New Titanfall Game Axed by EA, Layoff Cuts Hundreds of Jobs

[Cpt.Jank]

In the latest blow to the gaming industry, Respawn Entertainment, a subsidiary of EA, has officially announced the cancellation of two new games it had in the early stages of development. The official announcement does not specify what the cancelled games were, but previous reports from early this month indicated that Respawn had quietly canned a game in the Titanfall IP. It seems somewhat like this announcement from Respawn is simply confirmation of the cancellation that was previously already leaked. Along with the cancellation of the game, and likely more importantly, Bloomberg claims that the "targeted team adjustments" Respawn mentioned in the release would mean that as many as 100 employees on the Respawn team will be laid off.

As for the rest of the restructuring, Respawn says that it will be focusing its efforts on Apex Legends and Star Wars Jedi. Previous rumors claimed that Respawn was developing a mainline Titanfall 3 game, which will supposedly launch at the 2025 The Game Awards show, which is scheduled for December 11, 2025. It seems as though the Titanfall IP game that was cancelled as of this announcement was something of a spin-off extraction shooter set in the Titanfall universe. This news comes at a time when gaming industry lay-offs seem to be at a peek and shortly after the creation of the United Videogame Workers Union—a union aimed at protecting North American video game workers from exactly these sorts of unexpected layoffs that are seemingly aimed at reducing the workforce in the name of short-term profits.


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[FreedomEclipse]

R.i.P Respawn.

Zampella should have never agreed to the sale of the studio to EA after the first titanfall game.

 

[Quicks]

Microsoft should have bought EA.

Maybe Disney and EA. They both pretty crap at what they do lately.

 

[Vayra86]

It was inevitable. Respawn made good stuff. Can't be having that now in triple A.

Devs need to think harder who they want to work for, and I reckon they will.

 

[Hyderz]

Another day BT-7274, we will meet again

 

[FreedomEclipse]

Microsoft should have bought EA.

Maybe Disney and EA. They both pretty crap at what they do lately.

There was no way in the world this was ever going to happen. Andrew Wilson didnt need a 'get out of jail free' card like Kotick did and EA wasnt eating dirt off the ground like Activision was when it came to having successful titles that MADE MONEY at the time of the sale to M$. The board of directors made Kotick agree to it. EA are making too much money off their sports titles for Microsoft to buy them outright. None of the board members or Andrew WIlson would agree to it when they are already making money hand over fist.

 

[Quicks]

There was no way in the world this was ever going to happen. Andrew Wilson didnt need a 'get out of jail free' card like Kotick did and EA wasnt eating dirt off the ground like Activision was when it came to having successful titles that MADE MONEY at the time of the sale to M$. The board of directors made Kotick agree to it. EA are making too much money off their sports titles for Microsoft to buy them outright. None of the board members or Andrew WIlson would agree to it when they are already making money hand over fist.

I know, just saying. EA has some nice IP and put in the right hands can make a fortune. EA don't know how to read the room and probably don't have the talent to produce the quality of games.

 

[dgianstefani]

It was inevitable. Respawn made good stuff. Can't be having that now in triple A.

Devs need to think harder who they want to work for, and I reckon they will.

Devs don't decide who they work for when the company is bought.

 

[Chrispy_]

I'm hoping this doesn't affect the sequel to Jedi Survivor, but news like this is often the start of further cuts and cancellations. I was pretty impressed with the first two Jedi games from Respawn.

As for Titanfall, it was a decent distraction when it first came out, and I only played the second one for the campaign. I don't personally feel there's a place for a single-player game and a multiplayer game to coexist in the same product any more. The competitive online shooter and the crafted, narrative experience are at complete odds with each other and just effectively divide the developer resources in two since they're effectively making two completely different products with the same title.

 

[Drash]

Read elsewhere Titanfall 3 hasn't been canned, just a mobile cash grab spinoff - anyone know more?

 

[Vayra86]

Devs don't decide who they work for when the company is bought.

Correct, they do decide to not go away when it does. EA didn't take over yesterday or something...

Every professional is responsible for his/her own career. I'm glad there are many talented devs that jumped ship with these big studios and companies and instead built something for themselves. Its how we arrived at an indie marketplace that frankly offers more and better content than AAA at this point. These indies have saved the gaming market, the last few decades, without them, we'd be playing gacha games everywhere, and the monetization clusterfuck would have been ten times bigger.

And that's also what I meant to say here. If you really still value Respawn, nothing of value was really lost here; the value Respawn represents shouldn't be working for EA to begin with. Bottom tier corporate trash, nothing else. Its about the people, not the company or its name.

 

[Scattergrunt]

If TF3 was really in pre-production or even just concepts, this is pretty disappointing. I had a feeling when the rumors started it wasn't gonna last because EA only sees profits and not long term success. It will be the thing that eventually burys them, I bet. Probably wont see it in my lifetime though.