Splitgate 2 CEO Apologizes For Wearing "Make FPS Great Again" Hat

Splitgate 2 CEO Ian Proulx issued an apology after he wore a hat stating “Make FPS Great Again” to the Summer Game Fest.

At Summer Games Fest 2025, Proulx, who is the co-founder and CEO of 1047 Games, the developer of Splitgate 2, wore a hat that reads “Make FPS Great Again” while he introduced the game’s world premiere trailer.

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In a post to the Splitgate social media account on X, Proulx issued an apology. He said, “So I’ve got a lot of questions about ‘What’s up with the hat?’ ‘Why’d you wear it?’ ‘What was the intent?’ And I want to start by explaining myself. It is really freaking hard as an independent studio to breakthrough the noise. You go to these award shows. We saw it at TGAs. We had this great trailer and there’s 50 other great trailers and didn’t really have an impact. So at our biggest stage coming out of Beta we needed something to grab attention. And the honest truth is we tried to think of something and this is what we came up with.”

“We did not intend for this to be taken in any political way whatsoever,” he continued. “And I’m not an idiot. Obviously, I knew there would be some level of controversy, but we really saw this as a meme that was kind of stating our truth, which is we do want to improve this genre. We are disappointed with the state of the genre. So we took it as a meme that would not be nearly as received as it was, negatively received the way it was.”

“So I want to apologize and genuinely,” he added. “You don’t have to believe me, but the truth is that I am sorry. And the reason I’m sorry is because what this has done to the community. The most important thing to me is that I want to have an amazing community. That is the reason I built 1047. That’s the reason I love my job because I wake up everyday I have friends in the community, Michaeveli, Tovar, all these great people who I play games with, who I get their feedback, I talk to them. These are the people who got us through the dark times. And I hate seeing division. And that’s what I’m seeing right now, on both sides. There’s division in the community and for that I’m truly sorry.”

“Again, I’ll reiterate. I do stand by the intent of this, which is-. The intent truly is, take it at face value. We do truly want to improve this genre. We do feel the genre is in a bad state. And we want to make FPS games as amazing as possible. But I also understand that it’s not just about intent, it’s about impact. And the platform that we’ve had has had a negative impact. And for that I am truly sorry. I wish things were different and I appreciate all the feedback,” he concluded.

The game hit an all-time peak of 25,785 concurrent players on Steam in its first Saturday after releasing on June 6th. The player counts have stayed steady with the most recent 24-hour peak hitting 22,853 concurrent players.

However, the company shared that its player base “has more than tripled since Beta. Specifically, we've had a ton of recent success on console.”

What do you make of his apology?

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