Splitgate 2 launched on June 6 throughout Summer season Recreation Fest, however the less-than-stellar reception from gamers since has prompted developer 1047 Video games to return to the drafting board. This implies the studio is taking the free-to-play portal-jumping shooter again to beta, which has resulted in various layoffs on the studio.
A prolonged Steam submit penned by 1047 founders Ian Proulx and Nicholas Bagamian states that the adverse participant suggestions has made them notice the sport “launched too early” and will have been too formidable. “We rushed sure options, made some boneheaded errors, and most significantly – we did not provide the polished, portal-filled mayhem you fell in love with,” reads the assertion.
Splitgate 2 will now return to a playable beta type, with 1047 going “heads down” till early 2026 to considerably rebuild the sport. This contains, amongst different adjustments, transforming the development methods from scratch, including extra portals to maps, simplifying monetization, and refocusing on basic recreation modes. Throughout this time, 1047 plans to host extra playtests and ship extra surveys to assemble as a lot neighborhood suggestions as attainable. The studio additionally guarantees it can nonetheless ship Chapter 3 of the sport.
Sadly, 1047 states that this long-term shift in course requires decreasing an unknown variety of studio roles to maneuver improvement assets in direction of this rework. The developer guarantees affected workers will obtain severance and job placement assist and hopes to “deliver them again after we can.”
To retain as a lot employees as attainable and save prices, 1047 can be shutting down the servers for the unique Splitgate in a single month; the precise date is unknown. “Whereas we might like to hold servers on-line indefinitely, it is value us a whole lot of 1000’s of {dollars} over the previous couple of years, and we now have to prioritize our crew,” reads the assertion. 1047 says it is exploring supporting offline or peer-to-peer matches for followers of the primary recreation.
It’s been a tough launch for Splitgate 2. On prime of gamers not having fun with the sport practically as a lot because the 2019 authentic, which at one level was so fashionable on consoles that its servers routinely crashed on account of full participant capacities, the sport suffered a PR blow stemming from co-founder Ian Proulx’s stage look in the course of the Summer season Recreation Fest Showcase.
Whereas selling Splitgate 2’s launch on stage, Proulx wore a hat bearing the message “Make FPS Nice Once more”, a play on the slogan of the polarizing MAGA motion. Many seen this reference as tone deaf and insensitive amid the ICE raids occurring in Los Angeles (the place SGF takes place) throughout that point, which ignited a number of protests within the metropolis. Proulx’s look garnered important backlash from some gamers and trade friends, with many vowing by no means to play Splitgate 2 in consequence. After initially trying to make clear his actions, Proulx would later concern a video apology.
“We have confronted a number of darkish days and have made many errors, however we have realized quite a bit and are as decided as ever to make Splitgate as nice as attainable,” reads 1047’s Steam replace. “Splitgate has been our life for 10 years, and we would not have it some other approach. We have work to do, however we aren’t giving up.”
