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. The decision marks a clear pivot for the studio after a decade of focusing on live‑service shooter experiences.
In a brief statement posted on X earlier today, the company explained that neither Empulse nor Splitgate: Arena Reloaded has been able to generate sufficient revenue to offset the ongoing expenses associated with maintaining dedicated server infrastructure. While the studio had continued to subsidise those costs in an effort to give the games a chance to grow their player bases, it ultimately concluded that the financial model was "no longer sustainable." "We have loved working on these games, playing them, and building them with this community, and we wish we could continue supporting them," the announcement read, underscoring the emotional attachment the development team feels toward the projects and their fans. Effective September 3, the dedicated servers that currently handle matchmaking for both titles will be decommissioned. Players will instead rely on a P2P system that incorporates a server browser, allowing individuals to host their own matches and locate others who are doing the same.
To give the community a proper send‑off, Empulse will receive one final new map and a price reduction across all regions as part of what the studio has dubbed the game's "final update." This transition mirrors a similar move the studio made with the original Splitgate last year. After the shutdown of its dedicated servers, the game was shifted to a P2P architecture and remains fully playable today on both PC and console platforms. The background to these changes is rooted in a turbulent period for the company.
Splitgate 2 launched in June 2025 amid a wave of controversy, most notably the inclusion of a "Make FPS Great Again" hat—a clear reference to a political slogan—and a $145 cosmetic bundle that sparked backlash within the community. Within a month of the launch, 1047 Games announced layoffs affecting an undisclosed number of staff members. A further round of cuts followed a month later when the title was rolled back to a beta state, prompting a second wave of dismissals.
Empulse, positioned as a 6‑v‑6 movement‑focused shooter and often described 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 ongoing financial strain. Co‑founders Ian Proulx and Nicholas Bagamian used the announcement to signal a broader strategic shift. "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," they wrote. They emphasized that the lessons learned over the past decade will inform future projects, even if the new direction diverges from the live‑service model that defined their previous work. The founders also reflected on the studio's origins, noting that they started 1047 Games a decade ago out of a shared passion for video games. "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," they added.
This sentiment highlights the community‑centric ethos that has driven the company, even as it now faces the need to reinvent itself. While the press release does not provide specific details about current staffing levels, it is worth noting that 1047 Games has already undergone several layoff cycles, the most recent occurring in July—just weeks after Empulse's early‑access launch. It remains uncertain whether the latest announcement will trigger additional reductions.
In practical terms, the shift to P2P hosting means that players will need to rely on their own internet connections and hardware to host games, which can introduce variability in performance and latency compared to dedicated servers. However, the inclusion of a server browser should make it easier for users to find stable hosts and maintain a reasonable matchmaking experience.
The final map for Empulse and the price cut are intended as goodwill gestures, offering existing players a fresh piece of content and a more affordable entry point as the game winds down its development lifecycle. These steps aim to preserve goodwill within the community and encourage continued play despite the reduced support infrastructure. Overall, 1047 Games' decision reflects the broader challenges faced by mid‑size studios attempting to sustain live‑service shooters in a market dominated by large publishers with deep pockets.
By stepping back from the costly dedicated‑server model and embracing a more modest P2P approach, the studio hopes to keep its games alive for dedicated fans while reallocating resources toward a new, yet‑to‑be‑defined creative direction. The coming months will reveal how the community adapts to the new hosting model and whether the studio's strategic pivot yields a fresh portfolio of games that can capture the imagination of players in a post‑live‑service era.