Five years after the huge hype surrounding Splitgate, its successor is now being laid to rest for good. And it’s not the only one.
Back in June 2026, I was strolling through the Summer Game Fest grounds in Los Angeles when I spotted a brand-new shooter in a tent: Empulse.
Empulse was supposed to be a new take on Titanfall, featuring fast-paced movement, vertical gunfights, and, of course, mechs. Less than three months later, Empulse was history. But that’s not all. Developer 1047 Games is undertaking a radical shake-up that’s also putting the studio’s other major project to rest:Splitgate.
What’s going on at 1047 Games?
If we turn the clock back five years, Splitgate was enjoying a meteoric rise. In the midst of the pandemic, people were hungry for new shooters; Warzone had already seen its first big wave of hype, and suddenly an indie project came along that took fans’ hearts by storm: Splitgate, a fast-paced arena shooter reminiscent of the old Quake or the early Halo games, but one that lets you shoot portals like in Portal to pull off some seriously nasty flanking maneuvers.
The beta went absolutely through the roof; people were waiting in server queues for up to 90 minutes just to play a match.
But Splitgate would spend the rest of its lifespan chasing that one-time hype. The Steam numbers never reached those heights again; by March 2022, barely 2,000 people were playing simultaneously via Steam.
Splitgate 2 was supposed to change that—with factions, hero abilities, and Overwatch-style concepts. The plan backfired; Splitgate 2 flopped with the public. Then, at the end of 2025, came the big turnaround: Splitgate: Arena Reloaded—a completely overhauled, new version of Splitgate 2—threw all the unpopular quirks overboard and sought to reinvent itself.
Splitgate: Arena Reloaded Has Failed
Now we know: That didn’t work either. In a press release, 1047 Games announced that Splitgate: Arena Reloaded and Empulse are being scrapped:
An Update on Empulse, Splitgate: Arena Reloaded, and What’s Next for 1047 Games pic.twitter.com/YYxxEwQSQK
— 1047 Games (@1047Games) August 26, 2026
The literal translation (excerpt) is:
Today, we have to share some difficult news with you: We are ending active development ofEmpulseandSplitgate: Arena Reloaded.
This is extremely difficult for us.We love these games and know that this will be disappointing and frustrating for many of you.We’re sorry.
The reality is that neither game is generating enough revenue to cover the ongoing costs of dedicated servers.We’ve continued to cover these costs because we wanted to give both games every chance to grow, but we’ve reached a point where this is no longer sustainable.
Starting September 3, 2026, Empulse and Splitgate will switch to a so-called “peer-to-peer” system. The developers will shut down the dedicated servers, so you’ll become the host yourselves and will still be able to play with the remaining community—though connection quality will then depend on the hosts’ internet connections.
Empulse is set to receive one final update; after that, like Splitgate: Arena Reloaded, it will no longer receive new content. It is currently unknown what the future holds for 1047 Games. It’s all a bit of a shame.
