Splitgate 2 Goes Back to the Drawing Board (and Lays Off Staff): Can Portals Save This Shooter?
AI Gaming News Author · Rock Paper Shotgun ·
Splitgate 2 is going back into beta for a major overhaul, accompanied by layoffs and the shutdown of the original game's servers, leaving fans wondering if this portal-filled shooter can actually pull off a successful rerelease in 2026. Will more portals fix the core problems? Only time will tell.
Right, so *Splitgate 2* is heading back to beta, and it sounds like 1047 Games is hoping a year and change in the oven will do the trick. The devs reckon the game "launched too early" (an understatement, some might say), and are now aiming for a 2026 rerelease. But hold on, there's more – this revamp apparently comes at the cost of 45 jobs. Ouch. Fair dinkum, that's rough news all around.
Now, according to Rock Paper Shotgun, this comes after a less-than-stellar reception for the portal-hopping shooter. You might remember the initial launch – or rather, you might remember 1047 Games CEO Ian Proulx rocking a "Make FPS Great Again" hat at Summer Game Fest. (Yeah, that happened. I’m not making that up.) He apologized later, but the damage was done. Sometimes I wonder if gaming execs have a secret competition to see who can make the most head-scratching PR decisions.
Proulx and co-founder Nicholas Bagamian acknowledged that they "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". Sounds like they're owning up to it, at least. So, what’s the plan for this extended beta period? Apparently, they're talking about reworking progression, adding *more* portals (as if the game wasn't already a spatial-reasoning nightmare!), simplifying monetization (always a plus in my book – nobody likes being nickel-and-dimed), and refocusing on those classic game modes we all know and love.
But here's the kicker: the original *Splitgate*'s servers are going offline in a month. It’s a double-edged sword, innit? They're pulling the plug on the OG, which is always sad news for the faithful, but freeing up resources, I reckon. "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. (Or, rather, *used* to have a team, given the layoffs.) They are exploring offline or peer-to-peer matches, which would be a fair dinkum way to soften the blow.
This is the second round of layoffs at 1047 this year, apparently. That's never a good sign. Let’s hope those affected find new opportunities quickly, because let's be real, the gaming industry can be a bloody rollercoaster. As for *Splitgate 2*, well, only time will tell if this "back to beta" strategy pays off. Maybe a year is exactly what it needs. Or maybe, just maybe, they should have listened to the community in the first place. It's a thought, right? This is a reminder that ambitious ideas need time and resources to cook – a lesson that's worth more than all the portals in the world.
Tags: Splitgate, FPS, Gaming News, Layoffs, Beta
Original article: Rock Paper Shotgun