Cancellation of Respawn's new extraction shooter exposes the end of Titanfall 3 once and for all

Another project by Respawn Entertainment set in the Titanfall universe has been canceled by EA, reinforcing the perception that Titanfall 3 will never see the light of day. The game, codenamed R7, was an early-stage extraction shooter in development and was part of Respawn's internal incubation. The information was revealed by a report from Bloomberg, which also highlighted a new round of layoffs at the company, affecting around 100 professionals from the Apex Legends, Star Wars Jedi, EA Experience teams, and incubated projects.

The cancellation has reignited the debate among fans, who are still without a direct successor to Titanfall 2, released in 2016. Although R7 was not exactly Titanfall 3, it was the only known project in development directly linked to the franchise. Frustration spread among players: "I just fell to my knees at Walmart", wrote one user, while another summed up: "Got sad. Read extraction shooter. Was literally okay".

However, some see the cancellation as a possible relief for the franchise: "A Titanfall extraction shooter would probably flop and the c-suite executives would say 'see, the people just don't like Titanfall anymore'".

The current disappointment harks back to the revelation made in 2023 by Mohammad Alavi, former narrative lead designer at Respawn, who confirmed that the team worked on Titanfall 3 for 10 months after the release of the second game. According to him:

“Titanfall 2 came out, did what it did, and we were like, ‘Okay, we’re gonna make Titanfall 3,’ and we worked on Titanfall 3 for about 10 months… But it wasn’t revolutionary. And that’s the key thing.”
 

The shift came with the success of PUBG and the rise of Battle Royale, leading Respawn to cancel the project to develop Apex Legends, which ended up becoming a huge success.

Since then, EA has carried out a series of internal restructurings. In 2023, 50 professionals were laid off at BioWare. In 2024, there were 670 cuts across the company, including part of Respawn. Now, in 2025, the scenario repeats itself.

With two canceled incubated projects and an uncertain future, the Titanfall universe seems increasingly distant from returning — and fans, increasingly skeptical.