"Steam Charts don't measure fun" - Splitgate Arena Reloaded developer responds to concerning PC launch numbers

Splitgate Arena Reloaded developer 1047 Games has shared some words regarding how its rereleased and repackaged game is doing over on Valve's PC platform, stating: "Steam Charts don't measure fun."

Splitgate Arena Reloaded started life as Splitgate 2. However, Splitgate 2 as it was failed to hit the mark, and 1047 Games took the game back to beta in July of last year, which resulted in a number of layoffs at the studio. In November, it was announced that Splitgate 2 would relaunch in December. A new name - Splitgate Arena Reloaded - was then revealed, along with a relaunch date of 17th December.

Since that relaunch less than a month ago, many picked up that Splitgate Arena Reloaded still wasn't bringing in big numbers over on Steam. As our Connor reported just this week, the relaunch saw an initial peak concurrent player count of 2,297 on the PC platform, before that number dropped down to a relatively stable concurrent count of around 1,000 players in more recent days. It is unclear what its console player base is.

1047 Games has now addressed these Steam figures, saying you can't simply equate player numbers on a single platform with the amount of fun that is being had. "They show one number, on one platform, at one given moment," the Splitgate Arena Reloaded team said.

"They don't show the full picture or what it feels like to actually play, and they definitely don't capture the community that's actively helping shape what Arena Reloaded is becoming (including upcoming content like Arena Royale)."

Continuing, the developer said: "Over the past six months, we rebuilt Splitgate from the ground up because we believe in the game, our team, and our community. The 1047 team remains committed to delivering the best version of Splitgate possible."

It went on to thank Splitgate's community of players for their passion and feedback, before closing with an encouragement for others to give the game a go and "form your own opinion" on the relaunch. "To everyone who hasn't played yet: Arena Reloaded is free, the gameplay's the best it's ever been... A lot of passionate people worked very hard on it."

Image credit: 1047 Games

Splitgate Arena Reloaded is hosting a selection of competitive events in an effort to drum up interest. This includes a $5,000 tournament with Splitgate content creators, as well as a $25,000 community challenge. There's also a welcome back event, in which players can earn the T200 character skin, a popular relic of the original Splitgate.

Will this second go at things still yet be the time Splitgate makes FPS great again? We will see.