Although Respawn Entertainment and EA have oscillated between routine denial and silence when it comes to Titanfall 3, many fans of the franchise are still holding out hope for a series revival. Rumors suggest that Titanfall 3 news could be imminent, and there's a chance that the game will adopt a live-service model. This could work out well for Respawn due to a central inclusion of the series.

For many gamers, Titanfall 3 is a great tragedy. Titanfall 2 was praised for its stellar single-player campaign and fun, rewarding multiplayer, and its success made a third entry seem obvious. Unfortunately for fans of the franchise, developer Respawn Entertainment would shift its focus to other projects like Apex Legends and Star Wars Jedi: Survivor. The third game in the series was eventually canceled mid-development, leaving many to wonder if it would ever return outside tangential connections with Apex Legends. Recently, Respawn's CEO expressed interest in Titanfall 3, sparking hopes that the mech-heavy first-person shooter would be getting revived.

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Why Titanfall 3 Might Be a Good Fit for the Live-Service Framework

If Titanfall 3 does grace consoles and PCs sometime in the future, it could wind up following the live-service model set in place by so many other popular games. Aside from chasing the ubiquitous trend of live-service gaming, Respawn may want to make Titanfall 3 have a live-service component because of one core feature: the game's iconic mechs, also known as Titans.

Live-service games like Genshin Impact, Halo Infinite, and Call of Duty: Warzone are predicated upon a sense of progression and personalization. Since these games are typically free-to-play, they rely on in-game purchases to be profitable. This system can present itself in a few ways, but typically through a form of in-game currency purchased with real money, or a sequence of seasons that correspond to battle passes that can be purchased piecemeal. In the case of competitive multiplayer live-service titles, it's crucial that the developers offer this sense of progression without letting players pay for power and break the game. Titanfall's Titan feature would be a natural fit for this approach.

Not only could a live-service model allow for cosmetic Titan personalization, but it could also open the door to gameplay-based customization options. Fellow mech game Armored Core 6's AC-building tools could provide a solid blueprint for this hypothetical live-service game; Titanfall 3 players could unlock different components for their Titans via a battle pass, which would grant the mechs different gameplay functionality while opening the door to player expression via cosmetic changes. These unlockable components wouldn't offer flat stat increases, but would rather present trade-offs, ensuring that the game stays balanced while letting experienced players tweak their mech to their preferences. This would incentivize playing the game as much as possible, with an option to speed up progression with in-game purchases.

Of course, there's no real reason why this system couldn't exist in a traditional, non-live-service game. Other leading live-service games like Destiny 2 have been heavily criticized for microtransactions and general predatory features, and Titanfall's return being in the form of a live-service game could be disappointing, to say the least. Additionally, the past few years have seen a handful of live-service catastrophes, with the now-defunct Babylon's Fall and Marvel's Avengers being notable examples. It would be unfortunate for Titanfall 3 to suffer a similar fate, but if the profit potential of the live-service model is enough to incentivize the developer, alongside publisher EA, the silver lining could be that at least a threequel sees the light of day.

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