Hi-Rez Studios has shared its 2021 plans for the free-to-play games Smite, Paladins, and Rogue Company, each of which will be given significant new content additions over the course of the upcoming year.
"2020 was a huge year for Hi-Rez Studios and our development teams, with the massively successful launch of Rogue Company, plus record years for both Smite and Paladins," CEO Stew Chisam said. "With 2021 calendars for each game full of content updates, Hi-Rez Studios will continue to deliver world class gaming experiences for our growing millions of fans."
Here's what's in store for all three:
- SMITE - Season 8: Dawn of Babylon will feature the addition of an all-new evolving Babylonian pantheon Conquest map (first in 3 years), new Gods (including Tiamat and Gilgamesh), new battle passes, new collaborations and plenty more esports action throughout the year.
- Paladins - 2021's Season 4: Calamity will see more champions, more frequent updates, all-new limited time events, event passes, and more. The first Champion of the year will be the much-anticipated Yagorath: Teased for years in Paladins lore, this threat from beyond the Realm is bent on subsuming all life and existence.
- Rogue Company - With a blockbuster 2020 launch (gaining over 15 million players) Hi-Rez Studios’ newest title will enjoy four seasons of cross-play shooter action this year; each featuring new Rogues (including Kestrel), new maps (such as Hollows), new events and much more.
Smite, a MOBA that pits deities of various pantheons against one another in immortal combat, and the team-based hero shooter Paladins have both been around for ages, and while neither game dominates its genre, both have amassed healthy audiences: SteamCharts says Smite had a peak concurrent player count of just under 19,000 today, while Paladins notched up more than 15,000. Rogue Company is an Epic Games Store exclusive so player numbers aren't quite so easy to access, but it showed potential when we checked out the beta last year, calling it "a lightweight, casual shooter that's easy to pick up."
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Andy Chalk
Andy has been gaming on PCs from the very beginning, starting as a youngster with text adventures and primitive action games on a cassette-based TRS80. From there he graduated to the glory days of Sierra Online adventures and Microprose sims, ran a local BBS, learned how to build PCs, and developed a longstanding love of RPGs, immersive sims, and shooters. He began writing videogame news in 2007 for The Escapist and somehow managed to avoid getting fired until 2014, when he joined the storied ranks of PC Gamer. He covers all aspects of the industry, from new game announcements and patch notes to legal disputes, Twitch beefs, esports, and Henry Cavill. Lots of Henry Cavill.
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