Sudden success can also have disadvantages. This is particularly noticeable at the moment with the free multiplayer shooter Splitgate. The game had to be postponed spontaneously due to too many players. The full release of the “Portal Halo” was actually planned for July 27, 2021. Now the game won’t be released until August.
The current server structure is simply not designed for the large number of players. An official press release states:
“Our team was completely blown away by the incredible response from the Splitgate community. The sharp and sudden onslaught of players on our servers brings with it a myriad of technical issues to deal with. We have worked hard to ensure a high quality gaming experience and our biggest challenge is simply to have enough space for the whole community. “
Although the final release won’t take place today, players won’t go away completely empty-handed. The beta servers are currently down while a major update is being installed. This already contains some innovations that were intended for the finished release. Including three new maps.
If you want to get an idea of Splitgate, check out the gameplay trailer:
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Splitgate: Futuristic multiplayer shooter shows gameplay in the trailer
Will the postponement provide relief?
So the rush of players took the developers by surprise. This became apparent a few days ago. Because the mass of people in this case has had an immense impact on the working life of the developers. CEO Iain Proulx spoke of the immense time pressure and that some developers would only get around two hours of sleep.
Splitgate’s impromptu postponement may annoy some players. But hopefully the developers will be able to calm down a little. Crunch is a tough topic in the game industry. In our big report we go into the phenomenon in more detail:
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Crunch in games: our report
Splitgate owes the sudden rush to the beta phase on the consoles, which has been running since July 13th. Before that, the shooter had been in Early Access on the PC since 2019. But it was only with the console beta that the current player numbers shot towards the stratosphere on Steam. The game offers crossplay between all platforms.
$ 10 million for bigger servers
In addition to the postponement, the developers announced another piece of news. Because apparently they tried to find a financing with which the new server structure should be possible in the first place. The venture capital company Human Capital has invested 10 million dollars for this, which 1047 Games is investing in expanding its servers.
CEO Proulx says in the press release:
“We are thrilled that Human Capital is leading this funding round. In addition to providing the capital needed to improve server size and stability, they are helping them put together the engineering team we need to create the best game possible. “
The studio has not specified what the exact contractual framework conditions are. So it is not possible to estimate how many company shares human capital has received for this and thus also not to classify how valuable the developer studio is now valued after its rapid success.
