EA has acquired Respawn Entertainment, the developers behind Titanfall 2. The deal will see the publisher acquire the studio for $315 million in cash and stock, along with a potential bonus of $140 million, and will see EA bring another critically acclaimed IP into its library of franchises.
Titanfall 2 is one of the most critically-acclaimed first-person shooters in recent years, though its sales suffered as a result of its release coinciding with Battlefield 1. EA acquiring the studio could well propel Titanfall to new heights, though many fear that it could also see the game become a vehicle for loot boxes, microtransactions and other such divisive EA strategies.
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“We have worked together a long time from the inception of the studio,” Respawn co-founder and CEO Vince Zampella told GamesBeat. “[An acquisition] has come up from time to time. The question was, where we are in the industry, how do we take the next step in making bigger, better games. We see the need for bigger resources to make bigger games.”
According to Zampella the deal “doesn’t change the future of Titanfall,” and it will only lead to positives for the fledgling franchise, including more resources. There’s no word yet on when we should expect to see Titanfall 3, but given EA’s output it seems inevitable that we’ll be looking at swifter turnarounds for the series from this point on.
The acquisition broadens EA’s portfolio of blockbuster shooters, which also includes DICE’s Battlefield and Battlefront series. The latest entry in the latter franchise, Star Wars Battlefront 2, is set to launch later this month.
