Splitgate is a surprisingly small game with an outsize impact on the competitive shooter space. The game has a great premise: it’s Halo multiplayer action, but everyone has a Portal gun. On Friday, 1047 Games said it would end development on new features and content for Splitgate so it could create a new game, set in the same universe, using Unreal Engine 5.
“After careful consideration and much deliberation the 1047 Games team has determined that in order to build the game fans deserve — and to build it in a way that isn’t trying to retrofit and live operate an existing product — we are ending feature development on Splitgate,” the studio wrote in a statement shared on Twitter.
Splitgate’s strong concept and gameplay has built a strong and dedicated community over the past three years. The title has an overall “very positive” rating among Steam users, after more than 100,000 reviews since launch.
1047 Games not share much else about the upcoming title, besides the fact that it will also be a free-to-play shooter with portal guns. Splitgate survived where several other shooter games failed because of the strength of these portals. When I originally played the game in 2019, I marveled at the tactical possibilities it opened up.
Scenarios that are very common to the genre, like a sniper facing down a chokepoint full of enemies, or a frantic duel between competitors, became far more interesting with portals. Players can fake each other out, make clever escapes, and create trick shots at otherwise impossible angles.
While the existing game is a great shooter, it’ll be interesting to see which new directions the developer takes the title. Games like Apex Legends and Valorant have seen success by focusing on the character design of the game and creating a compelling roster, while other titles focus on adding more PvP modes and match types.
While the new title is in development, 1047 Games says it will continue to support Splitgate with smaller updates and fixes.