EA recently announced that Respawn Entertainment’s free-to-play battle royale shooter Apex Legends had crossed 70 million players, and that in light of its success, they would be doubling down on live service titles from their core franchises. However, that’s going to result in a compromise in one very particular area that fans might not be too happy to hear about.
During their recent investors Q&A, EA COO and CFO Blake Jorgensen said that as a result of the success Apex Legends has seen, that Respawn team will continue to focus on the battle royale title for the foreseeable future, and that as such, EA isn’t sure “if and when” Titanfall 3 will be released.
“It certainly could be a separate title in the future,” said Jorgensen when asked if we would ever see a mainline Titanfall sequel again (transcribed by VGC). “We really want to keep the team hyper-focused on Apex because we see there’s so much opportunity there, so I can’t give you a sense of if and when it will come, but it’s still a great brand and we certainly won’t forget about it down the road.”
Respawn Entertainment confirmed earlier in the year that Titanfall 3 was not in development, though there have been several reports since then of Titanfall-related projects being in the pipeline for EA. In light of Jorgensen’s remarks, it seems like those plans may have been put on hold as Respawn looks to focus entirely on Apex Legends.
As far as live service titles go, EA’s got plenty of stuff coming up. They recently announced that a new Battlefield title will be released in FY 2022, while Dragon Age 4 – due out after FY 2022 – is also planned as live service title.
In related news, EA has also confirmed that it plans on releasing “exciting remasters of fan-favourites” in the coming fiscal year.