1047 Games has confirmed Splitgate 2 is heading back to beta, as it launched ‘too early’ and the team ‘bit off more than [it] could chew.’ As a result of this decision, the studio is set to undergo layoffs, and the original Splitgate will be sunsetted.
In a post on social media, studio leaders Ian Proulx and Nicholas Bagamian have detailed ‘dark days’ at 1047 Games typified by ‘many mistakes.’ As folks will remember, Proulx was recently dragged through the mud for choosing to wear a MAGA-inspired ‘Make FPS Great Again’ hat at Summer Game Fest, with many criticising the optics of this decision.
Following serious backlash, Proulx apologised for the act, but the damage was done. Regardless of Proulx claiming the hat was a ‘meme’ designed to ‘grab attention’ and not necessarily a politic statement, the studio and Splitgate 2 remained negatively associated with the MAGA-adjacent hat and its message.
What’s happening with Splitgate 2?
As noted by 1047 Games, the hat was just another worry in a long line of challenges.
‘We’ve heard your feedback, and we agree with you: we launched too early,’ Proulx and Bagamian said. ‘We had ambitious goals with Splitgate 2, and in our excitement to share it with you, we bit off more than we could chew. We rushed certain features, made some boneheaded mistakes, and most importantly – we didn’t give you the polished, portal-filled mayhem you fell in love with.’
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‘So we’re going back to beta. We’ll be heads down until early next year, rebuilding major parts of the game to capture the spirit of what made Splitgate special. That means reworking progression from the ground up, adding more portals to our maps, simplifying monetisation, refocusing on classic game modes you’ve been asking for, and more, which we’ll share soon.’
The studio will need to focus all of its resources on this rework which, as noted, will mean the original Splitgate will be sunsetted in one month. Per 1047 Games, the studio has spent ‘hundreds of thousands of dollars over the past couple of years’ on servers, and it can no longer afford to maintain them while it brings Splitgate 2 back to the drawing board. In future, it’s possible Splitgate 2 will house the remnants of its predecessor.
With this change, 1047 Games has also announced a studio restructure, with staff set to be laid off. The decision has been made to ‘reduce certain roles’ with those departing being ‘teammates and friends [who] helped build what [the studio has] today.’
‘They’re receiving severance and job placement support, and we’re committed to doing everything we can to help them through this transition. We hope to bring them back when we can,’ Proulx and Bagamian said.
Per Game Developer, this is the second round of layoffs announced by 1047 Games in as many months. As always in situations like these, our thoughts are with those employees now out of work, in one of the toughest times yet for the global games industry.
Also on ScreenHub: The Chinese Room regains independence, at the cost of some jobs
The Chinese Room, the studio behind Still Wakes the Deep and the upcoming Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2, has officially regained its independence after several years under Sumo Digital and Tencent. The deal was penned with London and Luxembourg-based VC firm Hiro Capital, which enthused about the studio’s roots in the United Kingdom. As Hiro Capital shared in a press release, The Chinese Room is a ‘huge British success story’ that’s been recognised on the world stage.
