Smite 2 has been officially announced, and despite the significant improvements that have been shown off, developer Titan Forge Games has concerns that some players may be unhappy about the lack of transferable content between the two games.
The upcoming multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) won’t be replacing Smite 1, which is sure to be a relief for loyal fans. Unfortunately, it was also confirmed in the announcement today (January 12) that players’ content won’t directly transfer from the original to the sequel. While all gem-purchasable skins added to Year 11 of Smite will be “cross-gen skins,” which will also unlock in Smite 2, others won’t be carried forward due to the amount of time and effort it would take.
“I think that this is internally the bit that we're most concerned about,” Smite’s executive producer, Alex Cantatore, tells TechRadar Gaming (TRG) in an interview. “I think we feel very confident with the gameplay, the graphics.”
He explains that he’s assured that players will instantly be able to see what an upgrade the sequel is, with factors that they “didn’t realize” they were missing. “But there definitely is a layer of, like, people put a lot of time and money into Smite 1, and it's a lot to ask them to move on to a new game,” Cantatore adds.
Instead of content being directly transferred, two loyalty reward systems are being introduced. ‘Legacy Gems’ equivalent to however many gems (free and paid) players have spent in the original game, will be distributed to Smite 2 players, which can be used for 50% off the majority of in-game purchases. The amount of Legacy Gems received will be doubled for players who buy a Founder’s Pack for Smite 2.
Additionally, the first update of Year 11 in Smite 1 will introduce ‘Divine Legacy,’ which rewards players for the time they’ve spent playing Smite over the years. Depending on how long they’ve been playing, players can unlock up to 11 skins to use in Smite 2, and their progress will earn them badges to use in the sequel, too.
Speaking more about these reward systems, Cantatore says that the team “evolved this plan at least five times,” adding more and more until their player groups remarked on how “generous” they were.
“So, we are very hopeful that players look at this and they say, ‘Wow, you guys are really doing something great for the players, you care about the players,’ because we really do - this was really designed with the players in mind,” Cantatore continues. “But we understand that there’s probably going to be some players that are disappointed because, you know, they want everything to transfer. But it just wasn’t possible for us to make this level of an evolution of a game and also bring everything from the past along.”
Adding to the discussion further, Titan Forge Games’ general manager, Travis Brown, tells us that the two systems are designed to reward both the players who’ve spent a lot of time in Smite, as well as those who’ve spent a lot of money. “It's more about incentives that we wanted to give to players that play Smite to move to Smite 2, but then also anyone that has ever lapsed, and not played Smite 1 anymore, just has a pile of rewards waiting for them when they log in on Smite 2 day one,” he says.
Smite 2 is planned to enter alpha testing this spring and is set to release on PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S.
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