Titanfall 2’s matchmaking gets quietly fixed, reigniting hopes of Titanfall 3 amid cryptic Apex Legends teaser

Other bugs addressed and playlists updated on the sly

CouldTitanfall3 finally be on the way? It’s a hope that fans of Respawn’s belovedshooterhave been holding onto for the best part of a decade now, but recent evidence in the form of quiet updates toTitanfall 2and a cryptic teaser for its spiritual successorApex Legendshas given them renewed hope that something new might be on the way.

In the seven years since, Titanfall proper has been left dormant, with its outstanding single-player campaign tied to slightly wonky multiplayer plagued by disconnection and matchmaking problems, as well ashackers, exploits and DDOS attacks.

For that reason, it raised eyebrows when the game’s ongoing problems with disconnecting during matchmaking were quietly fixed last week, as spotted by Reddit userGeckoEidechse. On top of the matchmaking fix, a number of other bugs and other minor issues are reported to have been fixed on the sly, with no word from Respawn about the update.

If that wasn’t suspicious by itself, it looks like the featured playlist for multiplayer modes has also been updated recently, cycling between a number of featured-only modes, and the weapon selection in the one-on-one Colosseum mode has been changed.

If you’re still not quite convinced it’s more than a coincidence, there’s another part of the puzzle to consider.Apex Legends’most recent patch notes updateends with what appears to be a teaser involving the Titanfall games, including strings of numbers that clever-clogs internet detectives quickly determined to be the release dates for the original Titanfall, Titanfall 2 and Apex Legends expressed in Unix time.

On top of that, the teaser’s reference to “Subject: Nessie” nods to an Easter egg first seen in the Titanfall games, where players could collect plush Loch Ness Monsters. The plushies later popped up in Apex Legend’s Kings Canyon arena and other maps, as well as a player emote, sprays and weapon charms.

In other words, it seems like something’s up - with theories ranging from a Titanfall map headed to Apex to, yes, the ever-requested Titanfall 3.

In June, Titanfall 3 wasrevealedto have been in the works for close to a year before being cancelled so that the team could shift to working on Apex Legends. Could now be the time to return to the series? We’ll presumably find out in due course.