Titanfall fans are deeply disappointed by the news that EA has canceled another incubation project at Respawn Entertainment while also conducting layoffs across its incubation, Apex Legends, Star Wars: Jedi, and EA Experience teams.
According to Bloomberg, the canceled game, codenamed R7, was an extraction shooter set in the Titanfall universe. Though not the long-awaited Titanfall 3 sequel, its cancellation has left many fans disheartened, especially with Titanfall 2 approaching a decade without a follow-up.
"I just fell to my knees at Walmart," exclaimed one player. Another stated plainly: "I CAN'T TAKE THIS ANYMORE."
"How many more times will this happen before they finally give up and leave us to our misery?" mourned another.
Not all fans view the cancellation as bad news, however. Some believe an extraction shooter in the Titanfall universe could have flopped, potentially dooming the franchise entirely.
"This might be the best outcome for the franchise's future," argued one Reddit user. "A Titanfall extraction shooter would likely have failed, leading executives to conclude that people just don't like Titanfall anymore, ignoring the fact that nobody wanted a Titanfall extraction shooter to begin with."
"I’m okay with this cancellation," replied another, adding, "An extraction shooter? Good riddance."
"I'm so tired of extraction shooters. They're repetitive and dull. I don't want to spend time looting worthless items, hiding in attics, or crouching in bushes for 20 minutes. Give me fast-paced matches, wall-running, and epic Titan battles," remarked a fan.
"I was upset at first, but then I heard it was an extraction shooter. Honestly, I'm relieved," concluded someone else.
The layoffs at Respawn affected roughly 100 employees, including developers, publishing staff, and QA testers on Apex Legends, as well as smaller teams working on the Jedi series and two canceled incubation projects. One of these projects was reported on back in March, while the other is believed to be the aforementioned Titanfall extraction shooter.
These cuts are part of a broader trend of layoffs at EA in recent years. Earlier this year, the company restructured BioWare, reassigning some developers and letting others go. In 2023, EA cut 50 jobs at BioWare and an unspecified number at Codemasters. A larger restructuring in 2024 led to 670 layoffs company-wide, including approximately two dozen at Respawn.
In 2023, it was revealed that Respawn Entertainment had worked on Titanfall 3 seriously for 10 months before shifting focus to Apex Legends.
Mohammad Alavi, who served as narrative lead designer on Titanfall 3 before its cancellation, explained to The Burnettwork that significant progress had been made on the sequel.
“After Titanfall 2’s release, we moved forward with Titanfall 3,” Alavi recalled. “We dedicated about 10 months to it, working earnestly.
"We developed new technology, had several missions in progress, and created a first playable build that was on track to be at least as good as—if not better than—our previous work. However, it was an incremental improvement, not a revolutionary leap. That was the key difference.
“We felt reasonably confident about it, but it didn’t have the same groundbreaking feeling we had when developing Titanfall 2.”
So, what led to the cancellation? According to Alavi, two factors played a role: the multiplayer team struggled to create an experience that retained players long-term, and the battle royale genre exploded with the release of PUBG in 2017.
“The multiplayer team faced significant challenges,” Alavi said. “While Titanfall 2’s multiplayer has a dedicated fanbase, that group is relatively small. Many players enjoy it but find it overwhelming—it’s intense, and they tend to burn out quickly.
“We were trying to address this issue from Titanfall 1 to 2 and again from 2 to 3. The multiplayer team was working tirelessly.
“Then PUBG launched.”
Respawn’s developers found themselves more engaged with a battle royale prototype using Titanfall 3 classes than with the traditional multiplayer modes they were developing. This led to a pivotal decision: cancel Titanfall 3—which might have been a solid sequel—to pursue a battle royale game with greater potential.
“I had just been appointed narrative lead designer for Titanfall 3,” Alavi explained. “I had pitched the story and overall vision with Manny Hagopian. After returning from break, we debated and concluded, ‘We need to pivot. We need to make this battle royale game.’
“We made the call to cancel Titanfall 3 ourselves. It was a choice between delivering Titanfall 2 with slight improvements or creating something truly exceptional.
“Don’t get me wrong—I’ll always wish we could have made another Titanfall. Titanfall 2 remains my proudest achievement. But canceling Titanfall 3 was the right decision. It was such a bold move that EA didn’t even know about it until six months later, when we had a working prototype to show them.”
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