Original Titanfall sales will be discontinued today and removed from subscription services early next year.
After years of struggling to combat the hacks and DDoS attacks that have made Titanfall unplayable at times, Respawn Entertainment is throwing in the towel. The studio said in a message to Twitter that it has stopped sales of the game today and will remove it from subscription services on March 1, 2022.
The decision to end sales of Titanfall came after a back and forth battle with hackers back in 2019 that resulted in a "mostly negative" user review score for the game on Steam. Sparks of hope sparked earlier this year—Respawn told players that “help is coming” in April—but by mid-May the situation was worse than ever, and in mid-July, Respawn community coordinator Jason Garza acknowledged that Apex's requests had been granted. Legends meant that only "one or two people" were working on Titanfall support.
“For sure, Titanfall is the core of Respawn's DNA and this incredible universe will continue,” the studio said. “In Titanfall 2 and Apex Legends today and in the future. This series is a north star in the caliber of the experiences we will continue to create at Respawn.”
Respawn didn't say exactly why the game was discontinued, but given the small number of people still trying to play it - today's peak concurrent player count on Steam is 7, and it's probably safe to assume Origin numbers are similar - a reasonable guess is to continue the fight against hackers. it is not worth the effort required. The game servers will remain online for now, but it's unclear how much value will be placed on the game being effectively unplayable most of the time.
Respawn has made similar comments about Titanfall's significance in the past — in fact, it said pretty much the same thing back in September when it denied Titanfall 3 was in development (“Titanfall is the core of our DNA”). But the studio's priority is clearly Apex Legends, the ongoing hit battle royale set in the Titanfall universe and therefore technically at least part of the "franchise."
Titanfall is effectively over, but Titanfall 2 will persevere. It also suffers from serious DDoS and hacking issues, but unlike the original Titanfall it definitely includes an outstanding campaign and is still worth getting as a single player game.
