Splitgate (Arena Warfare): Peer-to-Peer Era Guide

A guide to the original Splitgate as it works in 2026: how to find and host peer-to-peer matches, portal fundamentals and advanced portal plays, weapons and map control, custom modes, Races and the Map Creator, plus where the series went next.

Researched September 2026 — current as of the peer-to-peer build (dedicated servers retired August 29, 2025). Live games change; check the linked sources if something differs.

Status: The original Splitgate (Arena Warfare) is no longer a live-service game. On August 29, 2025, 1047 Games shut down its dedicated servers and switched it to peer-to-peer. A player hosts, and everyone else joins from a server browser. Every cosmetic is now unlocked for everyone. The Battle Pass, Rewards Center, Store and Drops were retired. The final patch added 13 work-in-progress blockout arena maps and an unreleased Takedown map, Simulation Juliet. Races and the Map Creator still work, but Race leaderboards were removed (only your personal best is kept), achievements can no longer be completed after August 29, 2025, and daily playstreaks ended. 1047 Games confirmed that anti-cheat is not enabled in peer-to-peer matches, and the native Linux version was removed. Console versions and cross-platform play carried over to P2P. The sequel had a rough run too: Splitgate 2 became SPLITGATE: Arena Reloaded (December 17, 2025) and got a Season 2 in March 2026. Then 1047 Games ended development of Arena Reloaded on August 26, 2026, and it also moved to peer-to-peer servers in early September 2026.

Quick Start

Use the server browser. Pick a lobby with good ping. If nothing's up, host your own and invite friends. Hosts with saved custom maps can run them for the lobby.
Host with a good connection. The host is the server. A wired, stable connection makes the match smoother for everyone.
Only portal walls take portals. Portalable surfaces have a distinct look. Learn where they are on each map.
Portals are two-way and team-coloured. Enemies can walk and shoot through your portals, so close them when you're done.
Look through portals before you go through. You can see and shoot through them. Peeking through a portal is safer than walking through blind.
Map control beats aim. Power weapons and high ground win games. Know their spawn timers.
Everything is unlocked. Spend a minute in the locker picking a look, then play.
No anti-cheat in P2P. Stick to lobbies with people you know or trust, and leave if a lobby is obviously compromised.

Hosting and Joining in the P2P Era

1047 Games' own description of how it works: "A player will host a match and act as the server. Other players can view the game in the server browser and join from there. If the host has saved Custom Maps, then those maps will be playable for the lobby."

Situation	What to do
Joining	Open the server browser, sort by ping, and pick a lobby close to you. High ping to the host means delayed hits for you
Hosting	Use a wired connection and close downloads and streams. Your upload speed carries the whole lobby
Empty browser	Host a lobby yourself and share it in the Splitgate community (Discord, Steam forums). Evenings and weekends are busiest
Host stability	The host is the server, so a host with a bad connection or who quits affects everyone. Favour lobbies whose host is actively playing
Custom maps	Save them in the Map Creator before you host so the lobby can load them
Cheaters	There's no anti-cheat in P2P, so leave the lobby, or host a private one for friends

Because progression and the store are gone, there's nothing to grind: every match is just for fun, so pick modes and modifiers that keep a lobby full rather than "optimal" ones.

Portal Fundamentals

Concept	What to do
Two portals per player	You place both ends. Opening a new one replaces your old one of the same side
Line of sight through portals	Aim through a portal to shoot enemies on the other side. It works both ways
Momentum carries through	Fall into a floor portal and you come out of the other at speed. It's the basis of fast rotations
Enemy use	Opponents can use your portals, so close them when you've finished rotating
Reading enemy portals	Portals are coloured by team and easy to spot. An enemy portal near your position means a flank is coming
Jetpack	A short vertical boost. Use it to reach portal walls and high ground, and to throw off an opponent's aim

The three portal plays every player should know:

The escape portal. Put one portal somewhere safe before a fight. When you're losing, portal out and close it behind you.
The flank. Portal from a wall near your spawn to a wall behind the enemy's position. Shoot through before you step through.
The peek. Open a portal pair that looks onto a contested area from a safe angle. Fire through it without exposing yourself.

Weapons and Map Control

Every loadout comes with a primary and a sidearm. Power weapons spawn on the map at set spots.

Weapon type	Role
Automatic rifles (Assault Rifle, SMG, Carbine-style guns)	Main fighting guns. The SMG is for close range, rifles for mid range
Battle Rifle	Precision burst at mid range. Rewards headshots
Plasma-type weapons	Sustained close-to-mid-range damage
Shotgun	Deadly up close, and it pairs well with portal flanks
Sniper Rifle	Long sightlines, and shooting through portals
Rocket Launcher / Railgun	Power weapons. Control their spawns and use them on objectives
Pistol	Backup. Switch to it when reloading would be too slow

How to control a map:

Time the power weapons. Be at the spawn when they come up. One rocket or railgun changes a fight.
Take high ground and portal walls near objectives. In zone-control modes such as King of the Hill and Domination, owning the walls around the zone lets your team rotate in while the enemy can't.
Rotate as a team. One player going through a portal alone gets traded. Go through together.

Modes and Custom Lobbies

Splitgate has a lot of casual and competitive modes. Classic team modes include Team Deathmatch, Domination, King of the Hill, Takedown, plus variants like SWAT and Showdown. In P2P, the host sets the mode and the map.

Custom lobby ideas: Splitgate's own store page suggests Big-Head Mode with low gravity and unlimited ammo. Custom modifiers are still the best way to fill a lobby with friends.

Races: Time-trial portal-parkour courses. They're still playable and are the best way to practise portal movement, but since the P2P switch there are no online leaderboards; the game only keeps your own personal best times.

Map Creator: Build your own maps and save them locally. If you host with saved custom maps, the lobby can play them.

Maps: What to Learn First

Splitgate had 20+ maps, including fan favourites Foregone Destruction, Karman Station, Abyss, Oasis, Atlantis and Crag. The P2P update added 13 unfinished blockout arenas and the unreleased Simulation Juliet (Takedown). For each map:

Find every portal wall near spawn, the middle, and each objective.
Learn where power weapons spawn.
Learn one escape route and one flank route from each spawn.

The store page describes the setting range well: maps include a research facility inside an active volcano, an underwater luxury hotel and an alien crash site, and each plays differently. Big open maps reward long portal links and snipers; tight indoor maps reward shotguns, quick peeks and closing your portals fast.

A Practice Routine That Works in P2P

With matchmaking gone, you control your own practice. A simple loop:

Warm up in Races (5-10 minutes). They force fast, accurate portal placement while moving, which is the core Splitgate skill.
Run a custom lobby with bots or friends on one map, and walk it with no pressure. Put portals on every portal wall and note where each pair takes you.
Play a few public matches from the browser. Pick the lowest-ping host and a mode with a full lobby.
Review one habit per session. For example: "close my portals after every rotation" or "look through before I step through".

Settings worth checking before you play:

Sensitivity: portal plays mean lots of quick turns. Lower sensitivity helps tracking, but make sure you can still turn around quickly after exiting a portal.
Field of view: a wider FOV makes it easier to spot enemy portals opening at the edge of your screen.
Audio: portal and jetpack sounds give away flanks. Use headphones.
Network: if you host, close anything using upload bandwidth.

Timeline: How Splitgate Got Here

Date	Event
May 24, 2019	Early Access launch on Steam
July 2021	Console release and a surge past 100,000 concurrent players, which overloaded the servers
September 15, 2022	Official 1.0 release
June 6, 2025	Splitgate 2 releases
July 2025	1047 Games takes Splitgate 2 back into beta
August 29, 2025	Original Splitgate's dedicated servers shut down; peer-to-peer begins
December 17, 2025	Splitgate 2 relaunches as SPLITGATE: Arena Reloaded
March 27, 2026	Arena Reloaded Season 2
August 26, 2026	1047 Games ends development of Arena Reloaded
Early September 2026	Arena Reloaded moves to peer-to-peer servers

The Sequel: SPLITGATE: Arena Reloaded

If you want a Splitgate with more recent content, the sequel is the other option, with the same caveat that it is no longer in development.

What it is: the relaunched Splitgate 2 (free-to-play on PC, Xbox and PlayStation). 1047 Games removed factions, abilities and some equipment to refocus on classic arena combat.
Season 2 (March 27, 2026) brought back Foregone Destruction from the original game, added a new arena called Containment, the Orion Plasma Rifle power weapon, and the return of Races. It also added Arena Royale Duos (a follow-up hotfix moved Arena Royale back to Quads after community feedback).
Status: development ended on August 26, 2026, and the game moved to peer-to-peer servers in early September 2026, so it now works much like the original.

Which one to play is mostly about who you can find: check which game your friends or your community Discord are hosting.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

Walking through portals blind. Look and shoot through first.
Leaving portals open. Enemies will use them to get behind your team.
Chasing kills across the map. Hold the objective and the power weapon spawns.
Ignoring the jetpack. Vertical movement both dodges shots and gets you to portal walls.
Hosting on Wi-Fi. Every player's experience depends on the host's connection.
Playing with strangers and no anti-cheat. Don't expect a fair ranked-style experience in P2P public lobbies.

Advanced Tips

Momentum launches: Drop from height into a floor portal, then come out of a wall portal to cross the map quickly or surprise snipers.
Watch the portal walls near your objective: Pre-aim the walls around your zone that the enemy is most likely to portal onto, and punish anyone who comes through.
Shoot through two portals: Link portals so you can see a long lane from cover, then wait for enemies to cross.
Races for aim and movement practice: Chain courses together to learn how to place portals quickly under pressure.
Custom maps for training: Build a small map with a few portal walls and practise flicking portals and switching weapons.

FAQ

Is the original Splitgate still playable? Yes, on peer-to-peer. Since August 29, 2025, players host matches that others join through the in-game server browser. There are no official dedicated servers.

Are all cosmetics unlocked? Yes. The P2P update unlocked every cosmetic for everyone and retired the Battle Pass, store, Rewards Center and Drops.

Is there anti-cheat? No. 1047 Games' own FAQ says "anticheat will not be enabled in peer-to-peer matches." Play with people you trust where you can.

Can I play on Linux? The native Linux version was removed after the server change. Check whether compatibility layers such as Proton work for you.

What happened to Splitgate 2 / Arena Reloaded? Splitgate 2 launched in 2025, went back into beta, relaunched as SPLITGATE: Arena Reloaded on December 17, 2025, and got a Season 2 in March 2026. 1047 Games ended its development on August 26, 2026, and moved it to peer-to-peer servers.

Can I still earn achievements? No. 1047 Games stated that achievements cannot be completed after August 29, 2025.

Is it still on consoles, and is there crossplay? Yes. The peer-to-peer version stays playable on consoles, with cross-platform play.

Are there still Race leaderboards? No. Races work, but only your personal best times are kept.

Can I still play custom maps? Yes. The Map Creator still works. If you host with saved maps, your lobby can play them.