„We needed something to get attention.” Criticized dev of online shooter apologizes for his behavior on Geoff Keighley show
SplitGate 2 is doing quite well, despite the words of one of the developers at Summer Game Fest 2025, for which, by the way, he had to apologize to players.
Since the release and the controversial but "necessary" statement from the CEO of 1047 Games, the number of players in Splitgate 2 has tripled compared to the beta tests.
Ian Prolux undoubtedly caught the attention of players watching Summer Game Fest 2025. Not only with his words (among others, about "being tired of playing the same Call of Duty every year"), but also with a cap with the inscription "Make FPS Great Again."
While some players ed Prolux, other viewers were a bit put off by the American creator's statement. The cap referencing MAGA also didn't earn him applause from people for whom it was too closely associated with politics.
That's why (despite initial resistance and explanations that his appearance was not a "political statement"), the CEO of 1047 Games published a video apologizing for his performance at SGF 2025. He honestly itted that Splitgate 2 team needed something to grab players' attention. And apparently, such a "show" was their best idea, even though Prolux was aware of the potential controversies.
A crowd of players, a bit of criticism
It's not like those "controversies" really affected the studio in a bad way that much. The number of players tripled for the release of Splitgate 2 compared to the open beta tests that ran until the full game was released on June 6th. At least that's what the developer reported on X.
No specific numbers were given, but on Steam alone, SplitGate managed to break its own activity record from before the release (12,166 players simultaneously) more than twice (25,785 s simultaneously), and according to Prolux, the game achieved its greatest success on consoles.
However, since then, the number of players has clearly decreased, but it still hovers around 20,000 people daily at peak times. What might be more worrying are the "mixed" ratings on Steam (62% positive reviews) and the less-than-average rating of 4.06 in the PlayStation Store.
Partly it's the result of Prolux's impact on SGF 2025, but the criticism of the "cap" or "political" words of the developer is not the only accusation against Splitgate 2. Some players are not satisfied with the battle royale mode (which is by no means the main attraction, contrary to what one might have thought after the presentation at Summer Game Fest 2025) and the lack of ranked matches at launch.
Nonetheless, people who started their adventure with the second Splitgate earlier hope that the devs will once again listen to the players' and quickly start polishing the game.
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