Titanfall 3 is the hotly anticipated next instalment in Respawn Entertainment’s acclaimed sci-fi shooter franchise. But when will it actually get released?
In years gone by Titanfall 3 would be a sure thing. Video game publishers wouldn’t even entertain the thought of abandoning a franchise that sold as well as the first two games in the series did. Hell, the developer would likely have been put to work on a sequel almost immediately.
Today isn’t yesteryear though, and the market that Titanfall 2 was released into in 2017 is largely responsible. In response to criticism, that the first game didn’t have a single-player campaign, Respawn Entertainment focused their efforts on crafting a rewarding story to accompany their game’s stellar multiplayer action.
However, by the time the Titanfall 2 released, the latest craze was live service multiplayer titles such as Fortnite. Gamers flocked to free-to-play action games, and Respawn Entertainment quickly answered with one of their own: Apex Legends. Needless to say, Titanfall 3 has been on the backburner ever since.
Has Titanfall 3 been cancelled?
Ok, so this might be cheeky, but Titanfall 3 hasn’t been cancelled because it probably hasn’t gone into official development yet. As noted before, Respawn Entertainment hit it out of the park with Apex Legends, and publisher EA will make sure going forward that game is their number one priority. Which means that fans should prepare themselves for a significant wait.
That said, this paradigm shift, where free-to-play- hero shooters now reign supreme, won’t last indefinitely. It also doesn’t mean that a game such as Titanfall 3 won’t be greenlit for development; particularly if the developers have their hearts set on making it.
Respawn Entertainment’s 2021 Twitter post demonstrates that the Titanfall series is still very much part of their DNA:
A note about Titanfall. pic.twitter.com/Ew232HkUIo
— Respawn (@Respawn) December 1, 2021
This message could be interpreted a number of ways, including that a direct sequel isn’t going to happen. Which is probably for the best; if Titanfall 3 were to be released as Titanfall 2 with better graphics and a new story it wouldn’t work. The genre has developed too much over the last 5 years, and that game would be dead on arrival.
Which begs the question ‘if we get Titanfall 3, what will it actually be?‘
Somewhere in the multiverse, there is a universe where Respawn made a Titanfall 3
— Mo (@MoDen31_) August 16, 2022
An Apex Legends crossover
If you want to get a game made you’ve got to speak in terms of money and risk (unless you are content to work in the indie video game world, in which case whatever goes, bro). And in terms of money and risk, tying Titanfall 3 together with the Apex Legends behemoth makes a lot of sense.
Apex Legends, over 3 years after its release, still enjoys a monthly playerbase of over 60 million – which dwarfs even the most optimistic sales estimates of the Titanfall series. How this crossover will look is unclear, but there are a few different possibilities.
The most controversial would be shoehorning mechs into an Apex Legends season update and telling Titanfall fans to eat it. It would almost certainly create fan backlash, and is therefore unlikely to be entertained seriously by the folks at EA or Respawn.
A more realistic option would be to incorporate design elements from Apex Legends, along with some fanservice, into Titanfall 3. Fans have long speculated there is a lore connection between the two series’ worlds, and establishing this in a concrete manner could strengthen both IPs.
It’s also possible that Respawn will use Titanfall 3 as a proxy for creating an Apex Legends single-player campaign – in a similar way to how they used Apex Legends as a proxy for a Titanfall battle royal game. Either way, expect a little of Apex Legends to make its way into Titanfall 3.
Titanfall 3 release date speculation
To put it bluntly, there is no official information regarding a Titanfall 3 release date. Anyone who says otherwise is bullshitting.
The most explicit information we have to go on is that, in October 2020, Apex Legends director Chad Grenier stated: “Nobody is currently working on Titanfall 3“. And considering the development time for a AAA video game, the best case scenario has Titanfall 3 still some distance away.
We will keep this page updated with any new Titanfall 3 rumours, speculation and information that becomes available. So feel free to check back in at a later date.
