Sci fi arena shooter exploded in popularity after it hit consoles last summer, two years after it debuted on PC. Thanks to the mix of Halo and Portal gameplay, it was picked up in a month. The fact that it’s free to play didn’t hurt. Developer 1047 Games is now ending feature development, effectively putting the game into maintenance mode. although split gate will leave the beta with the next update, which will be the “last major iteration” of the game, the studio said.
split gate was expected to be much more successful than 1047. The studio tried to turn a “dream project of a college dorm into an AAA game” that could rival the biggest titles out there. “But this also meant that as we’ve attracted top talent from across the industry, we’ve spent a lot of our time reworking old content and systems originally built by a handful of people,” . “We are in a way pumping water and at the same time trying to please everyone who bought a ticket to board our ship, while also trying to turn our boat into a rocket ship.”
The studio is now focused on its next project. It will be another free-to-play shooter with portals and set in the same universe. 1047 will build the upcoming game from scratch in Unreal Engine 5.
In the meantime, split gate, which has since been downloaded more than 18 million times, will remain online for the time being. As a thank you to players, 1047 will add a free battle pass with an infinite number of levels and new skins and characters when the final season starts on September 15. 1047 will continue to create fixes and roll out minor updates for split gatebut the game won’t get any new features after the next big patch.
“After careful consideration and much deliberation, the 1047 team has decided that we will turn our attention away from iterative, smaller updates and go all-in to focus on a new game in the Splitgate universe that will bring revolutionary, not just evolutionary, will bring changes to gameplay,” 1047 Games CEO and split gate creator Ian Proulx said in a statement. “split gate remains online and supported by our dedicated community that has been the backbone of our studio from our first playtests on PC. Our community means everything to us and we can’t wait to share what’s next with them.”
In the meantime, in an FAQ, 1047 recognized that players are investing time, effort and money in acquiring skins and other items. While it suggests fans won’t be able to take those with them to the next game, “we’d like to put your efforts and time in… split gate and we take that seriously. How we will do that has not been decided at this time, but know that it is something we will focus on as we discuss the next game.” It is also not clear whether Splitcoin’s virtual currency will be transferred.
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