Four days after appearing on stage at Summer Game Fest in a MAGA-style “Make FPS Great Again” hat, Splitgate 2 boss Ian Proulx has posted a video apologizing for his poor judgment, although he still insists that there was no intentional political message behind it.
Proulx said during his Summer Game Fest appearance that he was “tired of playing the same Call of Duty every year,” a call-out seemingly designed to stir up controversy, or at the very least attract some eyeballs. And so it did—but so too did his choice of chapeau, emblazoned with a message clearly inspired by Donald Trump’s “Make America Great Again” slogan.
Proulx released a statement shortly after the showcase in which he said he’s “not here to apologize” for the ill-considered lid but to “clarify” his position: That the message “is not a political statement,” but should instead be taken at face value, which is that the “the state of multiplayer FPS games is tragically stale,” and 1047 Games hopes to do something about that with Splitgate 2.
But it seems like the hat controversy has not blown over as quickly as he’d hoped, because now Proulx is here to apologize. The goal of the message, he said in a new video posted to X, was to try to “break through the noise” of dozens of games competing for attention within the very limited constraints of shows like Summer Game Fest.
“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,” Proulx says in his apology video. “We did not intend for this to be taken in any political way whatsoever. 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 we thought would not be nearly as negatively received as it was. And so I want to apologize, and genuinely, you don’t have to believe me, but the truth is, I am sorry.”
Proulx did not say one way or another whether he personally supports Trump and the MAGA ideology, but apologized for creating “division” in the Splitgate community.
“I hate seeing division,” Proulx says. “And that’s what I’m seeing right now, on both sides. There’s division in the community, and for that I am truly sorry.”
“I do stand by the intent of this, which is—the intent truly is, take it at face value, we do want to improve the genre. We do feel that 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 have had, has had a negative impact, and for that I’m truly sorry.”
In a sort of mini-AMA on Reddit, Proulx acknowledged that he should have apologized earlier and understands that doing it now “might come off as back-peddling [sic], but better late than never.” He also said he’s doing a full AMA on Reddit on June 11 at 10:30 am PT/1:30 pm ET.
