Splitgate has had a rough couple of years. From the support ending on the more successful first title to the second game launching amid a wave of controversies, the problems for 1047 Games and their portal-toting shooter began very early on. Following a catastrophic downfall, the team ‘relaunched’ Splitgate 2 under a new identity, but that too has proven to be a failure.
What was once dubbed the game that would ‘make FPS great again’ has been reduced to a title on life support. Only a few hundred people are playing on some platforms, nobody is interested in watching the game on streaming sites, and the sentiments are lower than ever.
Splitgate: Arena Reloaded is Collapsing
On December 17, 1047 Games released Splitgate: Arena Reloaded, a rebrand of Splitgate 2, which was initially released in June to a disappointing reception and several damning scandals.
In July, Splitgate 2 was pulled back to beta as player counts imploded. The game’s creator-backed marketing campaign was criticized, insanely expensive microtransactions surfaced, and two rounds of layoffs were held in just six weeks.
Following a series of tests, 1047 Games revealed that Splitgate 2 would be overhauled with a fresh identity, becoming known as Splitgate: Arena Reloaded. The relaunch of the game pulled in a few thousand players at best on some platforms, but any traction that was secured has already dissipated.
It’s impossible to know how well the game is doing on console platforms, but we can extrapolate based on the data we do have.
On Steam, Splitgate: Arena Reloaded hit 2,297 players on December 17 when the rebrand hit. At the time of publishing, only 390 players were exploring Splitgate: Arena Reloaded on Steam.
While some of the more recent reviews stressed positivity about the changes applied to the game, the underlying concept is one of ‘too little, too late’.
Additionally, the game boasted a viewer count of just 134 users on Twitch at the time of writing. That’s a mighty comedown from the all-time high of 138,110 viewers. Put simply, nobody is interested in watching or playing Splitgate: Arena Reloaded.
Do you think Splitgate’s downfall was always inevitable, or do you still have hopes for the game? Let us know what you’re thinking on the Insider Gaming Discord server.
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Grant has been gaming for 30+ years and in the industry for 10+. You'll probably find him playing a post-apocalyptic game or an extraction shooter somewhere.
More from Grant Taylor-Hill
I’ve been playing pretty much every day since the relaunch on PS5 and the queue times are reasonable and I’m absolutely loving it. It’s everything I wanted out of Splitgate–the original feel with a more polished look. It’s great.