1047 Games has announced that it will stop active development on its two flagship titles, Empulse and Splitgate: Arena Reloaded, and will move both games to a peer‑to‑peer (P2P) networking 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 to X earlier today, the company explained that the revenue generated by the two games no longer covers the ongoing expense of maintaining dedicated server infrastructure.
While the studio had continued to subsidise those costs in an effort to give each title a chance to grow its player base, it ultimately concluded that the model had become unsustainable. "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. "Unfortunately, the financial realities force us to make a change." Effective September 3, the dedicated servers and the associated matchmaking services for both Empulse and Splitgate: Arena Reloaded will be deactivated.
Players will instead rely on a server‑browser system that enables them to host their own matches and locate other hosts through P2P connections. To give the community a proper send‑off, Empulse will receive one final map addition and a universal price reduction across all regions as part of what the studio has dubbed the "final update" for the game.
This is not the first time 1047 Games has transitioned a title to peer‑to‑peer hosting. The original Splitgate made the same shift last year after its dedicated servers were shut down, and the game remains fully playable on PC and console platforms. The background to these changes 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 drew criticism from the community.
Within a month of launch, the company announced layoffs affecting an undisclosed number of staff members. A further round of cuts followed a month later when the game was rolled back to a beta state, prompting a second wave of dismissals. Empulse, positioned as a 6‑v‑6 movement shooter and often described as a spiritual successor to Titanfall, entered early access in June 2026. Its debut was quickly followed by several rounds of layoffs, underscoring the financial pressure the studio was under.
Co‑founders Ian Proulx and Nicholas Bagamian used the announcement to signal a broader strategic shift. "We started 1047 Games ten years ago because we love video games," they said.
"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 specifics about the current staffing situation, though it is known that 1047 Games has already undergone multiple layoff cycles, the most recent occurring in July, just weeks after Empulse's launch. It remains uncertain whether the latest announcement will trigger additional reductions. By moving both titles to a P2P model, the studio hopes to keep the communities alive without the overhead of server maintenance. Peer‑to‑peer networking places the responsibility for hosting on individual players, which can introduce variability in connection quality but eliminates the recurring cost of dedicated hardware.
The server‑browser approach will give players the tools to find active hosts, create private lobbies, and continue enjoying the core gameplay loops that made Empulse and Splitgate popular among their niche audiences. Industry observers note that the shift away from live‑service shooters may reflect broader market fatigue with the high‑maintenance, subscription‑driven model that many developers have adopted over the past decade. While some studios have doubled down on the approach, others are experimenting with hybrid or fully single‑player experiences to reduce operational expenses and mitigate the risk of rapid revenue decline. For fans of Empulse, the final map and price drop provide a small consolation, allowing new players to try the game at a lower entry cost and giving veterans a fresh arena to explore before the dedicated servers are turned off.
Splitgate: Arena Reloaded, already familiar with a P2P transition, will continue to rely on its community‑driven matchmaking system, preserving the fast‑paced, portal‑based combat that defined its identity. Looking ahead, 1047 Games has hinted that its next project could diverge significantly from the shooter genre that has defined its brand. The co‑founders emphasized that the studio's core passion—creating enjoyable games—remains unchanged, even if the format, genre, or business model does not.
Whether this means a return to narrative‑driven titles, a venture into indie‑style experiments, or a completely new type of multiplayer experience remains to be seen. In summary, 1047 Games is winding down active development on Empulse and Splitgate: Arena Reloaded, shifting both to peer‑to‑peer hosting to cut costs, while offering a final content update for Empulse. The move underscores a strategic realignment away from the live‑service shooter model that has dominated the studio's output for ten years, and it sets the stage for a potentially very different direction in future game development.