"Game is in the best state ever": Mountaintop Studios CEO on Spectre Divide Season 1, community feedback, and more (Exclusive)

Spectre Divide is a unique title in the FPS genre, thanks to its two-body mechanic. It even received backing from renowned esports player Shroud. With Season 1 on the horizon, Mountaintop Studios has decided to launch the game on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S. Furthermore, players will see many new additions in-game.

I had the opportunity to interact with Nate Mitchell, CEO and Co-Founder of Mountaintop Studios, before the Season 1 launch. He shared details on the development journey of Spectre Divide, how community feedback is important to them, and what players can expect from Season 1.

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Nate Mitchell, CEO and Co-Founder of Mountaintop Studios, on Spectre Divide Season 1, community feedback, and more

Spectre Divide Season 1 to launch in February 2025 (Image via Mountaintop Studios)

Q) Can you take us through the development journey of Spectre Divide? What were the biggest challenges and breakthroughs in creating a competitive live-service shooter?

As lifelong fans of competitive shooters, we set out to build the game we wanted to be playing in our free time. We started with a simple core idea: we wanted to build the ultimate small-team competitive shooter inspired by some of our favorite modes like Counter-Strike’s Wingman, Halo’s Doubles, and Call of Duty: Gunfight. A stand-alone experience that would be fully built around small-team play.

We prototyped different ideas for over a year but found ourselves stuck on one key design problem. With only three players on a team, even though our prototypes were fun, they lacked the depth and strategic decision-making to make them 1,000+ hobbies.

Ultimately, that’s what led us to Duality, the breakthrough at the heart of Spectre Divide’s design. With Duality, every player has two characters they can freely swap between at any time. Controlling two characters simultaneously is a totally new experience for players. You can play in two places at once, cover your own crossfire, and even trade yourself.

With Duality, the match plays with the depth of a 6v6 but is designed and tuned for three actual players. You also get to play more of each match, since you have a second life for payback and redemption.

On the technical side, creating a great competitive live-service shooter is a real challenge, but we love it. Balance, competitive integrity, anti-cheat, performance, network latency – everything has to be dialed in just right for players.

We built a lot of custom technology to deliver the best possible experience, and it’s something we’re always advancing with each game update.

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Q) How has community feedback shaped the game’s evolution, particularly in the lead-up to this major update?

Our community is the driving force behind Spectre’s design and evolution. They love the game just as much as we do, and they have stellar feedback on what the game needs.

We designed Season 1 to incorporate as much of the community’s feedback as we could across the full breadth of the game. We actually delayed the initial release of Season 1 to incorporate more of the changes the community wanted to see because we felt they were that important.

It’s great to see that effort being well received by players when we announced Season 1: Flashpoint in January. We’re really looking forward to getting in there and playing with the community when Flashpoint finally launches come February.

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Q) What are the standout features of Spectre Divide Season 1? How do these new additions enhance the player experience?

Spectre Divide Season 1 to have multiple new features (Image via Mountaintop Studios)

Season 1 has a bunch of killer new gameplay features, including:

• Sprinting, which opens up new strategic and tactical possibilities
• The Season 1 Battle Pass, with tons of cosmetics to unlock just by playing
• A new in-match Store and Economy that will change the way you buy weapons, equipment, and armor each round
• Monark Tactical, our ninth Sponsor, with new gameplay tools to shake up the sandbox
• Canal, our fifth Map, with a fresh layout and mechanics to play around
• … and much more

We’re also launching Spectre Divide on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series S|X, bringing a whole new set of players worldwide into the city of Breakwater.

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Q) Having a second body as Spectre was a never-seen-before feature. What type of exclusive content can players expect in January 2025? Are there any specific gameplay innovations or narrative elements being introduced?

All of Season 1’s new features come together to make the game feel super fresh, even for veterans who’ve already clocked hundreds of hours. And if you’re new to the game, Spectre is in its best state ever.

On top of the gameplay changes, Season 1: Flashpoint tells the story of the conflict between two of Breakwater’s most popular districts: Five Stars & Communa.

The story of Five Stars & Communa’s rivalry is told in-game with comics alongside the Battle Pass, which features cosmetics from the two districts. We’ve also overhauled the start-up and match flow for Season 1, bringing more of the city of Breakwater to life for players as soon as they boot up to play.

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Q) The console version of Spectre Divide is a highly anticipated development. Can you provide any insights into how the console experience will differ from or align with the PC version?

Spectre Divide to launch on consoles soon (Image via Mountaintop Studios)

The PlayStation & Xbox version of Spectre is 100% aligned with PC but with gamepad as the primary input. Keeping PC and console the same was really important to us, as we think about a future with more competitive play.

Gamepad has been a priority for us since Day 1 of development. We playtest and compete regularly on gamepad internally, so it’s exciting to finally get it in the hands of players.

We’re always refining the feel and precision of gamepad based on player feedback, but we think shooter fans will love the visceral experience we’ve put together.

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Q) Will the console version launch with cross-play capabilities? If so, how are you optimizing the experience for players across different platforms?

Yes. Spectre Divide will feature cross-play between PlayStation and Xbox, giving you a more competitive playing field with better, faster matchmaking.

We won’t have cross-play available between PC and consoles just yet for competitive integrity. We’re keeping the mouse + keyboard and gamepad separate for now. That said, we’d love to enable crossplay with PC post-launch once players have settled into Season 1.

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Q) How do you plan to onboard new players in 2025 while retaining the loyalty of the existing player base?

We don’t see those as divergent goals.

Season 1: Flashpoint has so many big new changes incorporating the community’s feedback. Even though it’s what veterans want to see, all these changes make Spectre that much more fun for new players.

The game is in the best state ever, and there’s never been a better try to check it out for yourself.

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Q) What’s next for Mountaintop Studios beyond Spectre Divide? Are there any new projects in the pipeline you can tease?

We’re 100% committed to Spectre Divide. 2025 is a pivotal year for Spectre, and it starts with launching Flashpoint to players on PC, PlayStation & Xbox.

As always, we’ll be listening to the community, incorporating their feedback, and working behind the scenes on more fresh features for Season 2.

It’s a big year ahead, and we’re just getting started.