Splitgate Arena Reloaded Discontinued as 1047 Leaves Live Service

Image: pcgamer.com

1047 is cutting off active development, but not pulling the plug entirely

1047 Games has announced that active development is ending for both Splitgate: Arena Reloaded and Empulse, with dedicated servers and matchmaking set to go offline on September 3. According to the studio’s statement, both games have been reworked to support peer-to-peer hosting and a server browser so players can still host and find matches after the live-service pipeline stops.

That is the central tension here: Splitgate Arena Reloaded discontinued does not mean the client disappears, but it does mean the games are leaving the structure that modern competitive shooters usually depend on. No more ongoing content treadmill. No standard matchmaking pool. No dedicated-server backbone. From September 3, the remaining player base is effectively being asked to keep these shooters alive by hosting the matches themselves.

1047’s stated reason is blunt. In the studio’s August 26 announcement, reported by GamesIndustry.biz, GamingOnLinux, GameSpot, Shacknews, and VGTimes, 1047 said neither Empulse nor Splitgate: Arena Reloaded is generating enough revenue to support the ongoing cost of dedicated servers. The studio said it had continued covering those costs to give both games time to grow, but had reached a point where that was “no longer sustainable.”

For anyone searching for a Splitgate shutdown, the accurate version is narrower and stranger. The live-service version is ending. The dedicated server era is ending. The games are being preserved in a reduced, player-hosted form.

Why 1047 is walking away from live service shooters

1047 Games’ own explanation is financial, but the wording also signals a broader studio reset. Co-founders Ian Proulx and Nicholas Bagamian said the company has spent ten years focused on live service shooters and that its focus is now changing. They added that whatever 1047 builds next “may look very different” from what players expect from the studio.

The studio also said more than 25 million people have played its games over the past decade. That number shows reach, but the shutdown of dedicated infrastructure underlines the gap between getting players through the door and sustaining a competitive shooter over time. A free-to-play or live-service FPS needs enough active players, conversion, retention, content cadence, and server coverage to justify the operating bill. According to 1047, Empulse and Splitgate: Arena Reloaded did not reach that point.

There is recent context around the decision. GamesIndustry.biz reported that Splitgate 2 launched in June 2025 amid controversy that included a “Make FPS Great Again” hat and a $145 cosmetic bundle. The same outlet reported that 1047 laid off an undisclosed number of developers within a month, then later pushed the game “back to beta” and initiated a second wave of layoffs. VGTimes notes that Splitgate 2 was relaunched in December 2025 as Splitgate: Arena Reloaded, but still did not bring in the audience the studio needed.

Empulse had even less runway. GamesIndustry.biz reported that the 6v6 movement shooter, pitched as a spiritual successor to Titanfall, entered early access in June 2026 and was followed by multiple rounds of layoffs within weeks. The studio’s new announcement does not address staffing, and GamesIndustry.biz notes it is not yet clear whether this decision means further cuts.

So the answer to why 1047 Games live service shooters are being abandoned is not framed by the studio as a creative rejection of FPS design. It is a sustainability call. The company says the games cannot pay for their dedicated-server costs, and its leadership says the next project may sit outside the expectations built by Splitgate.

What changes on September 3 for Splitgate: Arena Reloaded

For Splitgate: Arena Reloaded players, September 3 is the hard date. GamesIndustry.biz and VGTimes report that dedicated servers and matchmaking will shut down for both games on that day. Shacknews reports that a final update will arrive in early September as the games move to peer-to-peer connection and server-browser play.

In practical terms, that changes how the shooter will feel before a round even starts. You will not be dropping into a normal matchmaking queue and trusting the backend to build the lobby. You will be looking for hosted matches through a browser, or hosting one yourself. GameSpot summarizes the post-change reality clearly: players will only be able to find matches when other people are online and hosting games.

The sources do not specify every supported mode, playlist, or feature that will survive the transition. They do say the goal is continued play rather than a full shutdown. 1047’s statement says the studio does not want to “simply shut the games down” and believes people should be able to keep playing games they love after active development ends.

For a portal shooter built around speed, angles, and timing, the move away from dedicated servers is a big competitive downgrade even if the game remains playable. That is an expectation based on the nature of peer-to-peer hosting, not a new technical claim from 1047. In a P2P setup, match quality can depend heavily on host connection, geography, and who is available. If you care about clean hit registration, stable latency, and consistent duel timing, you should expect more variance than a dedicated-server environment usually provides.

The confirmed upside is preservation. Splitgate: Arena Reloaded is not being erased. The confirmed downside is that its live-service future is over.

Empulse gets one final map, then freezes in place

Empulse development ended before the game had much time to settle into the market. GamesIndustry.biz reports that Empulse entered early access in June 2026, and 1047 is now ending active development in late August 2026. That is a short life for a 6v6 movement shooter built around the kind of momentum, vertical routes, and mechanical ceiling that usually need repeated tuning to find a stable meta.

Unlike Splitgate: Arena Reloaded, Empulse is getting one final piece of content. GamesIndustry.biz and VGTimes both report that Empulse will receive one final new map as part of its last update. They also report that the game’s price will be reduced across all regions. The exact new price is not included in the provided source material, so buyers should check the Steam listing directly after the update goes live.

For current players, the new map is the last shake-up. After that, there is no confirmed plan for new balance passes, weapons, maps, systems, or seasonal content. In an arena or movement shooter, that matters because strong communities often form around iteration. Maps get tested, routes get optimized, bad spawns get exposed, dominant loadouts get challenged, and the meta either breathes or calcifies. 1047’s announcement tells players to expect the second outcome: what ships in the final update is the version the community will have to live with.

The price cut also creates a buyer’s question. If you want Empulse as a preserved, host-driven shooter to play with friends, the cheaper version may be easier to justify. If you are looking for a growing live-service FPS with a future roadmap, the studio has now answered that directly: there is no active development future.

Peer-to-peer keeps the lights on, but it changes the contract with players

1047 is following a path it has used before. The studio said the original Splitgate launched seven years ago and moved to peer-to-peer after its dedicated servers went offline last year. GamesIndustry.biz reports that the original Splitgate remains playable today, including on console. GameSpot dates that original Splitgate dedicated-server shutdown to August 29, 2025.

That precedent is important because it shows 1047 is not treating P2P as a one-off emergency patch. The studio is presenting it as a preservation philosophy: wherever technically possible, it wants its games to remain playable after active development ends.

Still, preservation is not the same as full support. Dedicated matchmaking gives a shooter structure. It funnels players into population centers, supports healthier skill spread when the audience is large enough, and gives developers more control over the match environment. A server browser gives players agency, but it also exposes population problems immediately. If your region is quiet, your preferred mode is niche, or the remaining hosts are far away, the game may technically be alive while feeling dead during your normal play hours.

For competitive-minded players, the biggest adjustment is trust. With dedicated servers, everyone is connecting to neutral infrastructure. With peer-to-peer, the host’s connection becomes part of the match story. The sources do not provide 1047’s full P2P technical design, so it would be wrong to declare exactly how host advantage, migration, anti-cheat, or latency handling will work. The safe expectation is simple: quality will vary more lobby to lobby.

For custom-game communities, scrim groups, and friend stacks, the move is less grim. If you can bring players, a server browser can keep a shooter usable for years. If you rely on random queues at odd hours, the experience will likely get rough fast.

The unanswered questions around 1047’s next game

The studio’s statement closes one chapter without clearly opening the next. Proulx and Bagamian said 1047’s focus is changing and that its next project may look very different from what people expect from the company. No title, genre, business model, platform list, release window, or publishing plan is confirmed in the provided source material.

That silence matters because 1047’s identity has been built around fast shooters with a hook. Splitgate’s pitch was easy to understand: arena gunplay with portals. Empulse, as described by GamesIndustry.biz and GameSpot, chased the 6v6 movement-shooter lane associated with Titanfall. Both were trying to win players in one of the most punishing spaces in games, where polish, netcode, cosmetics, balance, marketing, and population all have to land at once.

The next 1047 project may avoid that pressure if it leaves live service behind, but the studio has not said that in exact terms. What is confirmed is narrower: after ten years of focusing on live service shooters, its focus is changing. That leaves room for another shooter with a different model, a smaller multiplayer project, or something outside FPS entirely.

The staffing picture is also unresolved. GamesIndustry.biz specifically notes that the August 26 statement does not address staffing and that it is unclear whether the end of active development on Empulse and Splitgate: Arena Reloaded will lead to further layoffs. Given the prior layoffs already reported around Splitgate 2 and Empulse, that is one of the biggest open questions around the studio’s future.

What remaining players should do now

If you still play Splitgate: Arena Reloaded or Empulse, treat September 3 as the cutoff for the normal online experience. Before then, dedicated servers and matchmaking are still the key systems to watch. After then, you are looking at peer-to-peer hosting and server-browser discovery.

For Splitgate: Arena Reloaded, do not expect new content to revive the queue. The game’s active development is ending, and the remaining value will come from community-hosted matches. If you have a group, organize it now. If you play solo, expect population and connection quality to become the deciding factors.

For Empulse, wait for the final update if you are considering a purchase. The game is set to receive one final new map and a regional price cut, according to GamesIndustry.biz and VGTimes. Once that update lands, the game should be judged as a fixed package rather than an early-access shooter with a live roadmap.

For both games, the fairest expectation is limited survival rather than revival. 1047 is giving players a way to keep playing, which is better than a hard shutdown. But the studio is also walking away from the live-service work that keeps shooters sharp: balance, matchmaking health, content drops, technical maintenance, and meta correction. The gunfights may still be there. The machine around them is being switched off.