On Steam, the five-year-old shooter Titanfall 2 has unexpectedly faced a 750% increase in player count, which has caused the newest peak since the game released on Valve’s storefront in 2020. This timing makes sense, considering that Respawn is officially adding a batch of Titanfall-inspired content to Apex Legends next week and is reportedly developing Titanfall 3.
Back in September 2020, a promising report surfaced suggesting that Titanfall 3 was being worked on at Respawn. According to a leaker who claimed to have a credible source unrelated to other rumors, the anticipated sequel was a real thing. This particular speculation was later reaffirmed by another prominent dataminer who confirmed the leak, hinting that the official reveal could be approaching soon. Although it’s been more than half a year of radio silence since then, the Titanfall franchise is indeed making a welcome return.
According to Titanfall 2’s stats on SteamDB (as spotted and reported by VGC), the game’s popularity has explosively skyrocketed, resulting in a 750% increase in concurrent player count after the recent sale. The all-time graph shows an undeniable connection between the player number increasing and price discounts, but it’s never been as significant as lately. The reason for that is quite obvious as Apex Legends, Titanfall’s battle royale spin-off, has been officially revealed to include a chunky portion of Titanfall-inspired content. The game’s newest playable character, Valkyrie, is the literal representation of the franchise’s legacy as she is equipped with an armored suit built out of the remains of her father’s Titan. Its Pilot was the infamous Viper, one of the Titanfall 2’s antagonists. Thus, the close relationship between the two games has led to increased interest in Titanfall 2, which is understandable.
The recently revealed Legacy Season for Apex Legends has been expected to lean heavily on Titanfall-related content for quite a while. The devs directly suggested that the upcoming Season 9 would be a good one for Titanfall fans, but it is worth noting that previously, the battle royale spin-off already had a few opportunities to offer somewhat similar content. Olympus, the latest map to be added to Apex Legend’s map rotation, was actually inspired by the most memorable Titanfall 2 locations. Before that, Titanfall’s famous wall-running mechanic made a brief return as part of the Halloween event.
Although the recent popularity of Titanfall 2 is an exciting phenomenon, the actual news regarding the increased player count is bittersweet. Despite being an excellent shooter that combined an engaging narrative and spectacular multiplayer, the game never received the attention it deserved. Unfortunately, this amazing title fell victim to a poorly timed release scheduled right between major Call of Duty and Battlefield sequels. But luckily, thanks to Apex Legends’ surging popularity and Titanfall tie-ins, justice is being served as Titanfall 2 is finally being recognized by the community, albeit five years later.