How to download and play the Splitgate beta

Splitgate, the new, independently-developed shooter from 1047 Games, launched its “season zero” event today, a pre-launch competitive season for players of the open beta. The event was announced during today’s Opening Night Live presentation at Gamescom 2021 and could even be looked at as a soft launch of sorts ahead of the game’s official launch, whenever that may be.

Earlier this month, Splitgate crossed the threshold of 10 million downloads. As a result, the game’s developers made the choice to keep the game in beta for a little longer than originally anticipated. But players looking to get the most out Splitgate’s features can jump into the beta now to experience mostly everything that the title has to offer.

Here’s how to play the Splitgate beta.

How to download the Splitgate beta

The Splitgate beta is free to download on PC, PlayStation, and Xbox consoles. Players looking to jump into the beta on their PC can do so without any hassle through the Steam client. 

Keep in mind that if you already downloaded the Splitgate open beta that was released last month, you’ll need to update the game before you can play the beta’s “season zero” event. But once the update is applied, you’ll soon realize that plenty of changes and additions have been made to the game. 

What’s new in the Splitgate season zero event?

The biggest feature added to the Splitgate season zero event is a new battle pass for the game that features 100 levels worth of content. Beyond the countless rewards found in the pass, though, players will also be able to try out one of the game’s newest maps, Karman Station, in addition to a new game mode: Contamination. All beta players will be able to experience the new map and game mode, but to unlock rewards from the battle pass, you’ll have to drop 900 Splitcoins first. 

Seasoned Splitgate players who have been around since the start of the game’s open beta will notice that more ranks have been added to the ladder with the season zero update. Plus, the update brought with it a highly-requested feature, a game-wide killcam for the last kill of each game. 

Beyond those major updates, several quality-of-life changes and bug fixes have been added to the game. Players should also notice that server loading times have been substantially decreased since the launch of last month’s open beta. 

The Splitgate beta is available to play now on Xbox and PlayStation consoles, as well as PC.