Hi-Rez Studio Wants You to Know They Didn't Rip Off Overwatch

Hi-Rez Studio, the people behind Smite (which I hate), has recently released the open beta for their free-to-play game, Paladins, a first-person hero-based shooter that has you and a team of your companions competing on several maps to accomplish an objective against an opposing team of heroes. Sounds like fun--but it also sounds like Overwatch, which is just about the greatest game to come out this year, and also comes to us from the folks at Blizzard, who have already crushed Battleborne and aren't about to let a puny studio like Hi-Rez get in the way of their world domination.

So yeah, it's not much of a contest. And in the days since Paladins beta, there have been no shortage of people calling the game a clone or copy of Blizzard's most successful new franchise. And looking at it--both the gameplay and the characters--it's easy to see where those claims come from. The resemblance is... stark, to say the least, and the question of if the game is a rip-off or not is dominating most of the discussion of the game.

And Hi-Rez Studio isn't happy with that.

So, Hi-Rez Studio COO Todd Harris actually went to Reddit to detail, at length, the long history of Paladins' development, the many differences between Overwatch and Paladins, and even listing some ways that Overwatch may have ripped THEM off and some of their earlier work, Global Agenda. Now, that makes it sound worse than it is, it's actually fairly even-voiced and does include praise for Overwatch, but it's clear this post comes from a place of frustration from Hi-Rez Studio, who have clearly timed the release of this game very poorly, and are likely kicking themselves for committing to a game that has no clear chance of beating Blizzard.

Still, regardless how you feel about Paladins or Overwatch, it's a cool look at the behind-the-scenes development that goes on for modern gaming. Even without this list, anyone who puts an ounce of thought into this would realize it's impossible for someone to clone Overwatch so quickly (that's not how game development works). Plus, if nothing else, this whole debacle has proven to be quite the publicity boost for Paladins, even if it's not one they really wanted.

That being said, if they can embrace the similarities and market it as a more accessible, free-to-play alternative, well... it wouldn't be the first time Blizzard got beaten by a free clone of something they did first.

...I mean, kind of, it's more complicated than all that, but my point remains.