Respawn Hopes to Support Titanfall for a “Long Time;” Won’t Confirm Titanfall 2

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June 17, 2014

Neither Electronic Arts nor Respawn Entertainment will confirm that another Titanfall is in the cards. Regardless of whenever such a game does ultimately arrive, the game's developer is hopeful that the first Titanfall's community sticks around "for a long time" so that it can continue to support it.

Speaking with Eurogamer, Respawn co-founder Vince Zampella discussed the number of people still playing the game three months after its launch and how that affects continued development. "On console it's been fantastic," Zampella said regarding online activity. "On PC it started off really strong and it's starting to dip a little bit now more than we expected. We're looking at that. What are the reasons? Is it something we're doing wrong? Is it the matchmaking? So we'll pay attention to that and figure out what that is. We want to see it go up."

Last month, there was a possible indication that the PC community had diminished to some extent when two playlists were removed from the PC version. The move made little sense on its own, but Respawn later explained it was due to so few people playing them that it was hard (if not impossible) for those people to find a match.

The first of at least three DLC packs for Titanfall was released in May, and a free update is planned for release sometime this month that adds new game modes and introduces Titan customization. Once this next update is released, Zampella said Respawn will "try to slow down" because some of those at Respawn are "reaching the burnout point." However, he believes it was important to get the game to where it is before taking it easy. "There was a lot of stuff we felt we really needed to get there as soon as possible," Zampella said.

As for how long support will continue, Zampella wouldn't commit to anything because that decision will rely in part on how long fans continue to play. "It depends somewhat on how well the game does. If there are people there supporting it you can justify putting people and resources on it," he said. "If there's not that many people, or the engagement goes down, there's a point where those resources are better spent on whatever our next game would be and making that game better. I hope it lasts a really long time and we can do more stuff."

We don't have any real sense for how well Titanfall has sold since its release in March. EA recently said it's the best-selling game on Xbox One to date, but failed to provide any specific numbers. During March in the U.S., it sold 925,000 copies at retail between Xbox One and PC. Eurogamer was told by EA CEO Andrew Wilson at E3 that the game had beaten the company's "high" expectations, though he didn't specify what those expectations were.

A report prior to E3 claimed work was already underway on a sequel, and that it would be coming to PlayStation 4 as well as Xbox One. (On consoles, Titanfall is exclusive to Xbox 360 and Xbox One.) Neither Zampella nor Wilson would say at E3 whether a new Titanfall is in the works, but it's widely presumed one is planned. EA has already announced it's signed a deal with Respawn to continue publishing Titanfall "experiences," but that term is (likely by design) so vague as to tell us nothing about future plans for the franchise.

Zampella did offer a glimmer of hope to skeptics; when asked about his desire to develop new Titanfall games, he said, "The Titanfall universe is rich for exploration. I definitely wouldn't discount it."