Splitgate 2: Player Count Declines After Launch

As of its debut on May 22nd, the Splitgate 2 participant numbers continue to decrease, evidenced by a peak of 2,195 simultaneous players on Steam.

The game’s active user base is now under 10% of its peak in June, when it boasted more than 25,000 players, causing concern among enthusiasts about the arena-based portal shooter’s future.

Several elements may be contributing to why players are both expressing negative opinions about the game and choosing to play different titles instead.

User feedback on the Steam platform is mixed, with criticisms levelled at the game’s current state. Many players have lauded Splitgate 2 for its user-friendly portal mechanics and high-velocity combat. However, there has been criticism of the condition of the Ranked mode and its battle royale offering.

One prominent factor is the series of contentious issues that arose following the game’s presentation at this year’s Summer Game Fest.

1047 Games’ CEO, Ian Proulx, faced online criticism for wearing a ‘Make FPS Great Again’ cap. Despite initial resistance from the CEO, he ultimately issued an apology on Reddit for wearing the hat.

Other controversies included the prices in the in-game store, where bundles containing weapon skins, outfits, portal colours and other items were priced as high as $80. The bundles were later reduced to $40, with the CEO attributing the original prices to the actions of 1047 Games’ former Head of Monetisation, who was described as being ‘very aggressive on pricing’.

Lastly, a Social Media Manager at 1047 Games issued an apology online for targeting a Call of Duty developer using the official Splitgate 2 account, leading to a negative reaction from the community.

The number of Splitgate 2 players on PC has been trending downward since June 9th, shortly after the game’s launch on consoles. Despite 1047 Games’ efforts, there has been no rebound, even after promotional activities involving influencers.

According to a LinkedIn report by Nick Lombardi, Co-Founder of Steamforge, 1047 Games allegedly invested approximately $409,000 (~£315,000) in enlisting influencers to play Splitgate 2.

Lombardi noted that the game garnered over 27 million views across major platforms, including YouTube videos, Twitch streams and TikTok shorts. The sponsored content achieved an engagement rate of about 8%, accounting for 2.2 million views in total. More than half of these views (1.6 million) were generated by YouTube shorts.

In the context of competitive gaming, Splitgate 2 has not yet been the venue for an official esports event since it became available. However, several competitions have taken place over recent months, including the Splitgate Showdown held from June 13th to 23rd. This community event involved players registering to represent a content creator’s team, with the opportunity to unlock in-game rewards.