It may be called Titanfall 2, but as far as developers Respawn are concerned, it’s basically its own thing, distinct from the 2014 hit Titanfall in every way- mechanically, narratively, and so on. As far as Respawn are concerned, Titanfall 2 is a brand new concept.
And why, exactly, are they ditching their legacy, which made the first game so successful? Well, as it turns out, the expanded audience that they are targeting with this sequel has something to do with it.
“We’re really excited to welcome back that original Xbox One, 360 and PC audience,” Respawn COO Dusty Welch said in an interview with MCV UK. “But Titanfall 2 is really a new IP at launch if you think about it. The Xbox One install base is two or three times what it was when Titanfall launched, the PC audience continues to grow. Then there’s the PS4 install base, which is enormous. It has a ‘2’ next to its name, but that signifies the dual elements of Titan and Pilot, and the single player and multiplayer.”
Art director Joel Emslie added, “We have to consider that there’s a whole community that haven’t played Titanfall before. That was a challenge for us – how do we make sure that Titanfall 2 is something that anyone could pick up and you don’t need to have a played the original? For fans of the first game, we’ve added a lot of story elements and secrets that they’ll appreciate. But it’s a game that stands alone. It can reach out to that new community and they can enjoy it for the first time.”
I am not sure that something like this would necessarily go down well with the fans of the original, but at least this mindset explains all the various changes that have been made to Titanfall 2 from the first game, which don’t necessarily seem to have been received all that well. Titanfall 2 is out in October on PS4, Xbox One, and PC.