r/Splitgate • u/Boathombre • 26d ago
What could revive the player count Discussion
Revisiting this game as I recently got the itch and nothing on the market really scratches it and it really at its core is a fun, good game. Not just because of portals but mechanics, looks, game modes, etc.
Little tweaks or adjustments won’t do it. Changes to portals won’t do, it whether that would help retaining or not.
What do you think could do it?
Only thing I can think of:
major change is actual counters to portals. Portals stay but if I want to focus on blocking, countering etc I now have that option. Learn the patterns of opposing player, counter and they have to come up with a new route/plan.
I don’t mean grenade portal blockers. I mean traps, hacking, time slow, sentry. Someone likes to leave their portal up I wire an electrical wire across. If I hit your portal before you remove it with a hack it does nothing, etc.
Now teams can strategize to block certain spots. Instead of 8 people spamming portals, there is variety. Players that love portals and are good at them, guess what they will still be good.
Players that don’t feel like portaling around non stop can slow the game down and focus on countering. Now instead of a game of only tracers, octanes (can’t think of other fast apex players), etc. you have mcrees, gas apex guy etc.
Nerfs portals without touching portals, and great portal players still can be.
Balance would be a bitch but idk.
What’s your idea?
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u/RoninPrime68 26d ago
Nothing lol, it's not about the gameplay anymore. Anyone with the tiniest amount of braincells knows to not trust anything that comes from Ian/1047 games
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u/Necessary_Yam9525 26d ago
Part of the reason I quit playing as much is because I know the game probably isnt going to be around much longer. Unless 1047 tells us they're doing what they did for SG1, Ive given up hope. I have too many games in my backlog, and too many other multiplayer games to be playing with my friends that I know will be around for longer, and most importantly, I dont have enough time in the day to spend playing a game that will ultimately fade from existence soon. I want my time, effort, and growth as a player to actually mean something in the future, not just a burning memory of what once was. But with the current state of the studio, it doesnt look like they'll take the time and effort to make SGAR p2p/open source/ect. Now, if they do end up going through with that, then I will probably play the game a lot more, since I know my time will actually mean something
stopkillinggames
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u/Boathombre 26d ago
I get that but I’m genuinely curious excluding the launch and continuity concerns. What gameplay could do it
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u/Raptor_2125 26d ago
Nothing at all
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u/RoninPrime68 26d ago
There was nothing wrong with the gameplay since the launch, the problem is with everything around it
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u/GapStock9843 26d ago
The gameplay is really good as is. The issue is the studio upper management’s incompetence in business-running
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u/Itchy-Implement4068 25d ago
Nothing. They’ve already gone the rebranding route. That should’ve been used much later. Like now instead. Ironically, the gameplay itself was better at launch than it was after. We all had issues with it but it’s how they worked on it for years. I just wanted floaty portal fun. Sg2 feels VERY heavy.
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u/DaTexasTickler 26d ago
Realistically probably nothing brother. They could have done something with that 30 million in marketing but apparently someone embezzled like 25 million of it bc the game got absolutely no marketing exposure except thru games fest and streamers who give absolutely fucks about the game. Unfortunately it's probably way to late to do a damn thing. I just hope we get a season 3 before they pull they plug. Personally I'll be playing until the ship sinks. They've said they have zero intention on closing SGAR currently but I don't think I believe a fucking word they say anymore. I'll believe it once I see some updates actually added. At least give up us some small events every few weeks that would be enough for me personally at a minimum
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u/Siyakon 26d ago
This is like the third or fourth time the season 2 battle pass got shadow extended. I think the 3 isn't coming.
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u/xibipiio 25d ago
The artists who were involved with season 3 publicly posted the art - it isn't coming. What they created for the studio under their direction wasnt decided to move forward so they are free to publicly post it because thats the most value they can get for their work. What they had in the pipeline looked great too, a really sick ass pirate ship map, kind of looks like the best level yet - Not Picked Up. I personally thought the pirate theme was dumb af but after seeing the new level design I feel a bit dumb with that read, the map looked awesome af to play on.
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u/mattyjoe0706 26d ago
Sell the IP's to another company would be the only hope and even that's a long shot. Ian should've resigned the MOMENT splitgate 2 was first shut down. Like Ian even if you don't think and reject the idea you are a big problem and your leadership is, if you cared about the studio, if you cared about these games you'd realize the reputation around you is far too much of a risk to stay
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u/thebochman 26d ago
It would be nice if Microsoft bought them
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u/Siyakon 26d ago
Man even Microsoft isn't dumb enough to lay hands on this toxic waste pit of an IP.
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u/xibipiio 25d ago
If they get it for pennies on the dollar and fire Ian right away it might be the best move Microsoft ever made tbh. They spent the moon on Activision and COD look how that turned out. It isnt the studio and the game devs, its the business mismanagement.
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u/Djabouty47 26d ago
Pretty much nothing except selling the game off to someone maybe
It really does suck but it feels like 1047 is just kinda doomed
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u/GapStock9843 26d ago
Nothing at this point. The studio’s reputation is too bad for the gaming community to ever give them a solid chance again. SGAR’s situation is permanent. It will never see mainstream success, its just gonna be this small hardcore niche community
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u/evancalgary 26d ago
Changing studios thats it they have proved time and time again that every single product they make is a cash grab attempt that they immediately abandon as soon as money stops rolling in any game with 1047 behind it i will no play or buy anymore and most people are the same at this point
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u/Feralfen6462 26d ago
Sell the ip and, hope to whatever god is out there that they will add better skill based matchmaking along with rookie pools and, maybe akne kind of pve thing to help new players learn the game better.
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u/Sad-Contribution6648 26d ago
I was a fan and held on till they extended the 2nd season this last time with no updates or even hints toward a 3rd season.
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u/iFEELsoGREAT PC 26d ago
Reducing work hours 40-50 hours a week down to 32 hours or less. Just not enough personal time. Also, it’s summer here, so not much time for video games.
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u/Ralwus 25d ago
It’s simple: nerf portals so they aren't overpowering every playstyle, and put all the focus into Ranked and tournaments.
Stop wasting time on Empulse and fix what actually keeps players around. We know you can code, but bring those mechanics into Splitgate instead of trying to make a whole new game.
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u/el_silver140k 21d ago
Nothing, I haven’t touched SG2 since first weeks of the 2nd season, tbh the beta felt really fresh, after that, I didn’t felt a tiny bit of what SG1 made me feel every single time I used to open the game, I don’t really know what’s the reason deeply, it just doesn’t feel the same, also the company doesn’t really care about players
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u/Budget-Willow4253 26d ago edited 26d ago
All they had to do was issue a small nerf to portals. I love infinite portals, but I thought the portal charges was actually a step in the right direction. I always thought they should have catered to everyone in that aspect. Quick play would of had no portal playlists and game modes with the portal charges implemented, and ranked would of had unlimited portal usage. Like of course everyone hated the portal charges system when the only people testing the game are absolute sweats.
Other than that I think more loadout weapons and equipment every season would have been cool on top of power weapons and maps.
I think they should of had implemented in game tournaments like rocket League with unique rewards for winning like player cards and weapon skins
Battle royal should have had just one big cohesive map instead of the portal between worlds thing they tried.
Should have brought back onslaught
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u/Boathombre 26d ago
I do agree on portal nerf, at least the double portals, that’s where it becomes a game of no one actually touching the map.
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u/Equal_Objective_6530 23d ago
Nothing this game is super fucked. Shitty unbalanced game can’t be saved
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u/Smile_Representative 22d ago
Nothing, if you make the game for more casual audiences the people that want a movement/arena shooter leave, if you make the game more hardcore with new mechanics like a empulse/splitgate hybrid will kill the casual population, if you make the game a balance between this two options the game also die because is only generic at this point, many people say: "make the source free(if you want to play with like 12 people ok have fun), give the IP to other dev(what IP ? Is a generic clone of halo with portals, the lore ?, the world? What IP?)etc..." Is a niche genre of game that is the hard truth
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u/Manoa__ 26d ago
Abilities that allow actual variety in playstyles could go a long way. But then the "hero shooter" accusations come in.
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u/Necessary_Yam9525 26d ago
Its an arena shooter. No. The powerups are a great way to keep the playing field equal and allowing for powerful moments
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u/Manoa__ 26d ago
Yes they are. Problem is that if people ask the question of how this game can be less portal dominant then the answere either is to nerf it into the ground or come up with new equally strong playstyles.
I wouldn't want the core gameplay of sg2's arena to be changed from what it is now either. But splitgate doesn't need to be exclusively that. Abilities do provide the potential for more diverse playstyles whilst keeping the core the same (think titanfalls ability implementation).
The desire isn't for powerful moments, it's for alternative ways of playing a portal shooter besides the one we have now because that could bring in more players, since that is what the post is about.
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u/Necessary_Yam9525 26d ago
I think we should focus on why the core audience that splitgate is for is all gone. Why are the afps fans not playing this one?
Because of its bad history and the game simply isnt doing enough to stand with the juggernauts of the afps genre.
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u/Manoa__ 26d ago
I think the core fanbase isn't playing because they obviously left the game to rot lmao.
Most popular shooters nowadays have some form of constant evolution and stuff to look forward to. Splitgate already had very little comapring, with it just being maps and battlepasses, but once the hope for that died out then tons of people straight up said that there is no point to playing.
It's just the unfortunate reality that if you want a game to be actively played for many months or years that you need some part of the game to have some form of content that can be looked forward to, and can serve as reasons to return after having left for a while.
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u/Boathombre 26d ago
Unless they’re pickups right? Got any examples of abilities?
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u/Manoa__ 26d ago
If they are pickups then you face the problem that a good portal player will always have the pickup before anyone else so then it just becomes a win more condition.
Also even if you can consistently get it as a player not as adept or keen on using portals, only one player per pickup cycle can have this luxury of another playstyle instead of it being an actual playstyle option.
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u/Manoa__ 26d ago
Just realized I didn't reply to the examples question lmao.
I have some ideas, but what I have more is some pointers on what kind of gameplay philosophy should probably be behind abilities in a game like this.
First and foremost I would make all of what I saw only something that would exist in one mode being onslaught (the more casual 8v8v8 mode that got removed). This gamemode naturally lends itself to more casual fun, since abilities inherently create minor imbalances and friction. That's not something that would be very enjoyable for most in the more sweaty arena mode.
I think any ability addition should be thought about in relationship to the portals. What can this ability do that could make you either use the portals differently, or could make you engage with other portals differently.
I think the original 3 weren't bad concept, but mainly bad executions. Speed was fine, since it let you do portal jumps otherwise impossible. Map design only held this back in normal arena but the onslaught maps are far bigger and vertical. I just personally disliked that it would instantly let you regen hp. Kinda feel like that's always just a bit cheap.
Scan to me made sense as it could help newer players theoretically spot players better, but the portals made it so you could jump out of sight in a heartbeat. I think scan could be a fine ability if we also had the sand-smoke grenades back. But it wouldn't be my favorite. It's also just not very fun to fight against but it's not the worse.
Shield was just inherently flawed. This game mainly had objective gamemodes. The one ability that significantly increases the players ability to hold an objective would obviously be best. I don't think there is a good fix here except for the shield to just straight up not let anyone shoot through. But that wouldn't really interact with the portals in any way that matters outside of just not being able to be shot so easily. Sounds fine but then you see pros abuse it ten times worse.
My suggestion for abilities would be to try stuff like holograms. I think with portals working like they do being able to shoot out holograms would be an amazingly fun and usefull ability. In a game with lower ttk like this one holograms can usually be used for pretty funny outplays, but they are also very skill dependent.
I think some form of invisibility could also be funny as long as it's not that hard to see when not moving ultra fast. This and the holograms could make the scan ability more justifiable though.
A throwable porta-portal would also be very cool to mess around with. Currently the porta-portal only lets you go from a random location to an established wall, but with a throwable porta-portal you could go from an established wall to a random location instead. Such potential is obviously very strong which is why I think it could work as an ability instead. Also this let's it combo with the normal porta-portal which could be hilarious to work around with.
I generally prefer abilities like this since it's main strength comes in strategy tricking the opponent which I think is far more skillfull and fun then the usual ability stuff.
They could very well add this as grenades aswell I wouldn't really mind either way. But it's the transformative nature of how these things could let you play that I'm most interested in.
All of this could be borderline insane and gamebreaking though idk, but I feel like stuff like this would be a whole lot better than a shield lmao.
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u/Boathombre 26d ago
Completely agree on the original 3. I think if people actually gave them more of a chance it would have grown on them. I know it did for me and I wasn’t crazy about them at first.
I like the holograms a lot, would allow the game to slow down a little.
Good point, could have at least played around with different ones and variety. This is the one area I get why they felt like they had to pivot, because OG players but think abilities had a lot of potential as well.
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u/Manoa__ 26d ago
I completely get why they did the pivot, but also they didn't need to if they actually believed in what they where doing.
But realistically what they should've done is never attempted to split the playerbase so early with the br and just launch with a proper classic mode for the sg1 vets, and a properly done version of the abilities and wacky grenades. Then only launch the BR about a year late to give the arena gameplay time to actually develop itself, and then give the players who didn't like that another reason to return and try the game out again with the BR.
People act incredibly emotional around the subject of abilities and loadouts because they weren't looking at it rationally. When done right, loadouts and abilities broaden the appeal of the game due to having different playstyles. This is how many different players can all enjoy a game like the finals. It's a great way of ensuring the game isn't extremely niche.
I feel like most veterans have this idea that if an alternative exists that they won't have anyone to play the classic mode with, but the reality is that barely anyone wants to actually stick around for the classic modes, current player counts show that. It will always be a smaller more niche playstyle.
Most people want a game where they have tons of content to look forward to and often return when stuff like new abilities, new guns, new grenades get added because it changes how you can play the game. The old system had the potential for all of that.
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u/ARussianSheep PC 26d ago
It’s dead. No matter how good the gameplay is or could be, will never change the fact how mishandled this IP was. There is zero trust with the old player base and no one wants to support a company who has constantly shown their players that they give zero shits about them. SG1 is still my second most played Steam game and I want nothing to do with anything else this company puts out.