1047 Games hits third wave of layoffs less than a month after Empulse launch

1047 Games, the studio behind Splitgate and the recently released Titanfall-inspired shooter Empulse, has laid off more staff — the third round of cuts in the studio's recent history. No formal announcement has come from the company, but multiple employees confirmed the news on LinkedIn.

QA director Igor Krinitskiy was among the first to post publicly last week, describing the departures as "the crew getting off at the post-Empulse station" after a bumpy ride. UI engineer Iannis Stefan Palaczkos confirmed he was caught in "another wave of layoffs," and concept artist Jonathan Kuo said it would be his last week at the studio due to "the third wave of studio layoffs." The outlet Game Developer first surfaced the LinkedIn posts.

1047 Games had a genuine breakout moment with Splitgate: Arena Warfare — a Halo-meets-portals shooter that blew up and landed the studio a $100 million funding round in 2021, along with bold talk of becoming "the next Riot Games." Things have gone sideways since. Splitgate 2 launched, stumbled badly, and was rolled back and relaunched as Splitgate: Arena Reloaded within months — without recapturing the original's audience. Empulse launched earlier in 2025 to decent early impressions but has struggled to build a player base, sitting below 1,000 concurrent players on Steam. Its $20 price tag — unlike the free-to-play Splitgate — likely hasn't helped.

CEO Ian Proulx previously said the studio's goal is to "grow over time, not aim for a massive splash on day one," a philosophy that now has to carry both Empulse and the studio itself. PC Gamer has reached out to 1047 Games for comment and will update when a response arrives.