Splitgate developer 1047 Games has reacted to the online commentary regarding the recent re-launch of the shooter Splitgate: Arena Reloaded. The game arrived in mid-December 2025 and hasn't gotten close to the Steam numbers that Splitgate 2 or Splitgate 1 reached, prompting online commenters to wonder if the game will be able to stay online.

The developer said in a statement, "Steam charts don't measure fun," adding that Steam player numbers only show "one number, on one platform, at one given moment." Steam numbers do no show the "full picture or what it feels like to actually play, and they definitely don't capture the community that's actively helping shape what Arena Reloaded is becoming."

1047 Games re-launched Splitgate 2 under the name Splitgate: Arena Reloaded on December 17, and Steam numbers spiked to about 2,300 concurrents at launch. In the past 24 hours, the game reached a peak of 952 players on Steam.

Balatro and Hollow Knight: Silksong "shouldn't exist," according to industry analyst Joost van Dreunen. He elaborated that, "They don't make rational sense financially, and yet somehow they are deeply loved." Their commercial viability is an undeniable fact. However, the scale of their success baffles industry conventional wisdom.

Van Drunen is professor at the NYU Stern School of Business and a strategic advisor for the community development agency ELO. In an interview with GameIndustry.biz, van Dreunen discussed how the shifting macroeconomics of video games is creating space for smaller projects to become massive successes. He compares the shift to the way television challenged the Hollywood business model. Free-to-play games like Candy Crush compete with, and even undermine, big-budget blockbusters like GTA or Call of Duty. Yet, there are an increasing number of games that skirt outside either model, such as Silksong.

The lower-tech production values of some indie games may also be a big asset. Van Dreunen said, "I'm a big fan of the idea that low tech is a much more interesting design factor than high tech. I think, demonstrably, whenever new technology comes out, what studios tend to do is just increase the final product. They make it more complex, and therefore they negate the productivity gains." Perhaps Balatro and Silksong can be impressive with smaller budgets and development teams because they leverage the productivity shifts bigger studios would use to expand their efforts.

Season 1 Reloaded arrives in Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 and Warzone this week, and Activision has already revealed many details for this midseason update. Season 1 Reloaded includes more weapons to unlock, additional maps for multiplayer, and a crossover with the Fallout TV show.

The Season 1 Reloaded update arrives to Black Ops 7 and Warzone on January 8. Call of Duty's updates usually go live at 9 AM PT / 12 PM ET / 5 PM BST across all platforms.

Call of Duty has teased a crossover with Amazon Prime Video's Fallout TV show, which seemingly includes operator skins for Lucy, The Ghoul, and Maximus. Call of Duty's big IP collaborations are also usually paired with in-game events for players to participate in. However, it's uncertain if these Fallout skins will be included in an event pass or as shop bundles for purchase. Notably, both Fallout and Call of Duty are owned by Microsoft.