This might not be what they had in mind at Paladins. After just a few hours in a public alpha, the Battlegrounds mode of Paladins is no longer playable. Hi-Rez wants to rework the game and still release it independently. The revision is under the motto “YOLO.”
In a producer letter, Hi-Rez announces the decision: The new mode “Battlegrounds” was playable for a few weeks on the test servers and has just been in a larger alpha, but that is now over.
They will remove the alpha version of Battlegrounds from the Paladins game client very soon.
Revision under the code name YOLO
In the coming weeks, Hi-Rez wants to “aggressively revise” the mode. They already have plans in internal tests and believe they can make the mode significantly more fun and exciting. The internal codename for these changes is “YOLO.” It stands for “You Only Live Once” and is a battle cry for teenagers, meaning “What the heck? I’ll just do it. Close your eyes and go for it.”
When the Battlegrounds mode returns, it will have its own game client and its own name. While it will retain some elements of Paladins, it will be marketed as a “new game.” It will likely be Free2Play.
Hi-Rez hopes that they can soon release the new mode for testing. It should be a matter of weeks.
Paladins Battlegrounds is set to become its own game under its own name
The changes are necessary because they believe it is better to decouple Battlegrounds from Paladins to avoid conflicts between the two versions. Additionally, mixing two brands could confuse players.
Paladins players were likely worried about their game
Mein MMO believes: Hi-Rez is certainly reacting here to the concerns of Paladins players that the new trendy battle royale mode could overshadow their favorite game. This is what happened with Fortnite’s PvE mode. However, it also sounds like Hi-Rez is not yet satisfied with the mode if they want to aggressively revise it now.
It’s definitely a tough situation for Hi-Rez.
- They are clearly following in Fortnite’s footsteps and want to jump on the battle royale bandwagon as quickly as possible to give their game new momentum.
- Hi-Rez sees the risk in such rush jobs. They can easily upset and alienate the existing fanbase.
- Moreover, the mode has to be really good if it is to succeed. And Paladins will need to compete against Fortnite: Battle Royale.
The game mode “Paladins Battlegrounds” was introduced in January at the Hi-Rez Expo. It is clearly based on the currently popular battle royale games Fortnite: Battle Royale and PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds. We have presented the features of the mode here:
What is Paladins: Battlegrounds? – PUBG meets Overwatch
In any case, it seems that a lot is changing at Hi-Rez and that is making some noise:
Developers of Paladins were against Pay2Win cards, spilled the beans to IGN
