What you need to know
- Splitgate is a free-to-play cross-platform shooter described as "Halo meets Portal".
- The current beta is attracting an overwhelming amount of players, causing server stability issues.
- Made by a small 4-person team, Splitgate had to be taken offline while capacity and stability issues are resolved.
Update July 23: The developer has shared an update and it looks like their current server system can only handle a maximum of 65,000 (ish) concurrent players. A queue system is being implemented until the extra capacity has been secured.
We spent all night optimizing more but after talking to AWS, we learned our database (redis) can only handle 65,536 concurrent players (what we hit last night). So no optimizations matter yet. We are working on a queue system to let 65k ppl in until we remove this limitation. pic.twitter.com/SBDpzk0vTyWe spent all night optimizing more but after talking to AWS, we learned our database (redis) can only handle 65,536 concurrent players (what we hit last night). So no optimizations matter yet. We are working on a queue system to let 65k ppl in until we remove this limitation. pic.twitter.com/SBDpzk0vTy— Splitgate (@Splitgate) July 22, 2021July 22, 2021
The gaming world often throws up bad news stories, but how about a story of overwhelming success. So overwhelming, in fact, that one developer team has had to take the beta of their game offline while they figure out how to add more server capacity.
The game in question is Splitgate, available on PC and console, and the current beta period for the free-to-play shooter. It's been so successful that to prevent players having a bad experience, the 4-person team took the decision to take the beta offline.
We have decided to take the beta offline for tonight. It’s been a rough day trying to handle this scale and it’s not fair to you.
Everyone who played the beta so far will get 5 drops as a token of our appreciation. Stay tuned for more updates and optimizations in the morning <3We have decided to take the beta offline for tonight. It’s been a rough day trying to handle this scale and it’s not fair to you.
Everyone who played the beta so far will get 5 drops as a token of our appreciation. Stay tuned for more updates and optimizations in the morning <3— Splitgate (@Splitgate) July 22, 2021July 22, 2021
Splitgate has been soaring during its beta period, as players discover the game, get hooked and keep on playing. Concurrent player records for the game have been falling all week. On the first day of the beta, 4,000 concurrent players were on Splitgate, this has since skyrocketed to over 65,000 concurrents at the new peak. Add in 600,000 new players total, and this small team has been overwhelmed.
If you haven't played Splitgate yet, then you definitely should. But let them get the server capacity in place first. It's a first-person shooter best described as a mix of Halo and Portal. As you traverse the maps you can create portals to move in extreme and unpredictable ways, making it one of the more innovative titles in the genre in some time.
So, if you've been playing and have been frustrated by server issues, cut the devs some slack and be patient. This is the exact purpose betas exist for, to iron out issues before the full launch. But also know that a small indie team is seeing massive success with a great product, and we're definitely here for that.
This innovative shooter is like a Halo game crossed with Portal, and as it's free-to-play there's really no reason not to give it a shot. And you totally should.
