Splitgate's future now belongs to you as 1047 works on its beleaguered sequel

It's not a stretch to say Splitgate 2 missed the mark when it launched back in June. As someone who adored the original, it was a massive shame to see 1047's portal-hopping sequel underperform. I enjoyed much of what it had to offer, and wasn't deterred by the introduction of classes; it had some serious potential that was ultimately overshadowed by its issues. The studio, acknowledging that the game had "launched too early," has taken it back into beta for the foreseeable, leaving the OG Splitgate to do the heavy lifting. Development isn't cheap and, seemingly, this has pushed 1047 to sunset its official server support for its cult hit. The good news is that it lives on, as long as there are still people playing.

Splitgate 2's issues were apparent long before its final release. Server downtime hampered its beta experience, while playtesters were, at times, left feeling that 1047 was leaning too hard into the modern conventions found in some of the best FPS games - slidey, frenetic gameplay and an ability-based class system that made it feel more like a hero shooter. At launch, it was lambasted for eye-wateringly expensive cosmetics, which were quickly slashed in price in response. Last month, 1047 decided that it had undercooked Splitgate 2, announcing that it would return to the pot until at least the start of next year.

The original Splitgate is one of my favorite shooters ever, and perfectly distills the 'Halo-meets-Portal' vibe that helped it stand out in an ever-growing sea of live-service experiences. Until now, 1047 has continued to maintain dedicated server support, but it now says in a new community letter that it "can't keep the full online infrastructure running indefinitely." The good news is that it won't be shutting down the game.

From August 29, Splitgate is moving to a peer-to-peer system, as 1047 funnels its resources into "rebuilding" Splitgate 2. As the studio explains, "a player will host a match and act as the server. Other players can view the game in the server browser and join from there. If the host has saved Custom Maps, then those maps will be playable for the lobby."

As an extra sweetener, 1047's dropped a ton of previously unreleased content. This includes 13 work-in-progress blockout arena maps, and an unreleased Takedown map called 'Simulation Juliet.' It's also taken down the paywalls surrounding its cosmetics, freeing them up for everyone to enjoy; the battle pass, rewards center, store, and drops have all been removed. This is an unprecedented show of goodwill from 1047, especially considering its ongoing development costs.

"We have seen a lot of conversations about the #StopKillingGames movement, and empathize with players who lose access to their favorite titles," 1047 says. "We absolutely do not want our community to lose access to theirs."

Splitgate already channels much of the feelgood factor we remember from the classic titles that inspire it, and now we're going fully old-school with player-hosted matches. It's poetic, really. Of course, this requires an active playerbase, and this is where it may come unstuck. Looking at the SteamDB chart, it's currently averaging a concurrent peak of around 150 players. So, if you haven't experienced the joys of Splitgate, I urge you to take this opportunity to give it a go.

If Splitgate really isn't for you, then check out more of the best multiplayer games and best free PC games that may be more to your taste.

If you do try Splitgate, come and let us know how you get on over in our community Discord server.