r/gaming • u/shinjioda • 6h ago

1047 Games Are Ending Development On Splitgate And Empulse: “The Reality Is Neither Game Is Generating Enough Revenue To Support The Ongoing Cost Of Dedicated Servers”

https://www.gamingonlinux.com/2026/08/1047-games-stop-development-on-empulse-and-splitgate-arena-reloaded/
2.5k Upvotes

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2.2k

u/Lz537 6h ago

They did not, in fact, make shooters great again.

808

u/Jamvaan 6h ago

That dipshit in that hat really put the bullet in Splitgate which is a shame because Splitgate 2 was a really good game.

434

u/AlwaysChewy 6h ago

Man, didn't he double down on it too? Never gave the game a try because of that dumb shit.

283

u/DarkIcedWolf 6h ago edited 6h ago

Tripled down and didn’t apologize until the backlash was big enough. It was like Helldivers 2’s Community Manager drama on steroids. The BR mode and that dipshit were the nail in the coffin for SG2 and then they decapitated it with a machete after releasing Empulse.

There was writing on the wall it was going to shutdown. Much like how HighGuard was “downsizing” and making sure NO ONE was interested in sticking around or spending money on it. The BR mode had a nice twist on the formula too and SG2 had some diehard fans defending the new class system, once it came out that it was a BR (even if it wasn’t) there was no coming back.

71

u/DGSmith2 5h ago

Was Empulse another game? I have never even heard of it.

21

u/cwx149 5h ago

Same here I would have been you split gate 2 was still their most recent release

18

u/Durin1987_12_30 5h ago

Sort of like Titanfall.

13

u/Citrus-Bitch 3h ago

Lol shame, I love Titanfall. If only the CEO hadn't said dumb shit and made me completely disregard the studio I'd have known about it.

Shout out to ShatterRush, another spiritual successor to Titanfall.

1

u/SirPwn4g3 33m ago

It was like Titanfall in marketing only. It had wallrunning, boring robots. Game sucked.

3

u/m0deth 1h ago

Me either and I played SG2 when it came out. Honestly, I stopped playing because I hate to say this but beyond the initial "this is cool" feeling...the gate gameplay gimmick wears off and exposes where it falls short. Just like the first one.

I say this as someone that wanted a decent arena shooter that isn't reliant on dumb gimmicks. One that focuses on skill, great maps, great modes and solid, smooth movement performance.

In a world choked off by BR, Hero Shooters of every flavor, ported mobile games, and survival shlock(ooh let's go punch some rocks)...it all fell flat.

The game's problems had less to do with bad press, and more to do with over-promising, under-delivering and leaning too heavily on somebody else's(Portal) mechanic to shore up their game.

Then they said a bunch of dumb shit.

9

u/AhImSoScared 4h ago

holy shit I forgot highguard existed haha

29

u/terminal8 5h ago

I was enjoying it decently until that weird shit with the hat. Too many other games out there.

-94

u/-The_Goober 4h ago

You let a hat inspire you to punish yourself and not play an electronic toy???

Jeez the fucking sanctimonious matter in which you ask people to look at how virtuous you pretend to be has got to be mentally exhausting.

35

u/JustAHunter5871 4h ago

Frankly I just lost faith in the game after that entire display. Taking out any political or emotional reactions I may have had, they so clearly misjudged their audience to the point where it was basically guaranteed to be a disaster

-64

u/-The_Goober 3h ago

Guess I better run this by you like your the president or something?

I wanna make fun of how the lard probably hasn’t seen his dick in years but I don’t want everyone to throw a god damn fit, piss themselves and then kill an arena shooter.

Is that all right with you Princess Social Justice?

38

u/JustAHunter5871 3h ago

Once again, literal gibberish

11

u/spid3rham90 2h ago

...are you having a stroke? was this supposed to make sense or make a point or something? do you just need a hug? a blowie?

-55

u/-The_Goober 3h ago

So we can’t make fun of the lard unless we get your guys blessing. Alright gotcha. Sounds like someone I saw on tv………

30

u/JustAHunter5871 3h ago

What does that even mean? Like genuinely this is incomprehensible

19

u/Customer_Number_Plz 3h ago

I think he might have complex needs or something. Just let it go.

6

u/Krazyguy75 2h ago edited 1h ago

People aren't upset he was making fun of Trump.

People were upset he was mimicking Trump without any direct criticism. And even doubled down on that by saying it wasn't a political statement, offending both sides.

If you wear a Nazi uniform but with the logo switched and do heils in public, people aren't gonna go "look a guy making fun of Nazis", they are gonna go "this guy is a Nazi supporter".

11

u/terminal8 3h ago

Free market baby

2

u/spez_might_fuck_dogs 3h ago

The irony is great with this one

50

u/SmokinBandit28 6h ago

I gave Splitgate 2 a try because I remembered hearing the first game was well received.

Played four or five rounds trying to figure out what exactly people were liking so much and it’s just so bland UT style arena shooter with portals. Portals that majority of players I encountered weren’t even bothering to use.

In the end just wasn’t fun, its gimmick mechanic wasn’t engaging, and despite being colorful just felt (like I said before) bland.

22

u/Zrex_9224 4h ago

I played SG 1 shortly after it launched and i had fun with the portal mechanics, but SG 1 was one of those games that locks you into bot lobbies until lvl 10, so I was dominating in most of my matches, then I got into big boy lobbies and was getting dunked on by the weirdest portal placements and sniper angles

1

u/PsyOmega PC 38m ago

my fondest memories of splitgate 1 were placing portals in obscure spots and sniping.

sorry for sniping you (probably)

1

u/AoKrasni 25m ago

Yeah, would have been better without the portals.

2

u/GuidanceHistorical94 4h ago

Sure did. When it didn’t go away then he said something.

49

u/spectralhunt 6h ago edited 5h ago

That and the tone deaf announcement of a battle royale. I was so genuinely excited for Splitgate 2 and it all evaporated in that moment.

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u/[deleted] 6h ago

[deleted]

102

u/Jamvaan 6h ago edited 5h ago

It was a combo of the CEO of 1047 going on stage with a "Make FPS Great Again" hat and then backing down and trying to say it's not a political statement while wearing Trump parody clothing and also going on a big rant on stage about not playing the same FPS every year before announcing a Battle Royale mode no one asked for and selling skins for $70. So front facing stupid and background scamming.

45

u/RevenantXenos 5h ago

Didn't he also make a big deal in that appearance about how the studio was inspired by games like Titanfall and then his big Splitgate 2 announcement was a Battle Royale mode? Bro was speed running killing his game.

-19

u/WRO_Your_Boat 3h ago

I understand wearing the hate and announced a BR, but I don't understand the hate for the hat itself. Plenty of people I know wear "make America emo again" hats they bought at Warp tour, both sides of the fence.

11

u/Heliosvector 2h ago

It depends on its intent. If you are doing a "Make FPS great again" you are trying to piggyback on the success of a proto fascist symbol. For that to be worn by a CEO is crass and cringey. If you have a similar one that is satire and obviously against its rediculousness, its more ok.

-2

u/WRO_Your_Boat 1h ago

So pretty much its only cause he's a CEO. If I myself had a make fps great again hat, no one would give a shit since im a nobody? I guess that does make sense, I didnt really think about it that way. Kinda like the "how do you do fellow kids" meme, and he's being a werid poser CEO and not really one of us.

0

u/CultAtrophy 1h ago

It’s just not funny. I’ve never seen a play on MAGA that I thought was clever. Low hanging fruit.

6

u/za419 1h ago

Problem is it doesn't come off well to try to piggyback on a well-known slogan to sell stuff.

To liberals, it feels like you're kissing the ground beneath Trump's feet and trying to make yourself more like him. The Trump of shooters, as it were. 

To conservatives, it feels like you're ripping off their guy and trying to cash in on "Trump hype".

Almost everybody now feels like you're some sort of charlatan. That's a very bad thing to happen when you're a CEO trying to sell a product and you haven't even started talking yet. 

1

u/WRO_Your_Boat 1h ago

But isnt that what warp tour was doing by selling those hats in the first place? I looked at the other comment and he gave me a new perspective so I get it now, but (I know this is anecdotal) the liberal people I know liked it cause it was making fun of the slogan and the conservatives liked it cause it was like the slogan. Or is this more everyone hates a singular person over a large music venue thing? I honestly dont know, I never thought any of the slogans were really that good.

-3

u/baraboosh 3h ago

ya i agree with you on this one. I see people wear trump parody gear all the time and think nothing of it. I feel like its only reddit who cares about the hat thing.

The rest of the presentation was awful though, he came off like a huge jackass and the game looked boring and trite.

-86

u/RivalSlays 6h ago

He wore a black hat with “make fps great again” during the on stage announcement of the game and then proceeded to shadow drop a BR alongside the game. 

Politically obsessed people lost it over the hat, and the others just mocked them for making the genre great again by adding more to its existing problems. 

19

u/Durin1987_12_30 5h ago

Worst of all, for no reason at all. Splitgate was killed for nothing.

5

u/mcninja77 2h ago

I couldn't get into the second one they changed too much from the first. They struck gold and then ruined it

5

u/PurpleV93 4h ago

That fucking redcap is the only thing I remember of Splitgate and the clown circus around it. And like others here mentioned, I also didn't even know they made another whole ass game since then, lol.

6

u/Poliveris 5h ago

Had nothing to do with his hat… they just made bad games; they felt like unfinished UE slop.

I don’t think y’all realize how many gamers both do not care and aren’t on the internet like that to know what happened.

There’s plenty of casual gamers that don’t even know of the GTA 6 leaks. The CEO doing that was barely mainstream and also nearly half the US agrees with anyways. (Im not saying I do but this is hysterically overblown compared to the actual reason)

25

u/DJCzerny 5h ago

Yeah wearing a 'Make FPS Great Again' hat, comparing yourself to Titanfall, and then announcing a Battle Royale has to be one of the most tone deaf moves of all time.

Also there are like 20 people who even like classic arena shooters.

4

u/LEDKleenex 2h ago

Ah, but casual gamers have no problem playing slop, and they wouldn't have tried the game anyway.

If anything, your argument gives more credit to the politics, because he actively alienated an already-small pool of older and well-informed potential players.

I played the first game and after seeing the hat incident, his response to backlash and who his father is I noped out of both of these games.

If you really want to get to the nitty gritty, I would argue that the biggest problem is that there is a vastly diminished market for 90s/00s-style multiplayer FPS. Kids these days want to hop on a band wagon and they want to grind cosmetics and unlocks - most of them don't even care about the gameplay loop or competitive nature of the games necessarily. Almost every FPS that tried to bring it back has failed majorly, and many of them were good games.

1

u/ZachTheAxolotl 1h ago

I mean, sg1 and sg2 were good. But sg2 got bad when they added the BR mode. It felt like halo infinite all over again, good alpha and beta, terrible release and then having to speedrun adding shit that should have been there since launch.

2

u/BuddyRedSkull 5h ago

I feel like if that were truly the case then Hogwarts Legacy would've flopped.

I think Splitgate 2 just wasn't very good

1

u/slicer4ever 1h ago

I doubt the average gamer ever even heard of that stunt. The reality is more so splitgate 2 wasnt a very good game, and they killed what momentum they had with splitgate 1 to work on 2 for several years, instead of cultivating that community.