Titanfall developer Respawn Entertainment released its new free-to-play battle royale game, Apex Legends, and with that, the developer has confirmed that Titanfall 3 is not in development. There were rumors that Apex Legends was a kind of stopgap release for Respawn after being acquired by EA while work continued on Titanfall 3. However, the developer has confirmed that Apex Legends has been the focus all along.

Respawn’s lead producer Drew McCoy has said that most people believed that the developer had been working all this time on Titfanfall 3. Instead it was Apex Legends that has been in development since Respawn finished Titanfall 2:

McCoy said that as Respawn started experimenting with developing battle royale modes, the developer decided that it wasn’t going to release it as an additional mode within a Titanfall game. Alternatively, the company would make a battle royale mode into a game of its own, thus leading to Apex Legends.

“…the world thinks we’re making Titanfall 3 and we’re not - this is what we’re making.”

As mentioned, Apex Legends is set in the Titanfall universe and has similar movement and gunplay, but in addition from its complete departure from Titanfall’s campaign and traditional PvP setup, the battle royale game also lacks two major features that defined the core experience of Titanfall, namely wall-running and the game’s titular Titans. McCoy confirmed that Apex Legends is Respawn’s only Titanfall project, alluding to the fact that the developer is also working on its completely under-wraps Star Wars game Jedi: Fallen Order.

This news doesn’t rule out the possibility that a Titanfall 3 may exist one day in the future, but with Respawn saying it is committed to making Apex Legends a thriving live service game for years to come, it’s unlikely that a proper sequel to Titanfall 2 will be coming anytime soon. Despite job postings, quotes from Respawn’s studio founder Vince Zampella about the future of the franchise, and more rumors that pointed to a future Titanfall project, which fans took to be Titanfall 3, it is now clear that Respawn’s only Titanfall project currently in development is Apex Legends.

Apex Legends is available now for PC, PS4, and Xbox One.

Source: Eurogamer