In the avalanche of trailers at this year ’s Game Awards , Splitgate 2got a abbreviated moment to smooth . The shooter sequel show off a time that highlighted its vena portae - ground action and teased a new mode . There was one detail nestled in there , though , that your oculus may have glazed over . It is n’t just launching on PC , PS5 , and Xbox Series X / S ; it ’ll launch on PS4 and Xbox One too . It ’s a decision that ’s becoming rarer and rare over four years into this current console generation .
Staying cross-gen
liken to its predecessor , which start its living as a small - musical scale indie project , Splitgate 2is an tremendous production . Proulx says that it has five time the content as its predecessor and is deliver milled visuals that make it look like a AAA game . With a opulent vision for it set out from the start of product , 1047 Games was faced with a knockout choice about what platforms to launch it on as it would likely land awkwardly in the middle of this current console generation .
“ That was a heated argument two years ago . I ’ll narrate you , a lot of artists did n’t want to do last gen ! ” Proulx tells Digital Trends . “ But for me , there ’s a couple of reasons we wanted to stick to last - gen as well as current - gen . One is that we need to have as big of a player base as possible , and the world is that there are still a lot of player on last - gen . The 2nd reason is the social aspect of it . Let ’s say that by the time we launch that even 25 % of players are still on last - gen , if I ’m in a four - tidy sum and I ’ve got my police squad , if one of my crony is on last - gen , we ’re puzzle to a game we all play . ”
Proulx believes that it ’s still worth ship a secret plan so long as the part of participating PS4 or Xbox One user is in the double digits . That ’s a no - brainer , but it ’s not the only reason thatSplitgate 2is going cross - gen . A self-aggrandising part of that issue forth back to personal computer histrion . The team was determined to optimize its shooter so well for PC player that someone could tend it in “ potato mode ” and still run at 60 frames per second .
Doing that would require sacrifices , but they were single the squad was willing to make after some testing . Proulx recall a story that recall a idea many gamers have probably had during Sony and Microsoft ’s latest console coevals : all those flashy tech feature just might not be deserving it .
“ We actually had our lead lighting artist do a presentment . Show us a comparison between different lighting solutions , ” Proulx says . “ So we carry Abyss , a mapping fromSplitgatethat we remastered , and ask what it looked like using the old - school lighting method ? What ’s the performance ? Show me some screenshots . Now do it with Lumen . Do it with all the fancy features , optimise it as well we can , and show me a before and after . What ’s your form rate ? Then we had a big conversation , and it was just pretty clear . ‘ All right guy rope , this was a sport recitation , but you ca n’t tell me that that screenshot front that much proficient to excuse cutting the frame charge per unit . ”
“ I have not upgrade my own microcomputer . I have a 1080 . ”
Maintaining execution was paramount to the squad . Proulx trust thatSplitgateplayers come to the serial publication for gameplay first and foremost , not visuals . placid performance and fast bowel movement were what helped the original become a breakout success , and the squad was n’t uncoerced to lose that . Proulx is so serious about that , in fact , that he uses an eight - yr - old PC at house .
“ As plot developer , everyone has these crazy PCs so it ’s loose to get in the substance abuse of ‘ I do n’t palpate the personal pain that the players do because I have a4090 , ’ ” Proulx enjoin . “ So , by say you have to hit 60 frame per second on a PS4 and an Xbox One , that ’s run to set the legal profession . If you’re able to murder 60 on an Xbox One , you’re able to hit 60 on a crappy personal computer . One of the thing I ’ve done to help ram this is that I have not promote my own PC . I have a 1080 . It ’s really good for 2016 ! I like to feel that personal botheration so I can complain about it so that I can do something about it . ”
That does n’t mean that the team is n’t going to push the game on high-pitched - powered machines . Proulx notes that while the team has n’t experimented with thePS5 Proyet , he ’s eager to tool around with it . He believes it should be easy to give it a rise thanks to Unreal Engine but admits that it ’s probably more complicated than just flipping some switches .
Still to come
WhileSplitgate 2is schedule to plunge next year , there ’s still heap of oeuvre allow to do on it . Last twelvemonth , 1047 held its first alpha for the shooter . I participated in it and find that the shooteralready felt like it was in great shape , even in a modified aspect of it , but the squad found a deal of room for improvement . Since then , it ’s been bring to fine-tune feature like time to kill . The team had antecedently try out with making it quicker than it was in the last game , but it ’s now dial it back a turn based on alpha feedback . It ’s also adding some more portal controls , as players will get the option to close each portal individually . One of the more pregnant alteration you may expect to see in its next exam , though , is way more portal - well-disposed airfoil .
“ Part of our design goals this time around was to have portal walls that were more intentional and useful , ” Proulx say . “ There were some wall inSplitgatethat never got used . But we probably went a little too far in thinking every individual portal wall must be perfectly placed , and this time we ’ve gone back to the alpha map and added a bunch of portal walls , some portal jumps , more impulse , more floor portals . Just give role player more option . ”
Some of the bigger feature coming to the subsequence are still being celebrate under wrap . Watch itsGame Awards trailerand you might catch a coup d’oeil at an unfamiliar manner . Proulx gave us a modest hint of what that is , bug a mass multiplayer modality that has already become the most popular option within 1047 .
“ We have a young mode . We ’re not really tattle too much about it ; we ’re give-up the ghost to show more about it in the new year . But it ’s the tumid - scale affair we ’ve ever done . Twenty - four musician , three squad of eight . That ’s all we ’re going to say about it for now , but it ’s very , very fun . ”
Splitgate 2launches in 2025 for PS4 , PS5 , Xbox One , Xbox Series X / S , and PC .
