Smite Rivals is a free-to-play, cross-platform CCG with powerful echoes of Clash Royale—although, as Chris noted in his early preview, it "differentiates itself in the details, and the more I played the more significant they seemed." It was announced in January, with a release expected sometime later this year, but less than three months down the road developer Hi-Rez Studios has confirmed that its development has been put "on hold."
Word of the suspension first went to Kotaku, which said "a source close to the game's development" told it that the "unnamed third-party studio" working on Smite Rivals had been taken off the job, and that there was no plan to give the game to another developer or finish it internally. Hi-Rez confirmed in a follow-up statement that Smite Rivals has been "suspended."
"We made a decision this week to put Smite Rivals on hold. While we are still excited by the general concept of Smite Rivals, it was clear after early testing that the game needs significant additional development before releasing. With Smite Tactics, our turn-based strategy game set in the Smite Universe, performing well, we have decided to focus our energies on that for the time being."
There's no word on when work on Smite Rivals might resume, but if you're feeling optimistic you can, for now at least, still sign up for the beta (or just poke around to see what it's all about) at smiterivals.com.
