Splitgate explodes on Steam & Twitch as fans flock to Halo-style shooter

After years of searching for relevance, Splitgate has finally built a following of players by relaunching the game with the selling point of being a PvP title crossing Halo and Portal.

Since its original release as Splitgate: Arena Warfare back in May 2019, the first-person shooter hasn’t had the type of popularity developer 1047 Games had in mind. The game had an incredibly small player base and up until July of 2021, the average player count for Splitgate was only around 300 at a time on Steam. The game had toiled away in relative obscurity, up until recently.

On July 27, the game was relaunched simply as ‘Splitgate’, dropping the sub-title and adding console play, and since then has exploded in popularity. Some of Twitch’s biggest streamers like xQc have begun playing the game, giving a platform to its unique gameplay mechanics that combine elements of both popular FPS’s in Halo and Portal.

1047 Games

Splitgate recieved a “re-release” and is now topping the Steam charts.

Splitgate goes viral on Twitch and Steam

Splitgate has become one of the most played games on Steam, averaging roughly 55k players since the game was re-released on July 27. While the new version of Splitgate is still technically a beta, it is currently in the top 12 games by player count according to Steam, above games with huge player bases like Final Fantasy XIV and Rocket League.

On Twitch, Splitgate has entered the top 40 categories in viewership, hovering at just above 8k viewers over the last week.  When xQc streamed the game on August 7, he brought his community of over 60k with him, helping the game reach a peak of nearly 90k viewers.

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Splitgate describes itself as a “Free PvP Portal Shooter” that combines elements of the popular titles Halo and Portal. The gun combat draws on inspiration from the Halo franchise, and throwing in portals makes for some extremely wild gameplay moments.

Twitch, xQcOW / Instagram, FaZeBloo / 1047 Games

Twitch star streamer xQc brought some attention to Splitgate when he streamed the game on August 7.

The Splitgate developers seem to take some pride in not being another Battle Royale shooter title. It will take time to see if Splitgate will stay at the top of the charts, but for now, it’s riding high.