Titanfall as a franchise holds a beloved place in the hearts of gamers. The first one was bold and creative in its vision of mech-based multiplayer, and the widely-acclaimed sequel only built on and improved what was there, even adding a campaign. Vince Zampella, who tragically passed away late last year, and his team managed to make a sci-fi shooter like Titanfall 2 stand out at a time in which people felt fatigued of such titles, to the point that it is still played to this day. The multiplayer is considered one of the best of any FPS game, and has left many fans desiring a Titanfall 3 that, unfortunately, does not appear to be happening anytime soon.
However, a solution to this itch might be arriving soon, as the developers behind Splitgate, 1047 Games, have announced they are working on a new game called EMPULSE, which 1047 has referred to as a “movement shooter”, featuring similar movement and gameplay mechanics to the Titanfall franchise as well as mech-combat. It involves 6v6 combat, set in the streets of a city named “Freehold”, and two mechs spawn on the map with unique weapons and abilities that players can fight over. Although this is a significantly smaller number of mechs compared to the likes of Titanfall 2, which could have 12-16 on a multiplayer map at a time, it is certainly exciting to see something similar to the franchise emerge at a time where players feel starved of a sequel. As of now, there is no confirmed release date for EMPULSE.
Things haven’t been easy for 1047 Games, who experienced layoffs back in 2025, even following the founders cutting back their own salaries. It doesn’t help that co-founder Ian Proulx appeared on stage at the Summer Game Fest wearing hat saying “Make FPS Great Again”, which ended up producing much controversy and was seen as being in poor taste. Splitgate 2 was also mired in controversy for its microtransactions, as it included an $80 bundle, however said bundle was reduced to $40 following 1047 departing with its now-previous head of microtransactions. Even Proulx admitted in a Reddit AMA that it was overpriced, stating, “As CEO, everything ultimately is my responsibility. The honest truth though is I was unaware of the $80 bundle and would never have allowed it to go live. But that doesn’t matter because it did. So we took action immediately within 24 hours and cut the price in half.” Perhaps EMPULSE can help turn things around for 1047 Games, until then, fans of the Titanfall franchise can hope that this comes close to the magic last felt almost ten years ago.