Titan Forge Games has announced that Smite 2 will be going free-to-play later this month. The wait is nearly at an end, as the free-to-play launch will take place on Tuesday, January 14th. On that day, Season 0 will officially begin, following a week-long preseason that begins today. On the day before the free-to-play launch, Smite 2 will be adding a new playable character. The latest god to join the roster is Aladdin. From everything revealed thus far, Aladdin will have an acrobatic play style, and he’ll use the powers of his magic lamp to send out a genie to attack foes.
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Smite 2‘s alpha was announced last January and launched in August on Steam, PS5, and Xbox Series X|S. The only way to access the alpha was to pay $29.99, or to have grabbed it one of the times that access was offered for free. However, soon the game will be opened up to all interested players. It was always the plan that the game would be free-to-play, similar to the original Smite. There has been a significant amount of negativity towards the alpha, with the game currently holding a “mixed” rating on Steam, and a two-star rating on Xbox. Basically, the consensus seems to be that Smite 2 wasn’t worth paying for, and it will be interesting to see if opinions improve once the game is free.
It’s clear that a lot of people have been waiting for Smite 2‘s open beta to begin, and we could see a large influx of players next Tuesday. Whether that will be enough to counter the cynicism surrounding the game remains to be seen, but there are some fans that believe the game is already dead on arrival. That seems a bit hyperbolic given the popularity of the original Smite, but we’ve seen a lot of live service games die over the last few years. Once the free-to-play period begins, we’ll have a much better idea of the level of interest, and we can probably expect a lot more players will give the game a chance.
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While the free-to-play launch should help give Smite 2 a boost over the current alpha’s numbers, it remains to be seen how things will play out. The reality is, there is a lot of competition when it comes to free-to-play games. One area where fans have been frustrated with Smite 2 is the lack of marketing that has surrounded the game. It’s possible we could see a much bigger push now that the free-to-play launch has been officially announced, and that will be key to building awareness. Hopefully the free-to-play launch will prove successful, and give Smite fans reason to feel optimistic about the future.
Have you been waiting for the Smite 2 open beta to begin? Do you think it will improve perception around the game? Share your thoughts with me directly on Twitter at @Marcdachamp, on Bluesky at @Marcdachamp, or on Instagram at @Dachampgaming!
