With Hi-Rez Laying Off Employees, Marvel Rivals & Overwatch 2 May Have Been the Final Nail in Paladins’ Coffin

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With Hi-Rez Laying Off Employees, Marvel Rivals & Overwatch 2 May Have Been the Final Nail in Paladins’ Coffin

Hi-Rez Studios has officially ended development on Smite and Paladins and the once budget-friendly alternative to Overwatch has come to an end. The market has just been harder and harder to navigate in recent years as players have higher and higher standards of developers. And unless you’re doing something unique like what Marvel Rivals has managed, it’s hard to survive.

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After mass layoffs at Hi-Rez, the future for Paladins looks bleak. But this hasn’t come as a surprise to most of the gaming community. Hi-Rez’s hero shooter was never supposed to be a genre-defining character and only ever took off because of Blizzard’s decision to put a price tag on Overwatch. So while it wasn’t a bad game, Paladin’s time has come to an end.

Hi-Rez Studios has made big changes to the studio’s direction

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2 now. | Image Credit: Hi-Rez Studios

When Paladins launched in 2016, it was the best free-to-play alternative to Blizzard’s Overwatch. But while it had its own unique mechanics like card-based loadouts, it never truly reached its full potential. But today, Overwatch 2 is free-to-play and Marvel Rivals is already the new trend of the genre.

Smite and Paladins have officially ceased development after mass layoffs at Hi-Rez Studios

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Over time, player numbers declined, and the game saw fewer major content updates. The recent layoffs at Hi-Rez seem to have sealed its fate. Hi-Rez Studios recently laid off 50-70 employees and shut down active development on Paladins, Smite 1, and Rogue Company. The decision comes as part of a shift in strategy, with the company now focusing exclusively on Smite 2.

According to a statement that Hi-Rez’s CEO Stewart Chisam made to

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, Smite 2 will be the new focus of the studio’s “streamlined operations.” While the servers for the hero-shooter will remain online, no further major updates are planned. This isn’t a new pattern from Hi-Rez if you remember it previously abandoned Tribes: Ascend in a similar manner.

I feel like Paladins was missing some kind of spark to make it truly great. As for Smite the only thing interesting about it is that you can play as a whale yokai.

— Matthew Cenance

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The writing had been on the wall for a long time. The last new champion in Paladins was released in 2023, and since then, updates have just been bug fixes and minor improvements. Many players noted that Paladins lacked the “spark” that made Overwatch engaging. While Hi-Rez did attempt to support the game, it was clear that it wasn’t a priority, and eventually, the company chose to pull the plug.

Every game that isn’t Marvel Rivals has struggled to remain popular recently

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Hi-Rez’s layoffs are part of what has been a mass trend in the gaming industry. Thousands of developers lost their jobs in the past year and things aren’t slowing down. Layoffs have hit even the biggest companies and they are doubling down on their most profitable projects, and for Hi-Rez, that meant letting go of its iconic titles.

The hero shooter genre has become increasingly competitive, and Paladins was simply unable to keep up. Marvel Rivals, which launched in December 2024, has already made a massive impact. On the other hand, Overwatch 2 continues to get frequent updates, hero reworks, and new content.

In today’s market, games must either land with a big splash or have massive long-term investments to succeed. Paladins was fun while it lasted, but after the lack of updates or a strong player base, it was only a matter of time before it reached the end.

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#HiRez #Laying #Employees #Marvel #Rivals #Overwatch #Final #Nail #Paladins #Coffin

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