Splitgate 2 Dev With ‘Make FPS Great Again’ Hat Gets Called Out

1047 Games cofounder Ian Proulx took the stage at Summer Game Fest on Friday to promote his new game Splitgate 2 by calling out the current state of online shooters. Eschewing the marketing speak of most of his peers at the glossy showcase, he said he wants Titanfall 3 to come out and called his new game’s surprise battle royale mode “fucking awesome” while wearing a “Make FPS Great Again” hat.

Splitgate 2 is a free-to-play arena-style shooter where players deploy portals to mess with physics and the fabric of reality to outwit their opponents. “I grew up playing Halo and I’m tired of playing the same Call of Duty every year and I wish we could have Titanfall 3,” Proulx said on stage alongside host Geoff Keighley. He added that the new battle roayle mode aims to combine the old-school arena shooter sensibility with a mechanic to portal to other worlds.

Out today on console and PC after a beta last month, 1047 revealed that the new mode is going live alongside the rest of the game. The subtext of Proulx’s pitch channeling President Trump’s slogan was clear: while EA cancels games and Activision leans into predictable cash-grabs, the underdog team at 1047 is shaking things up with a game by gamers for gamers.

Meanwhile, the riff on “Make America Great Again” took place shortly after a clash between Los Angeles residents and law enforcement over ICE raids in the city’s garment district only blocks from where Keighley’s Summer Game Fest Play Days industry event takes place this weekend. Trump has ordered the immigration agency to arrest a record number of people every day for deportation even as ICE detention centers are criticized for overcrowding and lack of food.

Proulx followed up on social media later on to elaborate his appearance. I’m not here to apologize but I am here to clarify,” he wrote. “This is not a political statement, it is quite literally what it says, so take it at face value. The state of multiplayer FPS games is tragically stale. We hope to fix that, whether you want Arena, Battle Royale, Onslaught, or Map Creator.”

But many still dunked on the Summer Game Fest stunt, joking about Splitgate 2 fixing the “tragically stale” state of multiplayer shooters with a battle royale mode and a trailer set to Imagine Dragons. Others called out Proulx’s dig at Call of Duty, heavily criticized for its increasingly expensive microtransactions, while his own free-to-play game has a $70 skin bundle in it.

“We understand your criticism,” the studio responded to one player who pointed out the irony. “This pack features our most unique skins with complex animations & artwork. We have a variety of cheaper options. The game is free to play, & you don’t need to buy anything to enjoy it to its fullest. Nothing is pay to win & never will be.”

The original Splitgate launched in early access in 2019 and spiked in popularity. The party didn’t last, however, and by 2022, the studio abandoned the game to work on a new project. Last year it revealed that new project was actually just Splitgate 2.

Update 6/7/2025 11:57 a.m. ET: Added further comment from 1047 Games and people’s reaction.

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