Shooters are having a moment in 2025, with Battlefield 6 and Arc Raiders topping the charts and attracting large player counts as the year comes to an end. The former title is a return to form for a legacy franchise, while the latter leads the charge for the fledgling extraction-shooter genre.Left in the dust in the shooter space, however, is Splitgate 2, a game that its makers thought would revitalize a genre they saw as growing stale. Developer 1047 Games released the first-person shooter in May, exuding extreme confidence in its product. Splitgate 2 tried to bank on nostalgia for old-school arena shooters, directly invoking Halo and even Titanfall. Yet, the game was also marred by contradictory decisions, adapting present-day monetization models and industry-wide fads like battle royale modes.Splitgate 2 is a blip in the big picture of 2025, but the issues and drama surrounding the title and its release were so prolific that the game is certain to be the subject of YouTube essays and analysis for years to come. From microtransaction controversies to studio CEO Ian Proulx donning the most egregious headwear possible in a livestreamed industry event, along with developer layoffs and an extremely unusual "unlaunching" of the game, 2025 was nothing but tumultuous for the Splitgate team.Continue Reading at GameSpot