Paladins, the hero shooter from Hi-Rez, is often disparaged as an “Overwatch clone.” After all, some of the heroes do look quite similar. However, Hi-Rez CEO Todd Harris has now spoken out and explained why Paladins is not an Overwatch clone.
“Paladins is just an Overwatch clone!” can be heard repeatedly in various forums and social media posts when it comes to the hero shooter from Hi-Rez Studios. And indeed, the similarities are hard to overlook. Both games are in the same genre, and some of the heroes look quite alike, for example, the hammer-swinging dwarf engineer or the hefty knight with the shield. This quickly brings to mind the Overwatch heroes Torbjörn and Reinhardt.
Who invented it?
The allegations of plagiarism have now prompted Todd Harris, the founder of Hi-Rez, to respond. On Reddit, he explained in an extensive post why Paladins is indeed not a clone of Overwatch . The simple answer: We did it first!
The complex version: Hi-Rez had already been working on a shooter game called Global Agenda years ago, which ultimately reached the end of its life cycle, and the studio wanted to create something new. Therefore, games like Tribes: Ascend, Smite, and of course Paladins were created. The latter was meant to continue the idea of Global Agenda but with more of a fantasy twist.
And now comes the kicker: A whole bunch of heroes from Global Agenda already looked quite similar to some heroes from Overwatch back then! We have compiled a small list and linked each to a Hi-Rez video on YouTube:
- Snipers with poison mines and wall-hack
- Tank with armor, hammer, and shield
- Damage dealer with jetpack, rocket launcher, and Egyptian helmet
- Healer with halo and healing beam
We were here first!
Hi-Rez has therefore reused some ideas from Global Agenda in Paladins. Unfortunately, during the design process, Overwatch was announced and plunged Hi-Rez into a small crisis. Because nobody in the studio wanted to take on Blizzard directly. At most, one or two features from Overwatch, like the kill cam, were directly taken from Blizzard’s game.
Harris also explains that a small studio like Hi-Rez could never have managed to copy a game like Overwatch in just one year. That would have been simply impossible. You can find the complete post by Todd Harris and even more arguments on the topic on Reddit under the provided link.
Paladins vs Overwatch – How the hero shooters differ
But what do you think of the whole debate? Are you convinced by Todd Harris’ arguments? Do you think Blizzard perhaps shamelessly copied from Paladins or Global Agenda? Or do you not care and stick with Overwatch? Let us know and write it in the comments! Or do you want to try it yourself? Play Paladins for free.
