1047 Games is making one, potentially final, bid to keep Splitgate: Arena Reloaded alive with a new battle royale mode called Arena Royale. If you weren't aware, Splitgate: Arena Reloaded is the new title for Splitgate 2, a name that emerged after the maligned sequel was relaunched, and 1047 Games decided to shut down the OG Splitgate servers. Arena Reloaded is meant to represent a combination of the best of both games, just like how its new Arena Royale mode is intended to be the best parts of a battle royale and an arena shooter in one.
That's the pitch made by 1047 Games design director Josh Watson, who breaks down what the team didn't like about current battle royales and how it let those feelings lead the design of Arena Royale to make a game mode that is still technically a battle royale mode, but in the most arena shooter way possible.
"When we sat down to design Arena Royale, we knew we wanted to push it closer to that arena feel," Watson begins. "And we kept coming back to this core idea: less looting, more shooting. You see, traditional battle royales have long stretches where you're not really playing. You're staring at chests, traversing empty space, and waiting for your next fight."
"Arena shooters are the opposite. They're about fast action and fast engagement. Arena Royale is the best of both worlds."
Watson goes on to explain some of the core differences between the kind of battle royale you're already familiar with and the kind that 1047 Games has put together. You won't drop from a ship; you'll instead be dropped into a lobby ahead of every match, where you'll vote between one of the four available maps by standing in front of the one you want.
When the match begins, you'll instantly spawn in and go from there. The four available maps (or biomes, as Watson calls them) are Dought, Glacier, Fracture, and Outskirts, which is an entirely new biome that, frankly, at a quick glance, looks like a smaller knock-off of Kings Canyon from Apex Legends. That's not necessarily a bad thing; Kings Canyon is a pretty iconic map with some great POIs. If you're going to pull inspiration from anywhere, might as well pull it from what you know people already like.
Moving forward, other ways in which Arena Royale mixes an arena shooter and a battle royale is by doing away with any battle royale tropes that get in the way of fights. This manifests with chests opening instantly, a player's loot dropping in a big pile instantly when they die (no going through deathboxes), and most importantly, in its low player count, with only 24 players to a match, in six teams of four.
You also won't find buy stations in any of Arena Royale's biomes, as you're able to upgrade equipment on the fly with money earned by doing damage, racking up kills, and completing events like Split Ball, Firecracker, and Hot Zone.
Since Splitgate 2 relaunched, unfortunately for the team at 1047 Games, it doesn't seem to have taken off. The relaunch came and went without anyone really noticing. The last time we heard from the team ahead of this update was to try and grab some attention and press by responding to claims that the game was dead/dying due to its poor concurrent player numbers on Steam.
Making a big hullabaloo about its lacking Steam numbers did not, it may shock you to learn, give it a boost in player numbers on Steam. While Steam concurrent numbers are never the full picture, they're an indicator that, at least on one platform, Splitgate: Arena Reloaded has been unable to gain any serious traction. If that doesn't change, and if things aren't much better on Xbox or PlayStation, then the next time we see a major statement from the studio could very likely be about the studio and the game shutting down.
The Arena Royale mode and the rest of update 2.2 will arrive this Thursday, on January 22, 2026.
About the author: David has been writing about videogames, technology, and culture since 2020, with a focus on reporting daily news across multiple publications, including GameDaily.Biz, GameSkinny, and PlayStation Universe before joining Wccftech in 2025. David started contributing as Canada/US reporter for Wccftech's gaming section in 2025. Besides being up-to-date on the industry's movements, he loves interviewing developers, reviewing games, and writing intricate essays about the symbolism and layered meanings to be found in rich narratives as he's done for publications like GamesIndustry.Biz, LostInCult, and others. Outside of games he loves movies, music, theatre, his hometown, and his family, though not necessarily in that order.
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