1047 Games has announced that it will cease active development on its two flagship titles, Empulse and Splitgate: Arena Reloaded. The decision comes as part of a broader strategic pivot away from the live‑service shooter model that the studio has pursued for the past decade.
Beginning on September 3, the company will retire the dedicated server infrastructure for both games and move them to a peer‑to‑peer (P2P) architecture, allowing players to host matches themselves via an in‑game server browser. In a brief statement posted to X earlier today, the developers explained that the revenue generated by the two titles no longer covers the ongoing expenses associated with running dedicated servers. "We have kept the servers online for as long as we could in the hopes that the games would find a larger audience, but the costs have become unsustainable," the post read.
The studio expressed genuine affection for the projects, noting that the teams have enjoyed both playing and building the games alongside their communities, and lamented that they cannot continue to provide the level of support they would like. Effective September 3, matchmaking and dedicated server services will be disabled for Empulse and Splitgate: Arena Reloaded.
Players will instead rely on a peer‑to‑peer system, where individual users act as hosts and other players join through a server browser. This shift ensures that the games remain playable even after the official server shutdown.
As a parting gesture, Empulse will receive a final map addition and a price reduction across all regions, which the studio has labeled the "final update" for the title. The move mirrors a similar transition that 1047 Games made with the original Splitgate last year. After its dedicated servers were turned off, the original Splitgate migrated to a P2P model and continues to be accessible on PC and consoles. That experience appears to have informed the current decision for both newer titles.
Splitgate 2, released in June 2025, quickly became a lightning rod for controversy. The launch included a politically charged "Make FPS Great Again" hat and a $145 cosmetic bundle that sparked heated debate within the gaming community. Within weeks of release, the studio announced a round of layoffs, the size of which was not disclosed. A month later, the company pushed the title back into a beta state and initiated a second wave of staff reductions, further signaling internal turmoil.
Empulse, marketed 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 followed by multiple rounds of layoffs within a matter of weeks, underscoring the financial pressures the studio faces. Co‑founders Ian Proulx and Nicholas Bagamian used the announcement to outline the studio’s evolving vision. After ten years of concentrating on 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 a decade 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." While the statement did not directly address staffing levels, it is worth noting that 1047 Games has already undergone several rounds of layoffs, the most recent occurring in July, just weeks after Empulse launched. It remains uncertain whether the latest announcement will trigger additional reductions, but the pattern suggests continued restructuring as the studio recalibrates its business model.
The transition to peer‑to‑peer hosting is not without its challenges. P2P networks can suffer from higher latency, uneven host performance, and increased susceptibility to cheating, all of which can affect the player experience. However, for a studio looking to cut operational costs while keeping its games alive, the trade‑off may be acceptable. Community members who have invested time in either Empulse or Splitgate: Arena Reloaded will now need to rely on the goodwill of fellow players to host matches, but the server browser should make finding active games relatively straightforward.
In summary, 1047 Games is winding down active development on Empulse and Splitgate: Arena Reloaded, shifting both titles to a peer‑to‑peer model as part of a larger move away from the live‑service shooter genre. The studio cites unsustainable server costs and a desire to explore new directions as the primary motivations. With a final map and price cut for Empulse, and a legacy of previous P2P transitions for the original Splitgate, the company aims to keep its communities engaged while it rethinks its future creative focus.