Respawn delays Titanfall plans to focus on Apex Legends
“We’ve had to react and direct resources” for Apex, says exec producer
Respawn has pushed back plans for new Titanfall games so that it can focus on supporting Apex Legends following the battle royale game’s explosive growth.
“In order to fully support Apex Legends, we are pushing out plans for future Titanfall games,” executive producer Drew McCoy said in an update on publisher EA’s site.
“No resources from the Apex Legends team are being shifted to other titles in development here at the studio, nor are we pulling resources from the team working on Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order.”
In March 2019, Respawn claimed Apex Legends had attracted 50 million players in its first month of availability, causing unexpected problems for the studio.
“That growth comes with some clear challenges, and we’ve hit a few bumps along the way, including missteps with our updates, not giving players enough visibility into future content, and not properly setting expectations on how we plan to support Apex Legends,” McCoy said.
“We’ve had to react and direct resources to play whack-a-mole with lots of unexpected issues.”
McCoy said Respawn’s current priorities are addressing slow server performance at the beginning of matches, audio performance issues, cheaters and hit registration issues.
The studio will continue to address these types of issues and introduce “small features” mid-season, but McCoy echoed recent comments from Respawn CEO Vince Zampella, who said the company isn’t planning to increase the frequency of Apex Legends game updates.
“We believe strongly in the importance of large, meaningful changes to the game that have lasting impact, thus our focus on a seasonal release cadence we laid out at launch,” McCoy said. “We will continue to follow this cadence in the future.”
Respawn is set to reveal Apex Legends season two at the EA Play event taking place from June 8-9. McCoy said to expect a battle pass with “more meaningful content”, a new legend, a fresh weapon, and changes to the game’s Kings Canyon map.
