legends, along with smaller teams working on the Jedi series and two canceled incubation projects. One project was reported in March, while the other is believed to be the aforementioned Titanfall extraction shooter.

These layoffs follow several rounds of cuts at EA in recent years. Earlier this year, BioWare was restructured, shifting developers to other projects and letting others go. The company also eliminated 50 positions at BioWare in 2023 and an unspecified number at Codemasters. A broader 2024 restructuring led to 670 company-wide layoffs, including approximately two dozen Respawn employees.

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In 2023, it was revealed that Respawn Entertainment had worked "in earnest" on Titanfall 3 for 10 months before shifting focus to Apex Legends.

Mohammad Alavi, who became narrative lead designer on the canceled Titanfall 3, told The Burnettwork that significant progress had been made on the sequel.

"After Titanfall 2's release, we decided to make Titanfall 3 and worked on it seriously for about 10 months," Alavi said.

"We had new technology, multiple missions in development, and a first playable build that was on track to be as good as or better than our previous work. However, it was an incremental improvement rather than a revolutionary leap—and that was the key issue.

"We felt reasonably confident about it, but it lacked the groundbreaking feeling we had while developing Titanfall 2."

So what led to the cancellation? According to Alavi, it resulted from the multiplayer team struggling to create an experience that didn't exhaust players quickly, combined with the explosive popularity of battle royale games following PUBG's 2017 release.

"The multiplayer team was working hard to refine the experience because while many players loved Titanfall 2's multiplayer, the audience was relatively small," Alavi explained.

"Most players found Titanfall 2's multiplayer intense and enjoyable but too overwhelming for long-term engagement. They'd play it briefly, appreciate it, but not stick with it for years.

"We attempted to address this from Titanfall 1 to 2, and again from 2 to 3, but the multiplayer team was struggling.

"Then PUBG launched."

Respawn developers found themselves more engaged with a battle royale map using Titanfall 3 classes than with the standard multiplayer modes they were developing. This led to a pivotal decision: cancel Titanfall 3, which might have been marginally better than its predecessor, to develop an outstanding battle royale game instead.

"I had just become narrative lead designer on Titanfall 3, pitched the story and game concept with Manny Hagopian, and presented everything. After the break, we discussed it and realized we needed to pivot toward this new direction.

"We canceled Titanfall 3 ourselves because we faced a choice: deliver Titanfall 2 with slight improvements or create something truly exceptional.

"Don't misunderstand—I'll always wish we had another Titanfall. I love that franchise, and Titanfall 2 remains my proudest achievement. But it was the right decision. It was such a drastic move that EA didn't learn about it until six months later when we had a working prototype to show them!"