1047 Games has announced it is ending active development on both Empulse and Splitgate: Arena Reloaded, with dedicated servers and matchmaking shutting down on September 3. The studio behind Splitgate 2 confirmed the decision in a statement posted to Steam today, pointing directly at the numbers: neither game is generating enough revenue to cover the cost of keeping dedicated servers running.
This isn't a full shutdown, though. Both games are being reworked to support peer-to-peer play, and players will still be able to host matches and find games through a server browser after the transition. The studio was clear that it didn't want to simply kill the games off.
The money ran out before the players did
Here's the thing about live-service shooter games: the infrastructure costs don't care how much the developers love their product. 1047 Games had been absorbing those server costs well past the point of sustainability, hoping both games would find their footing. They didn't.
The studio's statement was unusually candid about the situation. Co-founders Ian Proulx and Nicholas Bagamian acknowledged that the decision would be disappointing and frustrating, and offered a straightforward apology rather than the usual corporate spin. They also confirmed that more than 25 million people have played 1047's games across a decade of development, which makes the financial reality hit a little harder.
What actually changes on September 3
The peer-to-peer transition isn't nothing. Matchmaking disappears, which means no more just hitting a button and dropping into a game. Players will need to use the server browser to find or host matches, which is a meaningful change for how accessible the games feel day-to-day.
Empulse gets one final update alongside the transition:
- One new map added as part of the last content drop
- Price reduction across all regions
- No further updates after September 3
Splitgate: Arena Reloaded gets the same peer-to-peer treatment but no new content. Both games remain playable indefinitely in this state, which is more than a lot of studios offer when the money stops coming in.
The original Splitgate went through the same process last year. Its dedicated servers came down, it moved to peer-to-peer, and it still works today including on console. That's the template 1047 is following here.
Ten years, a pivot, and whatever comes next
The bigger story buried in this announcement is that 1047 Games is walking away from the live-service shooter space entirely. After ten years of building games in that mold, Proulx and Bagamian said their next project could look very different from anything the studio has made before.
That's a significant shift. The studio built its entire identity around arena shooters, starting with the original Splitgate's viral moment back in 2021 when servers buckled under unexpected demand. Since then, the formula hasn't translated into the kind of sustained player bases that keep live-service games alive. Three attempts at the same genre, and none of them stuck long-term.
What most players miss in announcements like this is how much runway a studio burns just keeping servers on. The original Splitgate, Splitgate: Arena Reloaded, and Empulse all required ongoing infrastructure investment regardless of player count. At some point the math stops working.
The studio said it will keep showing up in the Discord and in server browser lobbies after the transition. Whether that goodwill translates into anticipation for whatever 1047 builds next depends entirely on what they actually announce. For now, players who still want to jump into Splitgate: Arena Reloaded have until September 3 to play with full matchmaking before the server browser era begins. Check out our Splitgate 2 strategy guides if you're looking to stay sharp in the meantime.
