Titanfall fans are grappling with the news EA has terminated another experimental project at Respawn Entertainment, alongside layoffs affecting staff across its incubation, Apex Legends, Star Wars: Jedi, and EA Experience teams.

Bloomberg revealed the canceled project, codenamed R7, was an extraction shooter set in the Titanfall universe. While not the Titanfall 3 sequel fans have long demanded, many are heartbroken that the beloved Titanfall 2 remains without a follow-up nearly a decade later.

"I just collapsed in disbelief at Walmart," expressed one player, while another posted: "I CAN’T HANDLE THIS ANYMORE."

"How many more setbacks until they abandon us to our grief?" mourned another.

However, not all fans view this as a loss, with some believing an extraction shooter in the Titanfall universe might have flopped, potentially dooming the franchise.

"This cancellation is the best outcome for the franchise’s survival," argued one redditor. "A Titanfall extraction shooter would likely fail, and executives would claim ‘Titanfall is no longer popular,’ ignoring that nobody wanted a Titanfall XTS."

"I’m relieved this was scrapped," commented another, adding: "Extraction shooter, really? Good riddance."

"I’m fed up with extraction shooters. They’re repetitive and dull. I don’t want to scavenge pointless items, hide in attics, or lurk in bushes for 20 minutes, risking a snipe in open fields. Give me fast-paced matches, wall-running, and titans blasting," urged one fan.

"Felt sad at first. Saw it was an extraction shooter. Instantly fine," noted another.

The layoffs impacted roughly 100 jobs at Respawn, affecting developers, publishers, and QA staff on Apex Legends, as well as smaller teams on the Jedi project and two canceled incubation efforts, one of which we covered in March, and the other believed to be the Titanfall-universe extraction shooter.

These cuts follow multiple layoffs at EA in recent years. Earlier this year, EA restructured BioWare, reassigning developers to other projects and laying off others. It also cut 50 jobs at BioWare in 2023, an undisclosed number at Codemasters, and in 2024, a broader restructuring led to 670 layoffs across the company, including about two dozen at Respawn.

Should Respawn Prioritize Titanfall 3 Development?

Yes, Titanfall deserves a true sequelNo, Titanfall’s era has passedIt depends (share your thoughts in the comments)

AnswerSee Results

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

Mohammad Alavi, who served as narrative lead designer on Titanfall 3 before its cancellation, shared with The Burnettwork that significant progress had been made on the sequel.

“Titanfall 2 launched, performed as it did, and we said, ‘Alright, let’s make Titanfall 3.’ We worked on it for about 10 months, fully dedicated, right?

“We had new technology, multiple missions in development, and a first playable version that was as good as, if not better than, our previous work. But it was only incrementally better, not groundbreaking. That’s the critical point.

“We felt confident, but it lacked the revolutionary spark we had with Titanfall 2, you know?”

So, why was it abandoned? Alavi explained it was due to challenges with the multiplayer team in creating an experience that wouldn’t exhaust players quickly, combined with the rise of the Battle Royale genre sparked by PUBG in 2017.

“The multiplayer team struggled to refine the multiplayer. Many love Titanfall 2’s multiplayer,” Alavi noted.

“But that group is small. Most players enjoy Titanfall 2’s multiplayer but find it overwhelming. It’s dialed up to 11, and they burn out quickly. They say, ‘That was awesome, but I won’t play it for a year or two.’

“We tried to address that from Titanfall 1 to 2, and again from 2 to 3, but the multiplayer team was struggling.

“Then PUBG hit.”

Respawn developers found themselves more engaged with a Battle Royale map featuring Titanfall 3 classes than the traditional Titanfall multiplayer modes they were building. This led to a pivotal decision: abandon Titanfall 3, which might have only been slightly better than its predecessor, to create an exceptional Battle Royale game.

“I had just become narrative lead designer on Titanfall 3. I’d pitched the story, the entire game, that Manny [Hagopian] and I had crafted. We presented it, went on break, came back, and realized, ‘We need to pivot. We need to make this game.’

“We canceled Titanfall 3 ourselves because we saw we could make something just a bit better than Titanfall 2 or create something truly incredible.

“Don’t get me wrong, I’ll always miss another Titanfall. I adore that game. Titanfall 2 is my proudest achievement, but it was the right call. It was such a bold move that EA didn’t even know for six months until we had a working prototype to show!”