Apex Legends’ phenomenal early success has sparked renewed interest in the wider Titanfall IP.
As eagle-eyed Redditors on the Apex Legends sub discovered, concurrent player counts for Respawn’s Titanfall 2 hit over 10,000 players on Xbox - a figure not reached since 2017.
Concurrent players haven’t quite blown up so high on PC but are still impressive. At the time of writing, there are 5,830 live players on PC - up from Sunday's 3,400 users - representing a significant increase over the title's more typical concurrent user figures which lie at just over 1,000 people.
With over 25 million players in its first week, Apex Legends has undeniably put Respawn back on the map. The studio’s battle royale being loosely placed within the Titanfall universe may also have convinced players who are less keen on the genre to try a single player game in the same setting.
For some, it may seem like a welcome side effect to Respawn’s third-time-lucky success. Both Titanfall games hardly flopped, but it’s surprising to see a game within the IP find as monstrous a success as Apex Legends.
The original Titanfall launched in March 2014 as an Xbox One and PC exclusive, releasing just four months into the lifecycle of a console that wasn't selling particularly well, which certainly hampered its commercial potential.
Meanwhile, Titanfall 2 was set up to struggle from the beginning for its 2016 launch. Despite this time coming to the hugely successful PlayStation 4 - as well as PC and Xbox One - the game was released week-for-week between EA's own Battlefield 1 and Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare.
Respawn might not be working on an outright third numbered entry in the Titanfall series, but there’ll be more spin-off games before the year closes. EA confirmed during a conference call that multiple games are coming from the studio this year.
One of those is set to be Respawn’s Star Wars project Jedi: Fallen Order, with EA CEO Andrew Wilson promising a premium entry in the Titanfall franchise in 2019, too.
Tons of things planned for @PlayApex in the future. We are also committed to listening to player feedback.
— Vince Zampella (@VinceZampella) February 5, 2019
We are also working on more Titanfall for later in the year (yes, I said the T word). We love being able to experiment in this crazy universe!
