On the time of writing, simply as the USA of Video games Gamers are starting to get up, ARC Raiders has 159,483 individuals taking part in. PUBG: Battlegrounds has 597,408. In the meantime, the free Splitgate: Area Reloaded has 556. In equity, a number of hours again, that peaked at 1,070, the very best numbers it’s seen since Christmas Day. For a sport that solely formally (re)launched on December 4, that’s…it’s not good. It’s very, very dangerous. However builders 1047 Video games try to place a constructive spin on issues.
The sport as soon as generally known as Splitgate 2 has had a self-inflicted tough time. Initially launched June final yr, the sequel to 2019’s free-to-play multiplayer shooter was then un-launched in July in response to a cacophony of detrimental response, the sport’s lack of fundamental options like leaderboards, and its grim microtransaction costs. None of this was helped by 1047’s CEO Ian Proulx carrying a MAGA-meme hat in a Summer time Video games Fest set in the midst of LA’s disgraceful ICE raids, after which making an attempt to take advantage of the impotent controversy for so long as attainable.
After 5 months away, the sport was re-released early final month, and also you’d be forgiven for not having seen. Whereas Splitgate: Area Reloaded noticed a half-decent 27,000 individuals present up on Steam quickly after its authentic June 6 launch, that quantity had plummeted to below 2,000 by the point the sport wriggled again into beta July 22. So its relaunch final month to a peak of two,297 gamers on PC is catastrophically dangerous. And that was its peak, that means the variety of individuals concurrently taking part in the sport on Steam during the last month is failing to beat the worst of the tail-off from earlier than the sport was pulled.
We should bear in mind, Steam is however one of many methods individuals can play Splitgate, and doesn’t account for console numbers in any respect. In fact, a web-based, free-to-play multiplayer shooter would historically are likely to discover a good portion of its viewers on PC, however we don’t have the info to indicate in any other case. As 1047 places it in a quick, extraordinarily defensive assertion posted to its official X account, Steam numbers “present one quantity, on one platform, at one given second.” Which is partially true. SteamDB, the source of all these PC figures, present the numbers at all given moments, and maps them to a graph. Sure, they don’t present what number of copies have offered, however they do let you know how many individuals are taking part in at any given level. And it’s barely any. Proper now, seven occasions extra individuals are taking part in Your Mom.
1047 Video games Responds to Current Steam Charts Conversations pic.twitter.com/ir9W0BjFHo
— SPLITGATE: Area Reloaded (@Splitgate) January 6, 2026
The assertion begins with an unimpeachably true assertion, nevertheless. “Steam Charts don’t measure enjoyable.” There’s no denying this, and if the 1,000 people who find themselves persisting with the sport a month after its re-release are having a good time, then all energy to them. Everyone knows glorious video games that unfairly failed to seek out an viewers, and 1047 completely needs to be defending a sport its happy with and boasting about its neighborhood. It additionally stays the case that when these video games are based mostly on a freemium mannequin the place revenue comes from gamers shopping for in-game gadgets, then its long-term potential is considerably restricted.
The assertion is defiant, sustaining “The 1047 workforce stays dedicated to delivering the very best model of Spligate attainable,” and thanking the gamers the sport does have. It additionally implores individuals to present the sport a strive, arguing “the gameplay’s the very best it’s ever been, and we’d love so that you can soar in and kind your personal opinion.” However what the submit doesn’t do is present any knowledge for console gross sales to bolster the opening level that individuals solely know the way it’s acting on PC.
It should be so terrible, to have labored so arduous on a sport, after which to have had the large setback of a failed launch, solely to re-emerge after months extra effort and for nobody to indicate up regardless of the sport being free. I can’t even think about. But, I actually don’t know if placing out a press release responding to Redditors being impolite about SteamDB numbers is essentially the most skilled look. Nonetheless, it’s working—we’re writing in regards to the sport as a consequence, and maybe that’ll encourage a number of extra individuals to present the sport a glance. I kinda hope it really works.
Rattling the playercount is decrease than your studio identify. pic.twitter.com/kgdyGxs4vu
— DANNYonPC (@DANNYonPC) January 6, 2026
Oof.
