Splitgate 2 CEO announces major prerelease plan to “overcorrect” meta

Splitgate is making a return with a sequel, and developer 1047 Games has a unique philosophy about approaching balance and meta changes through overcorrection during prerelease.

In an exclusive interview with 1047 Games’ CEO and Splitgate’s creator Ian Proulx, Dexerto had the chance to ask about how the team was handling meta changes throughout the development of Splitgate 2, the 4v4 portal shooter.

When asked about the developers’ view on balance changes shifts from prerelease to postlaunch, Proulx detailed how the team has decided to focus on overcorrection during the current stages of development.

“Our approach now is make big changes. I believe in design, whether it’s balance or UI or anything, I think you always want to overcorrect, because it’s a lot easier to make a big change and then figure out ‘okay now we got to meet in the middle’ versus tiny little changes.”

1047 Games

But once Splitgate 2 officially launches, Proulx says the developer’s approach to meta adjustments will have a different approach.

“Once we’re live, those kind of changes are a lot riskier, right? So once we’re live, that’s when you get into the incremental changes of like, okay, this gun is too weak, make it 10% stronger.”

The creator of Splitgate went on to say that having more playtesters has helped immensely with figuring out what works and what doesn’t.

“Splitgate 1 was 15, 20 people. Splitgate 2 we’re 175 now. 155 of those people didn’t work on Splitgate, and many didn’t play Splitgate prior to joining. And so, that’s a lot of new users from all different backgrounds, from different countries, from different levels of skill.”

But Proulx said that the developers aren’t too concerned about any balance changes breaking or defining the meta, in large part because of how the gameplay is designed.

“Everybody has, regardless of action, you have the same health, you have the same time to kill, you have the same movement. So 80%, 90%, of what determines who’s going to win a gunfight is who has better aim, who has better portals, who has better positioning and movement. Not who is better at activating their ability at the right time.”

1047 Games

On the topic of teamwork, Proulx explained how the faction angle is better for an even gameplay experience.

“[W]e have teamworks, so one of the clever things we’ve done in addition to having your own individual perks is each faction has a team perk, where if I have one of this faction, my team gets a slight bonus.”

The default meta for players will be for teams to have at least one of everything. Players can still pivot to specific team comps each round and focus all on one faction, but the mainstream meta will be best when the team gets different faction bonuses.

Splitgate 2 is set to release in 2025. The devs recently allowed fans to sign up for a Closed Alpha playtest that runs from August 21 through August 25.