1047 Games cuts staff again, weeks after Empulse launch

Empulse only just got out the door, and 1047 Games is already cutting staff again. Impressive turnaround time, if nothing else.

The layoffs surfaced on Monday through the people who lost their jobs, not through any studio announcement. A former principal technical sound designer said this was his second layoff in under two years, which is the kind of stat that tells you everything about how stable game dev careers currently are. An associate producer, meanwhile, described his four years at the studio as “incredible” on his way out the door, because apparently gratitude and getting fired now go hand in hand.

1047 Games hasn’t put out a statement yet, and it’s unclear exactly how many people were affected this time. If that changes, I’ll update this piece.

Empulse isn’t pulling its weight

Here’s the part that actually explains why this happened. Empulse launched into Early Access on 24 June to decent reviews, but concurrent players peaked at under 2,900 and have been sliding since. Splitgate: Arena Reloaded, the studio’s rebrand of Splitgate 2, is doing even worse, averaging roughly 250 daily players on Steam. Two games, two disappointing player counts, one studio absorbing the fallout.

This isn’t new territory for 1047 Games either. They cut staff a year ago after Splitgate 2‘s full release, framing it at the time as redirecting resources “to build the best game for our players.” Given where things stand now, that reasoning is ageing about as well as the player counts.

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