Smite Rivals development put on hold

The Clash Royale-like spin-off for Hi-Rez’s MOBA title Smite has been put on hold.

Smite Rivals only made its first public appearance in January at the Hi-Rex Expo. It stuck pretty close to the successful Clash Royale model, with players creating decks of characters, all of whom came from the main Smite game. These cards could then be ‘played’ on the battlefield.

However, Kotaku received word from a source close to the company that an associated third party developer working on the game had been yanked from the project, and that there were currently no plans to draft in another partner or bring development in-house.

Hi-Rez later confirmed the news:

We made a decision this week to put Smite Rivals on hold,” it said. While we are still excited by the general concept of Smite Rivals, it was clear after early testing that the game needed significant additional development before releasing. With Smite Tactics, our turn-based strategy game set in the Smite Universe, performing well, we have decided to focus our energies on that for the time being.”

The reaction on Twitter was one of mild disappointment, with a few folks grumbling about the availability of the Loki skin that had previously been touted for Smite players. Others seem to hope that the decision might result in more resources being pumped into Smite proper.

One person even claimed Smite Rivals was their most anticipated game of 2017, which is quite the thing.

Smite released on PC in 2014. It made the jump to Xbox One the following year, and PS4 the year later. It already has one spin-off, Smite Tactics, which is currently in beta. Gamers can pay to access it at the moment, or wait instead for the full release at some stage down the line.

I know fans are looking forward to it, but we have decided to put @SmiteRivals on hold for the time being. Full statement below. pic.twitter.com/my3uwE10y1

— Stewart Chisam (@schisam) March 15, 2017