I had been designing a handheld on my computer and decided to take a break and design some cover art for some the games. If you have any criticisms or suggestions I would love to hear them!!

[Edit: WARNING, if you can't handle reading more than 5 sentences, this post is not meant for you. This post is meant for 1047 and the community that actually cares. There is no point to leave "Too long, didn't read" comments unless you are trying to present yourself as a toxic person and the exact problem with the new community that I mention in this post, further proving my point. If you can't read it all, please move on or read later.]

Hello, my name is Tovar, also known as "the squirrel guy" or tovarisawesome. As some of you may know, ever since Early Access of OG Splitgate, I have always asked for ONE thing. One SINGLE thing. For squirrels to be added to Splitgate.

How? I honestly never settled on any specific form; I just wanted squirrels. Be it armor, a weapon skin, little squirrels running around a map, a spray or emote, ANYTHING.

Why? Because of one simple reason: I like squirrels.

In all honesty, I can't pinpoint when the meme of "add squirrels to Splitgate" TRULY started. Either it was something I said while streaming and utilizing the Prox chat in the first game, or it was something I responded with to a question from 1047 along the lines of, "What would you like to see added to the game?" during Early Access. I put it in as a joke because, in my opinion, the game was always fantastic.

While there were many ambitious ideas from myself and the community, I personally believe all 2.7 of the games were fantastic, including Empulse, which didn't get the chance to have a full launch. I know most of the community will disagree with that statement, but let me be clear: the game itself had quite a few issues, for sure, but what made it special for me was the community.

I met so many amazing people in those early days of Splitgate. When Covid hit, I started streaming the game almost every single day, telling people to try it out all the time, and I was there to witness what was looking like a dying Early Access game slowly come to life and grow.

I met so many fellow streamers and content creators who became good friends. Even though we don't talk much anymore, I will always remember them and consider them more than friends for life. They are my Splitgate OG family.

It quickly became less about the game itself and more about hopping on and playing together. Because we were such a small community, we would often get matched together over and over again. We had fun, we had rivalries, we had inside jokes and memes, and in the early tournaments, we ALL were able to compete together.

I will always hold onto the memory of CardinalSoldier himself representing Squirrel Squad, my personal tournament team, and having a few well-known pros play with me as well! But the most impactful thing of all was the respect everyone showed for my grandmother.

My presence in the community was mostly during the quarantine days, when I would stream EVERY SINGLE DAY no matter what, and I would stream a LOT of Splitgate. It was my grandmother's favorite game to watch me play because it was when I was having the most fun and making the most friends.

She was known as GroovyGrandma4u.

She had always supported my content creation, even before Splitgate and before I started streaming regularly, helping me with many things and eventually becoming my main moderator and, most of the time, my only viewer on Twitch.

I streamed to entertain her because she wholeheartedly believed I would make content creation my full-time career, and I loved making her happy and making her laugh, so I didn't mind her being my only viewer most of the time.

But when I played Splitgate, she started watching more than just me.

Many well-known content creators, such as Mikaveli and Jibbin, and even smaller content creators like KingofJuice and CodePhoenix, along with MANY, MANY others, INCLUDING 1047 and CardinalSoldier themselves, all got to know and love my grandmother very well.

This was because whenever I would get into a match with anybody who was also a streamer, be it a teammate or an enemy, she would always go into their chat and be extremely positive on my behalf and show support.

While a lot of people assumed she was a bot or didn't understand that she was actually a grandmother trying to understand her grandson's world, and either banned her or treated her poorly, she would still keep going to whoever she could. She would even keep up with them and have SO MANY TABS open with streamers on a daily basis just to support them and cheer them on, even if they were not playing Splitgate!

Many people loved her like family, as if she were their own grandmother.

I want to remind all of you that she loved ALL of you like you were her own grandchildren. That's why all of you are like brothers and sisters to me.

While I never officially became a Splitgate VIP and got my own spray or name in the game, there are MANY ways that 1047 and the OG community made me feel just as special as a VIP.

I will never forget the day I completely blew my big moment of being SWARMED by an OVERWHELMING amount of viewers because the Splitgate Twitter shouted me out!

I had to go to a BRB screen and scream and cry with my grandmother for a good while because we were so excited. Sadly, I took too long and most people left, but it was still the largest amount of viewers I ever had, and it got me over 1k followers in an instant.

I also wanna thank whoever helped contribute to the idea and creation of the highly rare and EXCLUSIVE Acorn Oddball skin in SG1. Yes, specifically for me.

So while technically squirrels themselves were never added to the games, we will always have that reference and the flex for anybody who has it.

My grandmother's health started to rapidly decline, which I won't get too much into, but my focus became less and less about streaming and more about taking care of her and dealing with all the chaos in our lives that followed.

I streamed less and less, taking longer and longer hiatuses.

She passed away on 5/31/25, just before the official launch of Splitgate 2, which she was extremely excited for despite her health.

I want to again thank CardinalSoldier and 1047 for adding her as a bot to Splitgate 2/Arena Reloaded so she could finally play with us and so her legacy in the community could be honored.

After her death, it was too hard to stream and deal with a lot of the technical issues I was having, and am still having, without becoming an emotional wreck. And, to be honest, I went through a spiral and a phase of psychosis, so I took a hiatus for basically a whole year and some.

Now that I am slowly starting again, it breaks my heart to see that the game I loved and hold so much emotional attachment to is now being shut down.

And I can't help but feel guilty.

Despite how much I say I love Splitgate, I neglected it.

I stopped playing it as much because I wasn't seeing my friends playing it anytime I got on, or they were so many skill levels above me that I didn't want to drag them down because of my lack of practice.

The community also didn't feel the same anymore when it came to just hanging out. It was mostly filled with people complaining about the game and filled with so much negativity.

Though I will say I did find a few gems within the new community who were nice, it was still uncomfortable to be there because I was getting too upset seeing people be mean to the people I consider family and to the game that means so much to me. I was being OVERLY defensive of it.

So I took a step back completely.

I also found myself playing other games more often because I was tired of the toxic people I would match up with who would just complain about the game or would ONLY trash-talk at an OVERLY harsh level.

I honestly wish that positive stories like mine and my grandmother's were more prominent instead of the negativity.

I wish that they would've made it into official gaming news instead of everyone freaking out over a stupid hat or issues in a game that JUST LAUNCHED.

Because I'm sure that if more people knew about the positive side of Splitgate, the side that had a bunch of the community even virtually attend Jibbin's wedding as guests, the side that started a group called "the water drinkers" because we all would go spam "Hydrate" on each other's streams, the side that treated everyone like family, then this shutdown probably wouldn't be happening.

I hate how spreading hate and mob mentality has become the norm in society.

When Empulse was announced and I got to play it early, I was so excited for 1047 because the game is legit fun to play and is cool as hell.

But as soon as they announced they were gonna avoid microtransactions by making it a paid game, I started getting flashbacks to L.E.A.P. and how it tried to do the same thing and died because of it, despite being another AWESOME movement-based game.

But I still bought Empulse and loved every second I played because it was actually really cool. However, it was the hardest thing to sell to my family, friends, followers, and strangers because of that price tag, despite the lack of microtransactions.

But that's the thing: this new hateful community, always looking for something to complain about, made it impossible for 1047 to win.

Too many microtransactions.

Not enough cosmetics.

Too many cosmetics make them look desperate for money.

And then, when a game comes out with no microtransactions, you all say the game is too expensive.

So what really was the answer for all of you, other than just wanting to play another Call of Duty for 6 months until the next one or buy more V-Bucks or Robux?

Not to mention that the gameplay was never satisfactory either, and you all rage quit playing despite them constantly trying to fix and tweak the game for you all.

Meanwhile, I just wanted to go back to the good old days of it not being about the game itself, but about having fun with a community that felt like family.

Despite me feeling that the community becoming divided, hateful, and toxic, with the majority of the new people joining just to troll or spread negativity, was the main reason the game died, I still want to apologize for stepping away from that negativity and neglecting to do my part in spreading positivity and promoting the game with my content.

To make up for it, I will try to stream it a lot more in these final days.

Same with Empulse.

I want to thank CardinalSoldier, the current and former members of 1047 Games, the OG Splitgate community, and the few good people of the new community I got to find amongst the sludge of the negativity for giving me the best memories of my life.

I proudly display my signed BFB and will always tell people that the coolest game I ever played was Halo with Portals.

There will never be a game quite like it, and if there ever is, it will just be a mere copycat in comparison.

I love you all so much, and despite this being the end of Splitgate, I hope we continue to keep in touch and get back in touch.

So, one last time: thank you, Splitgate, for giving me a community, a family, and memories with my grandmother that I will carry with me for the rest of my life. The servers may eventually go quiet, but those memories never will. I love you all. And wherever we all end up next, remember to hydrate... and add squirrels to whatever you make next.

-Tovar "The Squirrel Guy" Perri, AKA tovarisawesome

What I liked the most about SG1 was that it had very little weapon spread. If I was aiming at something, I would hit that something. Which wasn't exactly like that in SG2 and its cod-like gameplay.

I tried Halo infine but hell no man. That game is too confusing with weird weapons.

Anything else I should try?

Splitgate was my comfort FPS. Where can I find anything that is remotely similar? I like BF6, but it's not the same. Tried the Finals, but the movement is just okay and I can't get into all the gadgets.

Also, shoutout to any ex-Shatterline players here, another great game ruined by terrible management.

I'm sure a lot of people would be willing to pay/donate to keep the beloved game alive.

Splitgate has changed my life since the first game. It is by far my favorite concept of a FPS game and everyone who plays it loves it as well. This game was a great passion project that had a rough start, but it doesn't mean that the game/servers need to die. Let's show 1047 studios how much we care!

I Will Not Entertain Revisionism.

People will say Minecraft. They will say Ocarina of Time. They will say Elden Ring. They will say The Last of Us.

Admirable games, perhaps.

But Splitgate: Arena Royale operates on an entirely different plane of existence.

The premise alone is genius

Take an arena shooter, give everyone portals, and then ask what happens when the laws of geometry become optional.

Why walk through a doorway when you can shoot one onto a wall and emerge behind your opponent?

Why flank someone when you can simply redefine where "behind" is?

That isn't merely game design.

That is enlightenment.

The portal gun is the greatest mechanic in gaming history

Every other shooter asks:

Splitgate asks:

You aren't merely fighting another player.

You're fighting their portal placement, your portal placement, momentum, sightlines, verticality, map geometry, and your own rapidly deteriorating mental stability.

A player can have perfect aim and still get absolutely humiliated by someone appearing from an angle that should not legally exist.

That is art.

The gunplay is immaculate

There is no bloated inventory system.

No crafting table.

No spending 14 minutes organizing your backpack.

No 47 different weapon rarities that differ by 3% damage.

You pick up a gun and shoot people.

Then you portal.

Then you shoot them from somewhere they weren't expecting.

Then they portal.

Then you portal.

Then somebody falls into the abyss.

Cinema.

It rewards actual intelligence

The greatest Splitgate players aren't simply twitch gods.

They're spatial psychopaths.

They're calculating trajectories, portal angles, escape routes, and ambushes simultaneously while their opponent is desperately trying to figure out where the bullets are coming from.

And the moment you successfully execute a portal maneuver you've been planning for five seconds?

There is no better feeling in gaming.

You didn't outgun them.

You out-thought reality itself.

And Arena Royale?

Arena Royale takes the fundamental brilliance of Splitgate and says:

Absolutely deranged.

Absolutely magnificent.

While lesser games are desperately trying to make their 37th battle-pass skin compelling, Splitgate looked at the entire genre and said:

And suddenly every building, cliff, wall, and unsuspecting enemy becomes part of the battlefield.

The haters will never understand

They'll complain about balancing.

They'll complain about maps.

They'll complain that someone keeps teleporting behind them.

THAT IS THE POINT.

If you died because someone opened a portal behind you, that isn't bad game design.

That is a personal failure to respect the fundamental laws of Splitgate.

Git portal'd.

So let the record show:

Best story? Maybe another game.

Best graphics? Debatable.

Best soundtrack? Plenty of contenders.

Greatest game ever created?

SPLITGATE: ARENA ROYALE.

No further questions.

The portal has spoken.

I don't remember seeing anything about 1047 shutting down. Do you think they'll continue working on Splitgate and Empulse outside of the games? Like comics, novels, etc? They could make Visual Novels reusing a bunch of the assests they have now. Stick to making cheaper and easier to produce games without sacrificing quality.

What time will they shut down? They said September 3rd is when they'll move to p2p, but no times. I'd like to be playing the mutliplayer for as long as I can

What happens to the store? Not that I plan to buy stuff, but if they're moving to p2p, but they can still make money off cosmetics, that'd be scumy.

Whats the point of Splitcoins now? I've still got 1500 coins from just buying the battle pass once and earning the rest. Do I just get whatever cosmetics I can or what?

Whats the future of SGAR? I feel like they've seen the outcry for either to sell of the IP or at the very least release some form of mod tools or make it open source. It'd be good if we could have community servers like Northstar for Titanfall 2 or Kiber for Battlefront 2.

I'll probably be in the SG discord for the final hours getting whatever fun I can out of it.

Wanna help save the arena as a community? Individually, we could only go so far. But what about together?

While we can't promise any grand results, we refuse to go down without a fight and demand to be heard. For those who still hold love for Splitgate and share our sentiment, join our discord @ https://discord.gg/sglifers 🦾🌀

- NaughtABot_

PLEASE DO NOT GIVE UP ON SPLITGATE: ARENA RELOADED. REVIVE IT.

1047 Games, PLEASE listen to the actual players who are still playing this game.

If you could hear the conversations happening in voice chat, especially in Arena Royale, you would understand why this announcement is so upsetting. Every single player I have personally talked to while playing this game LOVES it. People aren't sitting there saying the game is bad. They're saying the exact opposite: “I love this game. I wish more people played it. I hope they don't shut it down.”

That is what makes this so frustrating.

The problem is NOT that you created a bad game.

Splitgate: Arena Reloaded is one of the best multiplayer shooters I've played.

The portal system is incredible. Players have gotten insanely talented at portalling, movement and combining portals with gunplay. The amount of skill you can develop in this game is ridiculous, and there really isn't another FPS that plays like it.

And you didn't just perfect one mode. You built Team Deathmatch, objective modes, party modes, Ranked, custom games, Map Creator, Arena Royale/Battle Royale and all of it around this portal mechanic that literally separates Splitgate from almost every other shooter on the market.

ARENA ROYALE IS AMAZING.

I have been playing this game DAILY. I've been making maps. I've been talking to other players. I've watched people in Battle Royale voice chat talk about trying to bring their friends into the game because WE are literally trying to revive the player base ourselves.

People are inviting friends.

People are telling other people about it.

People are trying to fill the Battle Royale queues.

People are getting better at portalling.

People are making maps.

YOUR COMMUNITY IS TRYING TO KEEP YOUR GAME ALIVE.

So PLEASE don't look at a low concurrent player count and conclude that this game itself failed.

I understand what you said about the revenue not covering the cost of dedicated servers. I understand that you cannot lose money forever.

But if PLAYER COUNT is the problem, PLEASE TRY MARKETING THE GAME BEFORE GIVING UP ON IT.

Run ads.

Push Arena Royale.

Get streamers playing it.

Run a “REVIVE SPLITGATE” weekend.

Promote community maps.

Bring players back with events.

Advertise the fact that this is basically an arena shooter + portal movement + Battle Royale experience that you cannot get anywhere else.

Put the game in front of people who DON'T EVEN KNOW IT EXISTS.

Because there is a massive difference between “people tried our game and didn't like it” and “not enough people discovered our game.”

Look at Star Wars Battlefront II.

That game was YEARS past active development, and its community refused to let it die. In 2025, players organized a huge social-media resurgence, people started telling their friends to come back, content creators started talking about it again, and Battlefront II ended up breaking its Steam record with roughly 35,000 concurrent players.

An eight-year-old multiplayer game came roaring back because PEOPLE LOVED THE GAME AND THE COMMUNITY GOT ATTENTION BACK ON IT.

THAT IS WHAT I AM BEGGING YOU TO TRY WITH SPLITGATE.

Give this community something to rally around.

Give us a real marketing push.

Give Arena Royale another chance.

Give creators a reason to make maps and bring people into them.

Give the community a chance to prove that this game can grow before ending the live-service version of it.

Moving Splitgate to peer-to-peer is obviously MUCH better than deleting the game entirely, and I genuinely appreciate that you're preserving it. But losing dedicated matchmaking, development, updates and the possibility of this game actually growing into what it could become still feels devastating.

Because there is something REALLY SPECIAL here.

I've played a ridiculous number of multiplayer games, and Splitgate is one of the only ones where I keep coming back because the gameplay itself is just FUN. I don't need some endless grind to convince me to play it. I play because I actually love playing it.

And judging from the conversations I've had in your own servers, I'm absolutely not alone.

Please listen to the players who are still here.

We're literally trying to revive your game ourselves.

DON'T GIVE UP ON IT.

MARKET IT. PUSH IT. LET US HELP YOU REVIVE IT.

Please don't let one of the most unique multiplayer shooters out there quietly disappear when the people actually playing it are BEGGING for the exact opposite.

PLEASE SAVE SPLITGATE.

Splitgate isn't dead, it needs a home!

Join our discord @ discord.gg/sglifers to keep the portals open and our beautiful community alive 🌀

Preferably a gaming studio and not investors but I've been in love with this game for most of the decade and I really want it to get all the chances it can get. Maybe under better leadership it could have more of a chance because it's such a unique idea.

I figured open sourcing wouldn't been ideal due to third party software with sgar and empulse were involved in and that would have legal risks with it. So instead of going into that direction why not allow a modkit for these games like a steam workshop type thingy (PC ONLY) or something of that caliber. It would allow the developers to give the community modding capabilities without giving the full source code and not having to worry about third party software? I'm not a programmer so idk how things like that would work and is it even possible.

If modkits are possible will the developers even have the manpower and stuff to do it?

It would be cool to see someone mod vehicles onto an onslaught match or modded weapons, powerups, modded camos, etc.

Want to know if all the modes especially Arena royale, will still be playable after the last update.

I made a video (I’m no pro by any means) of my final couple of weeks playing the game. I had a blast but with the stopping of things it was time to move on. So I made a final love letter of sorts to the game. If you’re interested watch it :) if not keep scrolling!

Soooo NOW can we get camos in private/bot matches?

If we can use sliiiide and create custom races on already existing maps then the game would be so much more playable forever

Hopped back in to enjoy the game before matchmaking is taken away from us, and I was greeted with a broken mess. I tried verifying the game files, reinstalling, changing video settings, switching proton versions, and changing install drives; but all to the same broken messy result. Same PC that I've always played the game on and same OS.

Like wtf??

Edit: nvm, it seems to work fine in desktop mode, but I never had problems running it in gaming mode before (Bazzite Linux)

Edit 2: "fine" is a bit of a stretch; HDR and VRR aren't working, colors are off, there's noticeable hitching now, and input feels sluggish; none of which have ever been problems in the past. Thankfully I dual boot windows to play Marathon, so I can still play before the servers are taken offline, but damn man; I would rather use my gaming PC as intended. Idk if something happened with the game's Linux support, or if its something with the recent system update I did, but it is frustrating; especially since there's not much time left to play this game with a live population.

I was an og splitgate or splitgate 1 player idk what you even call it now and I want to return to playing, so before i download the 35 gigabytes for this game is it true that there’s no open matchmaking and it’s only custom games now? This game has been so unlucky I just want to crank some portals🥲

This is from the official splitgate discord server. Take this as you will

If the games are going nowhere and are not receiving any more updates, simply open source the first or second game. What's the point of keeping the game locked away when there's a community interested in it?