Splitgate 2's 'Make FPS Great Again' hat grabbed attention — then an apology

An indie shooter promoting its launch at the industry's biggest summer showcase wanted attention in a crowded news cycle and picked deliberate controversy as the shortcut.

CEO Ian Proulx wore the hat during the Summer Game Fest keynote livestream. When the Splitgate 2 community, journalists and regular gamers seized on the hat and called it gross and tone-deaf, he doubled down on social media, saying he would not apologise and the hat was not a political statement; days later he posted a nearly three-minute video captioned 'No excuses, I'm sorry'.

The stunt grabbed attention — but for the hat rather than the game, as The Verge put it. The backlash forced the apology video, in which Proulx said: 'The reason I'm sorry is because of what this has done to the community.'

There is a line in showbiz that there is no such thing as bad publicity. During the Summer Game Fest keynote livestream in June 2025, Ian Proulx, CEO of Splitgate 2 developer 1047 Games, tested it: he came out to promote his game wearing a black hat reading 'Make FPS Great Again' — an obvious reference to Donald Trump's Make America Great Again slogan.

The Splitgate 2 community, journalists and regular gamers seized on the hat — and not, as The Verge noted, the game — immediately calling the statement gross and tone deaf. As questions poured in, Proulx doubled down on social media, saying he would not apologise and that the hat was not a political statement and should be taken at face value.

Days later he changed tunes, posting on X with the caption 'No excuses, I'm sorry' and a nearly three-minute video explaining the decision. '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,' he said, adding: 'We knew there would be some level of controversy, but we really saw this as a meme that was kind of stating our truth.'

A slogan pastiche is legible in one glance, which is exactly what a keynote slot buys you.

The hat provocation was deliberate: the CEO admitted the team knew there would be controversy.

The doubling-down turned a day of noise into a week-long story, none of it about gameplay.

The apology itself targeted community damage, implicitly conceding the stunt had misfired.

Controversy buys reach, not intent: if the debate is about the provocation rather than the product, you own the backlash without owning the audience.

The Verge's 10 June 2025 critique argued the apology missed the point — that the apology was for the discussion around the hat, not the hat itself — and reported no effect on Splitgate 2 sales or player numbers.