Titanfall Fans React as Extraction Shooter Is Canceled

Titanfall fans are processing the tough announcement that Electronic Arts has scrapped another incubation project at Respawn Entertainment, while also reducing staff across its incubation, Apex Legends, Star Wars: Jedi, and EA Experience divisions.

Bloomberg revealed that the canceled title, code-named R7, would have been an extraction shooter in the Titanfall world. Although not the Titanfall 3 follow-up many have been demanding, some are crushed that the beloved Titanfall 2 remains without a successor after almost ten years.

"I just collapsed in the middle of Walmart," shared one community member. "I CAN'T HANDLE THIS ANY LONGER," commented another.

"How much more disappointment can we take before they stop and let us grieve in peace?" asked another fan.

Not every fan is viewing this as a setback, though. Some believe an extraction shooter set in the Titanfall universe might have underperformed, risking the series' future.

"This might be the best possible outcome for the series' long-term survival," argued one Reddit user. "An extraction-style Titanfall could have failed, and executives would have claimed 'players just aren't interested in Titanfall anymore,' ignoring the fact that nobody wanted a Titanfall extraction game."

"Honestly, I'm relieved this project was shelved," agreed someone else, adding, "An extraction shooter? Glad it's gone."

"I'm so exhausted by the extraction shooter trend. They all feel generic and repetitive. Give me rapid matches, wall-running action, and giant Titans causing chaos instead of looting junk, hiding in attics, or crouching in bushes for 20 minutes," requested this enthusiast.

"Felt disappointed at first, then saw 'extraction shooter' and immediately felt better," noted another commenter.

The restructuring at Respawn affected approximately 100 roles spanning development, publishing, and quality assurance for Apex Legends, plus smaller teams on the Jedi series and two canceled incubation initiatives—one of which was detailed in our March coverage, and the other believed to be the previously mentioned extraction shooter within the Titanfall setting.

These reductions add to a series of workforce adjustments at EA in recent years. The company reorganized BioWare earlier this year, reassigning some developers and letting others go. It also cut around 50 positions at BioWare in 2023 and an undisclosed number at Codemasters, and in 2024 a wider reorganization led to 670 employees being laid off across the company, including roughly two dozen at Respawn.

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In 2023, it came to light that Respawn had actively developed Titanfall 3 for about 10 months before shifting focus to Apex Legends.

Mohammad Alavi, who became the narrative lead on Titanfall 3 prior to its cancellation, explained to The Burnettwork that significant progress had been made on the sequel.

“After Titanfall 2’s release and its performance, we committed to developing Titanfall 3. We worked seriously on it for roughly 10 months,” he said.

“We built new technology, had several missions in progress, and achieved a first playable build that promised to match, if not surpass, our previous work—though it offered incremental improvements rather than a revolutionary leap. That’s the crucial point.

“We felt reasonably confident in it, but we weren’t experiencing the same groundbreaking energy we felt while creating Titanfall 2.”

So, what changed the plan? Alavi pointed to two major factors: the multiplayer team’s struggle to design an engaging, long-term experience, and the sudden rise of the Battle Royale genre sparked by PUBG’s launch in 2017.

“The multiplayer team worked intensely to refine the experience, because Titanfall 2’s multiplayer has a dedicated following,” Alavi explained.

“But that following, while passionate, is relatively small. Many players enjoy Titanfall 2’s multiplayer but find it too intense—it’s dialed up to the max, causing them to burn out more quickly. They might call it a great experience, but not something they’d stick with for one or two years.

“We were trying to solve that challenge moving from Titanfall 1 to 2, and then again from 2 to 3. The multiplayer team was under immense pressure.

“Then PUBG launched.”

Respawn's developers found themselves more drawn to a Battle Royale prototype using Titanfall 3’s class system than the traditional multiplayer modes they were building. This led to a bold decision: cancel Titanfall 3—which might have been only slightly better than its predecessor—and focus on creating a standout Battle Royale.

“I had recently stepped into the role of narrative lead for Titanfall 3. I had just presented the storyline and overall game vision that Manny [Hagopian] and I developed. After the break, we discussed it and agreed: ‘We need to change direction and build this new game instead.’

“We chose to cancel Titanfall 3 ourselves, reasoning: ‘We can either develop Titanfall 3, which would be Titanfall 2 with some improvements, or we can create this other project, which clearly has amazing potential.’

“Don’t get me wrong—part of me will always wish we had made another Titanfall. I love that series, and I’m incredibly proud of Titanfall 2. But it was the correct decision. It was such a dramatic change that EA didn’t even hear about it until six months later, once we had a working prototype to show them!”