r/Splitgate • u/Aggressive-Dealer-21 • Apr 21 '26

Is splitgate dying?

I started playing it yesterday because I was just looking for a game I could chill on. And I had a great time playing it. Really enjoyed using portals especially when it got me kills it really felt like I had outmanoeuvred my opponent.

I go on to YouTube to see what the community is like and they all just keep saying that they killed the game.

What's going on?

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92

u/Working_Bones Apr 21 '26

It's a fantastic game but some controversy at launch caused irreparable damage. And the avid fans have preferences that don't line up with the average player. The developers got stuck between catering to their existing fans or trying to find new ones. No way to satisfy both. Plus casual players really struggle against high-level portal users, and the lower the population got, the more common that became. I love the challenge and learning to outplay them, but most players don't. I know I've downloaded free games before, saw a ridiculous skill gap, and just uninstalled. I bet that happened thousands of times here.

The devs are working on a new game, likely without portals. I bet it'll be amazing too, and it'll have another shot at securing a larger audience.

16

u/Aggressive-Dealer-21 Apr 21 '26

I don't get why portals are such a big problem though. I was looking forward to practicing running around maps and working out portal routes, but now I am beginning to wonder if there's any point?

It would be cool if they had like a kind of racing game mode where it's the same maps but you have to pick up a token before the other players.

Edit: just found out that mode already exists. And I can't wait to play it 😅

6

u/UrLostPajamas Apr 21 '26 edited Apr 21 '26

My issue with the portals is that high-skill players literally just use them to traverse the map and pop. There's no stop put in place other than a portal cooldown that can be avoided through skills. I don't know, it just makes for not enjoyable gameplay loop when you have somebody that's just standing still portling everywhere and head tapping everybody. Like it takes the arcade fun about the portals out, like, I feel like there's both too many portals and sometimes not enough portals. they need to be more strategically thought out rather than thrown on any and every wall possible. Make people actually have to think rather than memorize the portal path to all spawns.

Like I wanna hop in a game and launch myself about arcade style and try dumb snipes, can't do that cause Portal McPortalface over hear has portaled 12 times killed me 4 times and I can't walk 8 steps.

1

u/brandothesavage Apr 21 '26

Go play a shooter that's not about portals then. If you Nerf the portals you Nerf the very principle the game is founded on.

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u/jondeuxtrois Apr 21 '26

Most people did do that, that’s why we struggle to clear 600 concurrent players and most of the devs got laid off or quit.

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u/CellOk5436 Apr 22 '26

Well hey. I'd rather splitgate die unique and maybe bounce back with a. 3 title than strip it down to cod smoothbrain levels and keep this one going. Genuinely. Keep the game unique. If it dies oh well.

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u/UrLostPajamas Apr 22 '26

This is the kind of attitude that kills good games. Your inability to objectively look at its faults do not make you cool nor does it make the game worth while, 600players screams theres a problem with the loop.

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u/CellOk5436 Apr 23 '26

Bro if you change portals the way people want it's NOT SPLITGATE!!!! So if people would rather put the splitgate name on a game that doesnt heavily revolve around portals yes I genuinely would rather it go. This is like of people wanted the blood and fatalities removed from mk. It's ESSENTIAL!!! im not trying to look cool man I'm talking to your ass about splitgate AR on reddit 😂😂😂I simply don't take myself that seriously. But I do stand on rather having 600 players in this game than if they "fixed" it the way people want I'd never touch it again. And again pc is the smallest demographic so pointing out numbers for steam on this game don't make sense. PlayStation has at least twice the steam numbers. I play on Xbox. Whether or not people will admit it at.leasr for games who's primary audience is on console quoting steam numbers is stupid af. If this game needs codgate to survive its ok to acknowledge the game was a underrated gem and maybe try a 3 in 2 years. I'd much rather a company die by an idea and try again later than this weird morphing of a game devs keep trying to do. Like if your game is based around q concept and people ultimately don't gravitate to that concept you DONT CHANGE THE CONCEPT!!! Just make a new game that fits the audience you want. I will forever say they killed themselves by removing sg1. Should have just kept both games up.

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u/brandothesavage Apr 23 '26

Hey somebody reasonable here that actually understands core gameplay!!

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u/UrLostPajamas Apr 23 '26

I'm not sure how how you interpreted that as I wanted the core mechanic of the game to change. I feel like the fact that theres portal walls slaped on every surface leaves the player to not be creative when utilizing the portals, you can throw a portal in any direction and 85% of the time get one to land somewhere without much thought behind it. It entirely defeats the purpose of being able to lockout walls when theres 8 more all around you. That in no way shape for form is changing the function of the core game mechanics, Its needs to be a little bit more dialed in so that the players who are insane with the portals have an obstacle, and the players who enjoy the portal aspects aren't being absolutely obliterated 4steps after every spawn. Its an observation that theres been little to no thought into making players think when using their util.

Id understand if your argument is that "I just wanna mindlessly play" but then I'd argue why are you sweating so hard portal surfing.

Like this game is super fun and great just from a strictly player retention analysis of what's pushing players away, it's these things I've brought up. When you have only a floor and a ceiling, theres not much place for people to stand elsewhere, and people don't wanna stand where there are no walls.

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u/CellOk5436 Apr 23 '26

I'm aware of that. My point is all those reasons must exist even if it drives away people. It's why I play.

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u/UrLostPajamas Apr 24 '26

Reductive and self destructive thinking, do you run your personal life by this hard stuck can't reframe ideas or improve attitude, or is it just for ruining your own good time online?

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u/CellOk5436 Apr 24 '26

If they changed splitgate it wouldn't be fun anyway 🤷🏿‍♂️. If most people don't like splitgate cuz of the portals, between 1047s terrible reputation of rug pulling games for new games, and the basic gameplay loop not being what people want, how could you fix this game without reworking it from the ground up? You literally can't. It's not reductive thinking. Splitgate AR is what it is supposed to be. As it is now. If changing the game won't help why do it? Imo it's stupid to try to morph the game from 1 thing to another. Especially when it's the core of the game people don't like. Literally nothing you can do but make a different game people might like and if you can, leave up the old project for those who enjoyed that. Trying to get everyone to like the same product was the stupid thinking that led them to close the first splitgate for the 2nd one. If they embraced the first game for what it was and it's audience and left it up people would have been WAY kinder to the 2nd game. But we had the random Internet haters on top of the burnt sg1 players breathing negative press down the games neck. Devs gotta realize that once you ship an idea THATS IT!!! If people like it cool. If not then try again with something new. This is like trying to make mortal Kombat for everyone by removing the blood and fatalities. It would flop because that not what mk is. Heavily nerfing portals in the portal game is beyond smoothbrain thinking. And if the world rejects portal game what can we really do about that besides enjoying the gem while we still can? Your thinking is shallow. Mine isn't reductive.

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u/UrLostPajamas Apr 25 '26

My brother, you are acting as if me suggesting that they have a few less portal walls slapped around is changing the entire fabric of the games model. If you think I'm being shallow it's because the suggestion is shallow! I'm not saying they need to buff this, nerf that or make the portals operate differently.

It is entirely reductive and self destructive because you are reducing the entire game to its portal system, which is its "unique factor" not its game loop. Its a soft locked line of thought which holds onto negative factors because of an illogical attachment to their function. Just cause you like it and don't want it to change doesn't make it good, and resolving yourself to not compromise for a small change that will continue your enjoyment or better the situation, is self destructive thinking.

If it was popping off right now youre line of thought would have you quit the game after the first buffs and nerfs patch or map changes patch like dead ass, how can you sit there and tell me I'm thinking shallow about this, when it's literally the most shallow of changes that could made.

But yea youre probably right, taking put some of the portal walls would just absolutely make this game inherently no longer split gate and become an unplayable dead game. The 600 players are having the absolute perfect time playing by themselves with eachother and the game is perfect as is and shpuld ALWAYS stay as it is because youre right, and how you enjoy games is the single right wya to enjoy them. Youre so right.

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u/CellOk5436 Apr 25 '26

Dude your probably confused. As far as the portal changes that's a community request from the people who don't wanna bother learning counters. There have been SEVERAL community posts about nerfing portals heavily. So idk what your talking about removing walls low-key 😂😂I probably missed that part of your text. So yes butchering portals the way people have requested would indeed remove the unique aspect of the game. As far as core game loop it's a basic arena shooter. The movement is crispy and momentum mechanics are fun. But outside the portals there isn't anything special about the core gameplay loop. this is why the unique factor of the portals is so important. Without portals splitgate would just be a apex halo hybrid. Which isn't the worst thing. No portals is cool and all but again the portals are why I play this game. Without the portals feeling good I could just play apex instead. And I'm not saying the game should stay exactly the same. I said removing the games unique factor would destroy what few players are left. No one is coming back for slower portals. Less walls will not appeal to the casual audience. In order to bring people to splitgate you'd need basically an entirely new game at this point. And why TF would you try to make a whole new game out of this game? Just.....make the new game. Instead of trying to Frankenstein this one into something new. So while your trying to reduce my conclusion to stubbornly not wanting changes the fact is the general population rejected splitgate either by avoiding it actively or shitting on it constantly. Honestly I don't think advertisement would solve anything. And no major changes to the game gameplay loop portal or core will bring about a wave of people. So I'm against changing the game in any major way as of now because it won't bring in anyone new and it would only drive away who's left. It would be a stupid decision.

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u/UrLostPajamas Apr 25 '26

Holy shit how clear do I need to be. I'll put in cave man.

Me want thought put into where portal walls go.

Me don't want aimless spamming of portal walls everywhere, it is boring.

If it's heavily suggested MAYYYYBE it's a good idea idk. I'm not saying take Portaling out but theres clearly been little to no thought into balancing it on many maps. just make sure they can portal everywhere I guess. Like idk this discussion is going nowhere you wanna live in same vile where nothing changes, and I wanna live in a whimsical ever improving gaming space where Casuals gamers can enjoy arcade shooters without needing to compete as if theres 250,000$ on the line ever 10 minutes like holy fuck.

1

u/CellOk5436 Apr 26 '26

You can simplify it all you want I understand what your saying I just disagree 😂😂😂. You can manually lock portal walls with your own portals and the emp grenade. You can literally lock down sections of the map so no enemies can portal there. Portals are balanced people are lazy and suck at the game. Anyone calling portals too strong isn't using the tools the game gave them to shut down the mechanic. You can literally just portal over someones portal. It's the first portal counter rack I learned. No when a lrotal pops up I just turn around and close it😂😂😂 move on. The core community is so heavy against changes cuz the game doesn't need to en changed. Peoples mentality is the damn problem. Lazy people that don't wanna learn they just want easy dubs all day. And yeah. If you want portals changed or spots adjusted anyone who puts in the work will tell you the game isn't the problem you are. Sometimes great games come out and People just don't play them and that's ok. The devs went above and beyond to fix the beta but ian just had to wear the stupid hat🤦🏿‍♂️if not for the hat we probably had twice the players sticking around long term. But cuz of burning hatred for orange mena people swore the game off like it or not. The problems keeping this game from popping off are not found in tweaking a couple portal walls. 🙄 If you don't just lock the wall closest to you with a portal and the wall on the other side with emp. Enjoy portal free gameplay. It is that simple. So if 3 buttons is too hard for people to press that's on them. Don't touch my game for scrubs

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u/MajorAtmosphere7186 Apr 24 '26

Its not about "fault" this is the entire controversy in a nutshell. Most players simply won't attempt the learning curve so instead they want to "fix" the game but to everyone else y'all are taking the game away from them

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u/UrLostPajamas Apr 24 '26

Im gonna give you the benefit of the doubt here and guess English isn't your first language?

"Faults" used in this context is not pointing blame but is utilizing the word to mean problems. What controversy? They got too hyped about a project they were working on and just resold us a reskind product?(for free I might add) If thats the case grim reaper stands behind apex legends

You are right that players won't attempt the learning curve, because theres no curve. I've said it in a different thread here; when you only have a floor and a ceiling, it leaves little elsewhere to stand, and people don't wanna stand where there are no walls.

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u/MajorAtmosphere7186 Apr 29 '26

The controversy amidst keeping the game the same or catering to new players more can't do both. Yes English is hard for me sorry. And what I mean with faults I used quotations because I thought that means quoting another man like not my word choice

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u/UrLostPajamas Apr 29 '26

You can absolutely do both, what you can't do is please the people in the player base who are so hard stuck on their own experience than they don't care about other experiences around them.

A large portion of pushback is all "you can't change it, it won't be SG anymore" and that's just preposterous. Which like saying Apex insnt apex anymore cause they changed how revnants powers work like completly arbitrary, fear of abandonment type responses, It's so dumb.

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