Earlier this year we announced that Hi-Rez Expo, including the SMITE & Paladins World Championships, would be returning to Atlanta’s Cobb Energy Centre in January.
Unfortunately, since that announcement, the state of the entire world has changed in ways no one could have expected. We’ve been closely monitoring the COVID-19 pandemic over the past few months, and after careful consideration we have made the difficult decision to transition the SMITE & Paladins World Championships, as well as our traditional Hi-Rez announcements, to a more pandemic-friendly format this year, hosted digitally from Hi-Rez’s broadcast studio.
We’re absolutely bummed that we won’t be able to hang out with you in-person, but the show must go on. We’ll be hosting this year’s annual gathering of the Hi-Rez community digitally, with tons of new features to bring us all together online.
We aren’t quite ready to announce most of what we’re working on, but we do have a few items to share today.
Esports World Championships
Our 2020 esports seasons will still reach their electrifying close with the SMITE and Paladins World Championships!
The SMITE World Championships will still be held in January, but we’ll be taking advantage of our digital format to add even more to the event. Tune in from Jan. 4-10 at twitch.tv/smitegame to catch all the action.
The Paladins World Championships will be moving to a standalone event, just for Paladins fans, from Dec. 3-6. Tune in for a full weekend of Paladins esports action -- and a special celebration of the Paladins community -- at twitch.tv/paladinsgame.
We’ll have more to share regarding tournament formats and schedules for both of these events in the coming weeks.
Hi-Rez Showcase
On Jan. 7, 2021, we’ll be hosting our first ever Hi-Rez Showcase. This is an all-new daylong event dedicated to you, the community, and all things Hi-Rez in 2021!
Expect HUGE announcements for all of our games in our annual Hi-Rez Presents. Get your first look at everything coming in the new seasons of SMITE, Paladins, and Rogue Company, with in-depth looks at new maps, new playable Champions, Gods, and Rogues, and so much more.
Hi-Rez Showcase will also bring our panels online for the first time, giving all of our fans a deeper look into the making of their favorite games. SMITE, Paladins, and Rogue Company will each stream unique panels on their own Twitch channels.
And we can’t forget about our 7th Annual Hi-Rez Expo Cosplay Contest! The contest will continue online -- keep crafting, and send in videos of your hard work for your chance to win!
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This is just the beginning. You’ll see many more thrilling announcements roll out in the coming weeks and months as we approach our first-ever digital fan celebration.
We’ll see you online for the SMITE World Championship, the Paladins World Championship, and the Hi-Rez Showcase!