When you’re a video game developer trying to make it in this gaming space, one of the biggest accomplishments you can do is be successful enough with a title that you get to make a sequel. The team at 1047 Game is the one behind the upcoming “portal shooter” Splitgate 2. This series started with a few guys inside a dorm trying to figure out how to put portals into an FPS shooter title. Sure enough, they made the original game, and it was successful. Thus, they made a sequel. On the PlayStation Blog, CEO Ian Proulx talked about what makes the sequel so great and how it is the true “dream title” that he and the other founders came up with so long ago.
For example, on the blog, he noted how things with the first game were a bit simpler than you might have thought:
“We launched the original Splitgate with 20 people, none of whom had ever made a game. Thanks to passionate players, the early success of Splitgate led us to investments that have enabled us to grow our team. I’m proud to work alongside seasoned industry veterans from Riot, Ubisoft, and many other developers responsible for some of my favorite games. 1047 Games is no longer a handful of college grads hoping the servers don’t crash again. We’re a team of seasoned gaming veterans making a AAA shooter that we hope will surprise, amaze, and excite you.”
He went on to note that stopping the original game in 2022 was an incredibly hard decision. After all, this was their life’s work in many ways, and yet, they knew that they had the ability and opportunity to go bigger with a sequel:
“That meant building from the ground up in Unreal Engine 5, with completely new character models, new maps, new weapons, and even new portal walls and portals.”
Using Unreal Engine 5 gave them many opportunities, including the chance to make character skins that were not only awesome-looking but would be very easy to give away for free to players. However, throughout the process, they had a vision of what they wanted:
“We had another couple of goals when we started development on Splitgate 2. One was, “How do we keep this fun all year round?” That goal was closely followed by a key objective: “Build a game that can last a decade or more.””
That is their goal, and as the game gets closer to its 2025 release on PS4 and PS5, they’re truly endeavoring to deliver on that promise. More details will come soon!
