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Splitgate’s new hires come from working on Valorant and Mass Effect, will impact in a “huge way”

Splitgate now has a wealth of new talent to complement its new update

Best PS5 multiplayer games: An in-game screenshot from Splitgate, showing a first=person view of an enemy being targeted with an open portal next to them

The Halo-like multiplayer portal shooter Splitgate has been going from strength to strength, and the team at 1047 Games is envisioning the game’s Beta Season 1 as the start of its journey from small indie studio to mammoth triple-A. And to do this, 1047 Games has been on a hiring spree, which includes grabbing talent from popular games like Valorant.

From the game’s inception, Splitgate’s development team has gone from a team of under ten to now being a team of 50. This is in an effort to grow the game in line with CEO Ian Proulx’s vision for the title to be up there in quality with industry leaders like Halo, Valorant, and Destiny. In a recent interview with The Loadout, Proulx went in-depth about his new employees, and just why he’s able to attract talent from the big boys.

Valorant’s Jean-Sébastien Day is Splitgate’s new UI/UX director, Proulx exclusively tells The Loadout. Formerly of Riot and Ubisoft, Day has worked on titles like Valorant, Far Cry, Call of Duty, and an unknown project at Striking Distance Studios — the studio currently developing the Dead Space-like horror game The Callisto Protocol.

“Our latest talent acquisition is going to impact fans in a huge way with UX/UI design for future updates,” Proulx says. “Jean-Sébastien Day joins us from the Valorant team, which is something we haven’t officially announced yet but I’m happy to share. We’re extremely excited to have him on board.”

Proulx is also happy to have Grant Wei join the team as head of production in an effort to streamline organisation and production. Wei previously spent time at EA, Epic Games, Obsidian Entertainment, and more, where they worked on titles like Battlefield 2042, Mass Effect, Need for Speed, FIFA, Outer Worlds, and Fortnite.

1047 Games has also hired Ryan Scott to be VP of marketing. Scott previously led the marketing charge on the EA-made Star Wars games, and he also worked as a product manager for Call of Duty. “We’ll be able to harness a lot of our overall marketing ability with Ryan Scott as our new Vice President of Marketing,” Proulx says.

Among the other notable hires are Alex Senechal and Te Wilson, coming from 343 and Riot respectively. They’ll now be heading up Splitgate’s art team, and are responsible for Splitgate’s new Beta Season 1 style. According to Proulx you can see the impact they’ve had already with the new Forgone Destruction map.

But how has Proulx been able to attract such great industry talent? “1047 is an opportunity for any experienced gaming professional to build something from the ground up,” he explains. “What makes our studio fairly unique is that new hires get to dive into an active Beta, getting a chance to test and learn immediately with players. This is different from many of the other new studio opportunities out there today. Many of them are years away from getting their creations into players’ hands.”

These new acquisitions fit with Proulx’s outline for the future of Splitgate. “We’re growing,” he says, “but we’re taking care to make sure that the right people are joining our team who really understand what it is we’re trying to do, which is grow from a bootstrapped indie studio into a world-class triple-A game studio that will spawn multiple IP over the long term. We have a vision we’re building toward, so it’s crucial to take our time and make sure our team syncs in all the right ways.”

With Splitgate Beta Season 1’s arrival, it’s time for you to delve into the Splitgate ranks to earn all of its delicious rewards.