November and December were huge months for the monolithic Halo franchise with the rollout of Halo Infinite’s multiplayer and single player components, respectively. The game has been well received by most, but as it turns out, its success also positively impacted the player base of its closest competitor, Splitgate.
In an interview with Loadout, 1047 Games CEO Ian Proulx spoke to the publication about the current state of the portal-infused arena shooter. Launching across consoles and PC during the summer of 2021 to peak concurrent player counts of around 200,000, Splitgate couldn’t keep up with the demand, becoming more successful than the team anticipated. Beyond the initial honeymoon period, things settled down until Halo Infinite came along.
According to Proulx, the team saw an increase in Splitgate players on PlayStation consoles following Halo Infinite’s multiplayer beta in November. This news supports Proulx’s neutral stance on the hotly contested conversation surrounding Halo and Splitgate. Unlike some of its player base, Proulx believes that the two games can co-exist peacefully. He even goes as far as to state that the titles can help each other out, believing that their exposure to younger players will set a healthy precedent for the future of arena shooters.
While Splitgate’s growth may only be temporary, 1047 Games can keep the momentum going. This month marks the end of Season 0, alluding to its official release very soon. Beyond this, the team still plans to optimize the game for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S at some point during the year. In one final touch that may help the game, 1047 Games is considering “redoing pretty much everything in terms of art to come up with something that’s memorable, unique, and triple-A.”
