Respawn Entertainment have announced and released Apex Legends in a quick stream combo, which left many Titanfall fans wondering whether a sequel is in the works. The developer confirmed it is not and their full focus is on Apex Legends.
While Titanfall 3 is nowhere to be seen just yet, fans will have to make do with the spin-off battle royale that is Apex Legends. This was confirmed through an interview Eurogamer conducted with Respawn's lead producer, Drew McCoy, who is wary that Apex Legends may be criticised by the hardcore Titanfall fans.
This was apparently the cause for not having a marketing campaign with "trailers and hands-on articles" as Respawn decided to just "let the game speak for itself". McCoy also cited the fact that Apex Legends has loot boxes which would inevitably cause backlash, which is another reason for not promoting the game widely.
On top of that, Respawn predicted that people would be expecting Titanfall 3 and that a spin-off would cause backlash, just like the fact that the studio was bought out by EA. This was a surprisingly open reply, but the transparency is definitely a welcome sight.
Respawn's prediction that Titanfall fans could find themselves outraged may stem from the fact that a source within the studio told Kotaku that "Titanfall 3 is well into development" , back in 2017. It appears that the studio shifted its focus, most likely due to financial issues which were later solved as a part of acquisition by EA.
It appears that Respawn managed to do another thing EA has been failing with lately - proper marketing. Everyone thought Apex Legends wouldn't manage to attract enough audience without a proper marketing campaign, but it appears that the leak by influencers and the subsequent stream announcement and launch worked just fine as in the first eight hours of its existence.
Respawn Entertainment
Loot boxes are already in the game and function in a similar manner as those in Overwatch, which many players don't have an issue with. It remains to be seen whether EA will try to squeeze money out of the player base later on and shoot themselves in the foot like Activision did with Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 and the infamouse reticles.
You can check out on the provided link, for more insight into Respawn's design philosophy.
Apex Legends by Respawn Entertainment - screenshot & art gallery
- Image: 1 / 4
