This week Hi-Rez Studios is celebrating the one-year anniversary of SMITE‘s launch. Unfortunately, the extravagant sale is about to end, if it’s not over already. But fear not – through March 29th, all Gods will be available to try out, even if you don’t yet own them. During this time, you’ll also earn bonus worshippers. For those of you new to SMITE, join me on a journey to see how far SMITE has come.
Launch
SMITE officially launched on March 25th of 2014. As part of that launch, Hi-Rez Studios did several promotional contests for Gems and even held a large Launch Tournament in Atlanta. Eight teams competed for a prize pool of over $200k, with 1st place taking home $104k. The teams who participated in this tournament were Team Solomid, Team Dignitas, COGnitive Gaming, SK Gaming, Cloud 9 HyperX, Snipe, Denial eSports, and Team Coast. In the end Team Solomid took first place, with Team Dignitas and COGnitive Gaming rounding out the top 3.
Final Match of the Launch Tournament from the SMITEPro YouTube channel.
Moving Forward
In the year following the Launch Tournament, SMITE has released 12 new Gods, the most recent being Bellona. This brought the total to 63 playable Gods. The community has also swelled to seven million players. Back in January, SMITE held its first World Championship, boasting a prize pool of over $2.6 million. At the time, this was the third highest eSports tournament prize pool on record. Our sister site, Gamer Launch, was a proud sponsor of this event, and is currently the official clan hosting site for SMITE.
Around 2.9 million people watched their favorite teams battle it out for a chance at becoming the first SMITE World Champions. In the end, COGnitive Prime took that title with a well-earned victory over Titan. Titan and COGnitive Red rounded out the top three. Check out these links for some of GameSkinny’s exclusive SMITE coverage from Amanda Erickson. Interview with SWC champions Cog Prime and Interview with SWC’s Second place finisher Titan.
Game 5 of the SWC Grand Finals with COGnitive Prime vs Titan, also found on the SMITEPro YouTube channel.
What’s Next?
Coming very soon, SMITE will see the addition of Medusa on the live version, who was recently accessible on the PTS. On top of that, SMITE has reached Alpha testing on Xbox One.
If eSports is your thing, be sure to tune into SMITE’s main and secondary Twitch channels for SPL Season 2 and Challenger coverage. Here’s to SMITE having an even more successful year than last year.
Happy Birthday!
