1047 Games has announced that it will cease active development on its two flagship titles, Empulse and Splitgate: Arena Reloaded, and will move both projects to a peer‑to‑peer (P2P) hosting model as of September 3. This decision marks a significant strategic pivot for the studio, which has spent the past decade concentrating on live‑service shooter experiences. In a brief statement posted to X earlier today, the company explained that the revenue generated by the two games no longer justifies the expense of maintaining dedicated server infrastructure.
While the studio continued to subsidize server costs in an effort to give the titles a chance to grow their player bases, it ultimately reached a point where that approach became financially untenable. "We have loved working on these games, playing them, and building them with this community, and we wish we could continue supporting them," the post read.
Effective September 3, the dedicated servers and official matchmaking services for Empulse and Splitgate: Arena Reloaded will be shut down. Players will instead rely on a P2P system that uses a server browser, allowing individuals to host their own matches and locate others who are doing the same. As part of what the studio has termed the "final update" for Empulse, the game will receive one last new map and a price reduction across all regions, giving existing fans a modest farewell gift. This move mirrors a similar transition that occurred with the original Splitgate last year.
After its dedicated servers were retired, the game shifted to a P2P architecture and remains fully playable on PC and consoles. The precedent demonstrates that 1047 Games is willing to keep its older titles accessible even when the cost of server maintenance outweighs the financial return. The backdrop to this announcement includes a turbulent period for the studio.
Splitgate 2 launched in June 2025 amid a wave of controversy, most notably the inclusion of a "Make FPS Great Again" hat that evoked political connotations, as well as a $145 cosmetic bundle that drew criticism for its price. Within weeks of the launch, 1047 Games announced a round of layoffs whose size was not disclosed. A month later, the company pushed the title back into a beta state and initiated a second wave of staff reductions, signaling deeper challenges in sustaining the project's momentum.
Empulse, positioned as a 6‑v‑6 movement shooter and described by the developers as a spiritual successor to Titanfall, entered early access in June 2026. The title’s debut was quickly followed by multiple rounds of layoffs, reflecting the studio’s struggle to balance development costs with a modest player base. Despite the enthusiasm of early adopters, the game failed to attract the sustained revenue needed to justify the continued operation of dedicated servers.
Founders Ian Proulx and Nicholas Bagamian used the announcement to outline a broader shift in the company's creative direction. After ten years of building live‑service shooters, they said the studio’s focus is now "changing" and that future projects may look very different from anything 1047 Games has produced before. "We started 1047 Games ten years ago because we love video games," the co‑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." While the statement did not explicitly address the current staffing situation, it is worth noting that 1047 Games has already undergone several rounds of layoffs, the most recent occurring in July, shortly after Empulse's launch.
It remains uncertain whether the cessation of development on these two titles will trigger additional reductions or if the studio will stabilize its workforce as it re‑evaluates its product strategy. The transition to peer‑to‑peer hosting does have practical implications for the community. Players will need to rely on their own internet connections and hardware to host matches, which may introduce variability in latency and overall game performance. However, the server browser will give users the ability to select hosts with lower ping or better stability, somewhat mitigating the loss of centrally managed matchmaking.
In summary, 1047 Games is winding down active development on Empulse and Splitgate: Arena Reloaded, moving both to a P2P model as part of a larger reorientation away from live‑service shooter titles. The studio acknowledges the financial realities that forced the decision, offers a final content update for Empulse, and hints at a future that could diverge significantly from its established brand.
The gaming community will now watch to see how the company leverages its experience and the lessons learned over the past decade in whatever new direction it chooses to pursue.