1047 Games has announced that it will cease active development on its two flagship titles, Empulse and Splitgate: Arena Reloaded. Beginning on September 3, the studio will retire the dedicated‑server infrastructure for both games and move them to a peer‑to‑peer (P2P) model, allowing players to host matches themselves via a server browser. This decision marks a clear pivot for the company after a decade of focusing on live‑service shooters.
In a brief statement posted to X earlier today, the developers explained that the revenue generated by the two games no longer covers the ongoing expenses of maintaining dedicated servers. While the studio had continued to subsidize those costs in the hope that the titles would eventually become self‑sustaining, it concluded that this approach had become "no longer sustainable." The message emphasized the team's affection for the projects and the community that grew around them, adding that they would have liked to keep supporting the games for longer. Effective September 3, the matchmaking and dedicated‑server services for Empulse and Splitgate: Arena Reloaded will be shut down.
Players will instead rely on a P2P system that uses a built‑in server browser, meaning that any user can host a match and others can join it directly. To give the community a final boost, Empulse will receive one last map addition and a universal price reduction across all regions as part of what the studio calls the "final update" for the title.
This transition mirrors a similar move made with the original Splitgate last year. After its dedicated servers were decommissioned, Splitgate migrated to a P2P architecture and remains fully playable on PC and consoles. The shift demonstrated that the company can keep its games alive without the heavy cost of server farms, albeit with a different player experience. The background to this decision is rooted in a turbulent period for the studio.
Splitgate 2 launched in June 2025 amid a wave of controversy, including the release of a politically charged "Make FPS Great Again" hat and a $145 cosmetic bundle that sparked criticism from parts of the community. Within weeks of the launch, 1047 Games announced a round of layoffs, though the exact number of affected staff members was not disclosed. A month later the company placed the game back into a beta state and initiated a second wave of workforce reductions, signaling significant internal challenges.
Empulse, marketed as a 6v6 movement shooter and a spiritual successor to Titanfall, entered early access in June 2026. The title showed promise with its fast‑paced parkour mechanics and high‑skill gunplay, but it too was hit by a series of layoffs shortly after its debut.
The rapid succession of staff cuts across both projects suggested that the studio was struggling to balance development costs with the financial returns of its live‑service model. Co‑founders Ian Proulx and Nicholas Bagamian used the announcement to outline a broader strategic shift. After ten years of building live‑service shooters, they said the company's focus is "changing" and that future projects may look very different from what fans have come to expect from 1047 Games.
"We started 1047 Games ten years ago because we love video games," the founders wrote. "Since then, more than 25 million people have played our games, and many of the people we've met along the way have become lifelong friends. After ten years of focusing on live‑service shooters, our focus is changing.
What we build next may look very different from what people expect from 1047 Games, but what has not changed is why we are here: we love making games. We have learned a lot over the years, and we will carry those lessons into what we build next." The statement did not provide details about the current staffing level, but it is known that 1047 Games has already undergone multiple rounds of layoffs, the most recent occurring in July, just weeks after Empulse's early‑access launch. Whether the latest pivot will lead to additional reductions remains uncertain. Industry observers note that the move away from dedicated servers reflects a larger trend among mid‑size developers who find the cost of operating server farms increasingly prohibitive, especially when player counts plateau.
By shifting to peer‑to‑peer hosting, studios can keep games accessible without incurring the high operational overhead, though they must accept potential trade‑offs in matchmaking speed, latency, and anti‑cheat robustness. For the community, the transition means that players who enjoy Empulse or Splitgate: Arena Reloaded can still find matches, but they will need to rely on the new server browser and host their own games. The final map for Empulse and the price cut are intended to give fans a sense of closure and reward their loyalty. Meanwhile, the studio's declaration of a new creative direction suggests that 1047 Games may explore genres beyond the fast‑paced arena shooters that defined its first decade.
In summary, 1047 Games is ending active development on Empulse and Splitgate: Arena Reloaded, moving both titles to a peer‑to‑peer model on September 3, and signaling a strategic shift away from live‑service shooters after ten years of operation. The company acknowledges the financial realities that drove the decision, thanks its community, and hints at a future that could diverge significantly from its current portfolio.