Titanfall Single-Player Would Feel Like a "Step Backwards," Respawn Says

Though Respawn Entertainment has not ruled out a traditional single-player mode for a future Titanfall game, new comments from co-founder Vince Zampella and game director Steve Fukuda make that prospect sound pretty unlikely. In an interview with CVG, Zampella and Fukuda spoke about how a standard single-player mode is somewhat against the spirit of what made Titanfall so unique.

"A single-player campaign? I don't know," Zampella said. "I think we want to hit whatever part of the brain it is that triggers that feeling of a single-player campaign. There's nothing wrong with a single-player experience. They should exist and they do exist and I would work on one. But doing one with this feels almost like taking a step backwards."

Fukuda said something similar. "To me it would almost be a step backwards," he said. "Doing straight up single-player just feels a little bit to me like going back to what you know, going back..."

A previous report about the original Titanfall's development revealed that Respawn did in fact prototype a single-player campaign. However, Fukuda said eventually there was a "brain shift" at the developer that ultimately led to Titanfall's online-focused campaign multiplayer mode.

Reflecting on this, Zampella said he generally enjoyed the way in which Titanfall's campaign multiplayer turned out. But at the same time, he acknowledged that some players probably missed the story because action took precedence over narrative.

"As you're playing there are these story moments happening around you and some people take it in, but others miss it because they're focused on the fight," Zampella said. "Sometimes it's a problem for single-player games too, but in those you can put up a wall, block the action and then force people to pay attention to the story. In a multiplayer game you don't want to block things off."

Titanfall launched in March for Xbox One and PC, and came to Xbox 360 the next month. According to publisher Electronic Arts, it is currently the best-selling Xbox One title to date.

Looking ahead, EA announced in May that it had signed a new agreement with Respawn for more Titanfall "experiences," which could come to PlayStation platforms in addition to Xbox and PC. No new games have been announced, however, as Respawn is instead continuing to support the original Titanfall with new DLC and updates.

Respawn recently hired veteran God of War designer Stig Asmussen as the company's new game director for an unannounced project. He's part of a team at Respawn that is currently exploring the company's options in the free-to-play and mobile spaces.