SPLITGATE Posts
Splitgate 2 has been working hard to fix their server issues. Fortunately, the game play has been fantastic, even when there were other issues. They enabled support for Proton on Linux! It runs good, but not quite as well as Windows, yet. They've also fixed the XP issues, sometimes with a progress delay, and are working on Challenges. Some Challenges are beginning to work, but some aren't counting correctly or are possibly delayed. I've had no login errors, no crashes (even on Linux), and it's been nice to finally make XP progress (currently you get a double XP bonus).
Yesterday the Splitgate 2 Beta came roaring our of the gate and quickly hit a brick wall. The developers haven't given many details, but the symptoms seem to indicate they have some network bottlenecks and scaling issues. It started with in-game live updates being slow or non-existent, so transactions wouldn't show up under a player and player experience progression wasn't working either. It was just annoying at first, because every faction and weapon has a level, with each level working to unlock a new feature. No experience meant no unlocking.
To be fair, the Steam player count peaked around 12,000 players, which is probably double what was anticipated. I'm assuming console numbers were probably double or triple that at least. A Thursday morning launch probably seemed like a safe spot to get a soft launch and a chance to tweak things. Unfortunately, they had some issues hiding that soon appeared and were problematic throughout the rough day for developers. The player base has been drooling over the Beta launch date for a couple of months, but I didn't expect more than a couple of thousand players on Steam.
I did get to play the game. There was a point in the early afternoon where the player count dipped and I played 4 matches. Then late last night I was given a tip the servers were unofficially back online for some spot testing. I played another 5 matches before the servers were taken back down. The game is great! I love everything about it and can't wait for them to fix the issues so we can get back on. I really hope the player enthusiasm hasn't taken a hit, because this has been my favorite game since the 2nd Alpha test and I really want it to prosper.
Splitgate 2 Beta launched today (about 2 hours ago). I still haven't been able to play it yet. I downloaded it on Steam on Linux the moment it released, but sadly the game is locked to Steam Deck for Proton support. According to 1047, even Steam Deck support is experimental and they hope to fully support Linux in general sometime after the official launch (following the Beta). I rebooted into Windows, as soon as I saw it wouldn't work with Proton, and it wouldn't download the game. It stayed at 0% for an hour. I then decided to just wait and install Windows updates instead. That took about an hour (including a new AMD driver). Now it's downloading and locked on 3 minutes remaining for I guess eternity (still at 0% downloaded). Linux downloaded it in about 2 minutes...
1047 Games has released a new blog about the upcoming Splitgate 2 Beta. It features some exciting additions we didn't have in the Alpha:
The Lab
The new map and game mode creator in Splitgate 2 Beta looks very promising. It's collaborative, shareable, and looks like it packs tons of features.
Take Down
The original mode is back with new Simulation maps and the promise of bringing back some old Sim maps, including Charlie in the Beta.
Onslaught
The massive 8 vs 8 vs 8 game mode has a new name and 2 new massive maps
Mythic Skins, Battle Passes, Founder Packs, Oh My!
Splitgate 2 promises to push the cosmetics to a new level and it has a name, Mythic. It's an ultra rare tier and, unlike other games, it'll use the same in-game currency as everything else. It's also just cosmetic, no pay to win here. The new Battle Pass will be $5 and is followed up with an exclusive set of Founder packs to get more goodies.
Other than the Lab and Take Down, the biggest announcement of this blog post is that player progression will not reset after the Beta runs into full release.
Splitgate 2 has been in development since September 2022 and 1047 Studios held several open and closed Alpha tests starting last year. After the February open Alpha, they announced there would be an open Beta in May, but had offered few details. They've recently announced the open Beta will begin on 22 May, will feature a battle pass, and will stay active until the game's official release.
This new game is basically a redesign of Splitgate 1, with the addition of factions, ability and weapon perks/attachments, and innovative game mechanics. It brings with it portals, as a central game mechanic, several game modes and unique weapons, and faction-specific abilities. My favorite game mode during the alpha testing was a giant map 8 vs 8 vs 8 battle mode. It features a tiered battle pass, with additions each month, over a 3 month period.
The official release is expected to be later (presumably October) 2025, at which point player progression will reset, but any cosmetics you've obtained will carry over into the official release. My assumption of an October release is based on comments from the CEO and to put the game battle pass in a date range for the 3 month window to reset in January. The game will have support for PC, Linux/Steam Deck, and all major consoles.
Splitgate 1 is an arena shooter with portals and various game modes, a lot of different weapons, and many different armor and weapon cosmetics. It was created by a couple of college students and was initially released for early access in 2019 and officially released in September 2022, when Splitgate 2 development was announced. It's often compared to a Halo with portals, which allow you to move around the map quickly by opening a portal at one point and a second portal at another point. One unique feature to Splitgate 1 is portal racing, which is a timed course moving through user created portals and collecting balls on the map.
It exploded in popularity while in beta, when it was released for consoles, and the game's servers quickly became overloaded. This wasn't expected by the developers, it frustrated many players, and it slowly declined in player base, even after the server issues were resolved. Splitgate 1 has sort of a cult following among it's remaining dedicated players, who have been extremely vocal about the direction of Splitgate 2. Initially, it was said that Splitgate 2 "wouldn't be a sequel, would have portals, and would be in the Splitgate universe". It is assumed the new game was named Splitgate 2 for name recognition, even though it has many differences from the original.
I play Splitgate, which is an arena FPS with a really cool portal mechanic. Well they've been working on a new game for almost 2 years, I think, it's been a while. They stopped development on Splitgate to make the new game. Their website currently has a countdown timer and a July 18th date... Splitgaters are getting excited, but we don't know exactly what the countdown is to. Some think it's just a new teaser video. Others think it's a release. The intensity is building.
What is interesting, and potentially an indicator, is they refreshed their Discord server, so most of the old channels are gone, it has a new logo, and there are 3 new Server Status channels for Steam, Xbox, and PlayStation that are currently locked. The current Splitgate game is still online, so it's odd they would take down everything for the current game, unless the new one is actually coming soon.
Timer is down to 4 hours and 36 minutes, so I'll guess we'll know in the morning...