Developer 1047 Games has officially concluded development on its arena shooters, Empulse and Splitgate: Arena Reloaded. The decision comes just two months after the release of Empulse, with the studio citing that neither title is generating enough revenue to cover their operating costs. While development has ceased, 1047 Games will remain operational, though its future projects may diverge significantly from its previous work.
Dedicated server support and matchmaking for both Empulse and Splitgate: Arena Reloaded will end on September 3. However, players will still be able to host and join matches through peer-to-peer connections, allowing for continued play with friends. Empulse will receive one final new map and a price reduction before the transition.
The original Splitgate: Arena Warfare, released in 2019, gained significant traction, leading to a delayed final release to address server infrastructure issues. Co-founder and CEO Ian Proulx had previously expressed ambitions for the studio to emulate Riot Games' success. However, its follow-up, Empulse, failed to achieve substantial popularity, leading to employee layoffs shortly after its release. The studio has expressed gratitude to its development team and the player community for their contributions and engagement over the years.
"The reality is that neither game is generating enough revenue to support the ongoing cost of dedicated servers," 1047 Games stated in an update on Steam. "We have continued covering those costs because we wanted to give both games every opportunity to grow, but we have reached the point where that is no longer sustainable." The studio thanked those who worked on the games and the players who participated, played, and provided feedback. "Thank you for the last 10 years. See you in the server browser," the statement concluded.