Just this morning, we covered Titan Forge’s announcement that after ten years, Smite would finally get a long-awaited sequel. Now we’re back with even more news about the sequel, but it is a sort of good news / bad news situation.
The good news is that Smite 2 is very much a thing. The bad news is that none of the skins from the first game can or will be ported over to Smite 2 because, according to the developers, doing so would take 246 years. Give or take a year.
For those who don’t already know, Smite is one of the most iconic and recognisable MOBAs ever produced. It takes inspiration from Greek mythology and others such as Chinese, Egyptian, and Hindu to create its roster of over 100 playable characters.
Now, ten years after its debut, the game is back in the news and on the edge of everybody’s tongues because of the reveal of Smite 2, the long-awaited sequel that will step into the future by using Unreal Engine 5, which unfortunately means much of the content, and all of the skins from the first game won’t be imported into the sequel.
In the official announcement keynote, Sherri Harney, the game’s art director, said that original Smite skins wouldn’t be transferred to Smite 2 because doing so would cost 246 years of work.
Sherri Harney also said this was a hard call to make. Still, it was the right call thanks to over 1,600 skins in the game, from the collaboration with the metal band Slipknot to visuals inspired by popular franchises such as G.I. Joe, Magic: The Gathering, and RWBY.
According to another art director, Ben Knapp, just porting a single Smite skin would take over two months and then it would just be the base effects and wouldn’t be any kind of improvement at all.
However, not all is lost. Smite 2 will incorporate a Legacy Gems system where players receive virtual currency proportional to their spending on Smite skins. There will also be the Divine Legacy event, which will reward both Smite and Smite 2 players.
Smite 2 players will be able to unlock rewards in proportion to their progress in the first game, which means players will have the chance to grab up to 11 skins entirely for free, while Smite players will be able to unlock a Tier 4 and Tier 5 skin of their choice.
The developers also have some reassuring words for fans of the first game, releasing a statement to confirm that Smite won’t be shutting down when Smite 2 arrives and will still receive updates for the foreseeable future.