The story of Splitgate, an arena shooter that blends the best of Halo and Portal, was interesting. After spending two years in Early Access, the number of simultaneous players could be less than 1,000, but the game has exploded to Steam’s top free-play game list in the past few weeks, averaging 1,000 in July alone. Achieved 10,000 downloads. ..
These numbers are a huge achievement for a team of 10 developers at 1047 Games, but according to team co-founder and CEO Ian Proulx, it’s just getting started.
Earlier this week, in a series of interviews with TechCrunch and GamesBeat, Proulx talked about the direction of the game, the progress of the game, and what the company will do with the $ 100 million it gets from investors.
This is what you can look forward to.
Splitgate is basically Halo and Portal … and the Rocket League
Splitgate incorporates the seasonality of games like Apex Legends and Fortnite, but plays like a combination of Portal and Halo. Nearly exact replicas of Bungy’s famous first-person shooter weapons are scattered on the map (yes, there are both battle rifles and very powerful pistols), but to traverse the map, portals and rocket packs. Double jump powered by.
On its surface and in fact, the results are pretty spectacular.
However, according to Proulx, Splitgate wasn’t the only inspiration for these games. In an interview, Proulx describes adopting a free-play model for games like the Rocket League and wrapping it in Splitgate. Instead of offering better weapons and equipment like Call of Duty overtime, only cosmetic skins that don’t affect gameplay are added. It’s fair from day one and stays that way for the life of the game.
Free-play players can earn cosmetic gear by completing daily missions and ranking up in casual matches. You may not be able to get that golden armor on the first day, but the fact that you can get it in enough matches is attractive enough for players to come back.
Season Zero is just the beginning (obviously)
Currently, the game is season zero. Some gamers have been playing since Early Access and have a bit of an advantage, but most of the people who are coming in now start with the same amount of experience at the same time.
The game has more than 12 maps that count the sterile arena spaces used in competitive matches, but play the same 5 or 6 of the most popular maps in casual play and everyone has which map You can vote on what to choose. ..
All of this is very impressive given that Splitgate has only about 10 full-time developers working on it. With that $ 100 million invested, that will all change.
“The scope of what we can do now is through the roof,” Proulx said in an interview. “We were a small team with a small budget, so there are a lot of things we couldn’t think of, but now everything is at the table. We’re focusing on the long run — I’m 25% complete with the game. It doesn’t have to be Fortnite tomorrow, but now it’s about building the next Riot Games, the next big game business. “
According to an interview with Dean Takahashi of GamesBeat at Proulx, part of the money will be used to hire artists to create skins, characters, maps, and game designers to create new play modes.
But can it go on toes with Halo Infinite and Call of Duty Vanguard?
One of the most important points of Proulx’s interview was when we narrowed down why Splitgate was so successful in a crowded market. It is accessible to the masses. Quake Arena is great, but it’s very difficult. A 12 year old Fortnite kid isn’t going to play it. We really fill this void. “
This is an interesting insight and explains how Proulx fits Splitgate into today’s first-person shooters. However, during this holiday season alone, you’ll find plenty of games in or adjacent to Splitgate’s arena shooters. Occupy.
One of those games, the World War II shooter Call of Duty: Vanguard, will drop in early November and come with a corresponding Warzone update that you can play for free. This is followed by Halo Infinite, which drops in early December. .. Both games offer similar enthusiastic pace and high skill caps that fans love about Splitgate, but in a more familiar package.
Further on the horizon is Overwatch 2-the hero shooter with incredible hype behind it-the next expansion of Rainbow Six Extraction and Destiny 2. All of this is just added to the deep pool of shooters you can play.
It’s worth noting how Splitgate grows and evolves to compete with and make a name for itself, but with the newly acquired financial support, it’s among the classics that have been strengthened in battles of this genre. Hope to find a way to prosper in.
