EA cancels new Titanfall/Apex Legends title
by Danny Craig · Updated 2/3/23, 8:26 AM
Electronic Arts
EA has reportedly halted an unannounced project set in the universe of Titanfall and Apex Legends following the announcement that Apex Legends Mobile will be shut down.
The details:
- According to sources close to Bloomberg's Jason Schreier, EA has officially canceled the project codenamed “Titanfall Legends” (TFL). Mohammad Alavi, Respawn Entertainment's creative director, oversaw the project until his departure from the studio in early 2022, with development continuing throughout the year.
- Alavi confirmed in July 2021 that Respawn was working on a single-player title. VentureBeat's Jeff Grubb later added that the game was an FPS with a focus on mobility and style, all of which point to TFL being the title in question.
- The cancellation will affect approximately 50 Respawn employees, with EA attempting to find them new positions within the company. Those affected will reportedly be laid off and receive a severance package if they are unable to be transferred to another EA studio or department.
What else is happening at EA/Respawn?
- Respawn announced on January 31 that Apex Legends Mobile would be shutting down on May 1, 2023, with a 90-day sunsetting period beginning immediately. The game was a success at launch, with over 26 million downloads, before experiencing a massive drop in popularity. It only reached 40 million downloads in its one-year lifespan.
- Apex Legends Mobile wasn’t the only mobile title canned by EA, with the development of Battlefield Mobile also coming to an end. The game had an open beta at the end of 2022 that was only available in South-East Asia, which received mixed reviews due to performance issues and the fact that it was a mobile game of a franchise that had traditionally had a primarily PC audience. The end of its development also means that Industrial Toys, the studio behind the mobile entry, will be closed down.
- Respawn’s Star Wars Jedi: Survivor, a sequel to 2019’s Jedi: Fallen Order, received a six-week delay, with the studio opting to spend extra time polishing the game and squashing bugs. The game is already content-complete, so it’s highly likely we’ll get it on its new release date of April 28.
Interested in working at Respawn? You can find all of the available vacancies at the studio here.