Titanfall Online development canceled by Nexon and EA

Nexon and Electronic Arts have cancelled their development of Titanfall Online, which would have been an exclusive Titanfall online shooter game for Asian markets.

Game Focus reported that the two companies had invested more than three years in the project, but the small group player tests didn’t get a positive result. And the South Korean news site Game Focus said that the online game market changed a lot during the time the game was in the works.

“It is true that Nexon and EA have agreed to cancel Titanfall Online under a business decision,” a Nexon representative told Game Focus. “After much deliberation, it was decided that reallocating development resources to another project was better for the company.”

Last year, EA bought Titanfall maker Respawn Entertainment for $455 million, snatching it away from Nexon (both a partner and a rival in this case), which had reportedly made a competing offer. We’re seeking additional information from EA and Nexon.

Rivals have tried to break into the Asian market for first-person shooters before. Activision launched Call of Duty Online in 2015, after years of development on the free-to-play version of the successful Western title. But other titles such as Smilegate/Tencent’s Crossfire have dominated the online shooter genre in markets such as China.

Nexon also recently tried its hand at the Western shooter market with Lawbreakers, developed by Cliff Bleszinki’s Boss Key Productions. But the game fell victim to rivals such as Fortnite and PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds, and Boss Key Productions shut down in May.