Splitgate 2 is being taken “back to beta” by developers 1047 Games, who say it “launched too early” and are now planning to rerelease it next year. The move has reportedly seen the studio lay off 45 workers, and they’ve confirmed that the original Splitgate‘s servers will be shutting down in a month’s time.
The news comes following a mixed launch reception for the portal-filled shooter, which likely wasn’t helped by studio CEO Ian Proulx controversially announcing that it was going live while wearing a MAGA-style “Make FPS Great Again” hat on stage at Summer Game Fest. The exec subsequently apologised for that boneheaded publicity stunt.
In an update posted to the game’s Steam page and socials Proulx and fellow 1047 Games co-founder Nicholas Bagamian wrote that they “had ambitious goals with Splitgate 2”, but “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”.
So, the game is returning to beta until early 2026, with the studio promising a major overhaul that’ll include “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”. Though, 1047 say Splitgate 2’ll remain playable in the interim, with its Chapter 3 update and some bug fixes still incoming.
The update acknowledged that this decision has been accompanied by layoffs at the studio, but didn’t state how many. IGN reports that 45 workers have been affected. This is the second round of job cuts at 1047 this year, with an unspecified number of devs having been let go in June.
The studio are also planning to shut down the original Splitgate’s servers in a month’s time. “While we’d love to keep servers online indefinitely, it’s cost us hundreds of thousands of dollars over the past couple of years, and we have to prioritize our team,” Proulx and Bagamian wrote. “Like us, we know this game means a lot to so many of you, so we are exploring the possibility of supporting offline or peer-to-peer matches.”
Hopefully the folks affected by these layoffs can land on their feet.
