1047 Games has announced that it will cease active development on its two flagship titles, Empulse and Splitgate: Arena Reloaded. The decision marks a significant strategic pivot for the studio, which after a decade of focusing on live‑service first‑person shooters, is now moving toward a different development model. Effective September 3, both games will abandon their dedicated server infrastructure and adopt a peer‑to‑peer (P2P) networking system, allowing players to host matches themselves through a built‑in server browser.
The company shared the news in a brief post on X earlier today, explaining that the revenue generated by the two titles no longer covers the ongoing expenses of maintaining dedicated servers. While the studio had previously subsidized those costs in an effort to give the games a chance to grow their player bases, it ultimately concluded that continuing to fund the servers was "no longer sustainable." The announcement was tinged with regret, as the developers expressed genuine affection for the projects and the communities that had formed around them.
"We have loved working on these games, playing them, and building them with this community, and we wish we could continue supporting them," the statement read. From September 3 onward, the dedicated matchmaking services for Empulse and Splitgate: Arena Reloaded will be shut down. In their place, a P2P model will be implemented, where players can browse for available hosts and join matches directly. To give the community a final boost, Empulse will receive one last new map and a price reduction across all regions as part of what the studio has termed the game's "final update." This transition mirrors a similar move made with the original Splitgate last year.
After its dedicated servers were taken offline, the game was shifted to a P2P architecture and remains fully playable on both PC and console platforms. The precedent suggests that, while the experience may change—potentially affecting latency and matchmaking stability—the core gameplay will continue to be accessible to fans.
The background to these developments is worth noting. Splitgate 2 launched in June 2025 amid a storm of controversy. The title attracted criticism for a politically charged "Make FPS Great Again" hat and a $145 cosmetic bundle that many players deemed excessive. Within weeks of release, 1047 Games announced a wave of layoffs, the size of which was not disclosed publicly.
A month later, the studio pushed the game back into a beta state and initiated a second round of staff reductions, further destabilizing the project's trajectory. 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 launch was quickly followed by multiple rounds of layoffs, reflecting the studio's ongoing financial pressures. Despite the hype surrounding its fast‑paced parkour mechanics and high‑skill gunplay, the game struggled to attract a sustainable player base, prompting the recent decision to cease active development.
Founders Ian Proulx and Nicholas Bagamian addressed the broader shift in a reflective statement. After ten years of building live‑service shooters, they said the studio'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 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." The announcement did not provide specific details about the current staffing situation, though it is known that the studio has already undergone several layoff rounds, the most recent occurring in July—just weeks after Empulse's early‑access debut. It remains uncertain whether the shift to P2P hosting will be accompanied by further reductions in personnel. In summary, 1047 Games is winding down active development on Empulse and Splitgate: Arena Reloaded, moving both titles to a peer‑to‑peer hosting model as of early September. The studio cites unsustainable server costs and insufficient revenue as the primary drivers behind the change.
While the community will still be able to play the games through host‑based matchmaking, the era of dedicated server support and ongoing content updates appears to have come to an end. The company's leadership signals that the next chapter for 1047 Games will diverge from its long‑standing live‑service shooter formula, though the exact nature of future projects remains to be seen.