Talking about the Hi-Rez layoffs...

My heart goes out to all those who lost their jobs today and I hope they know we all appreciate the work they put in, regardless of their position at the company. Please keep things civil in the comments!
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► Outro Song: Allen Lande - The Forgotten Ones
• Allen/Lande - The Forg...

[@Inters3ct]

My heart goes out to all those who lost their jobs today and I hope they know we all appreciate the work they put in, regardless of their position at the company. Please keep things civil in the comments!

[@thatnickwalker]

Man I can't believe Tina is gone :/

[@aliensouls1797]

For real

[@manurr5287]

What? I used to hate her but I ended up liking that beach.....😢 She was unhinged with those VPs

[@luxdrayn]

TINA IS GONE ? Alright it's over gg pack it up

[@FlipBoji]

How do we know who got fired?

[@Zanroff]

I'm rage quitting the game.

[@jtak1747]

everyone i knew including myself kinda expected something like this to happen. Smite had a niche following of players and they announced smite 2 wanting that niche following and new players to come in. but all thats happening is both games are now slowly bleeding players. I understand they wanted to revitalize the community but im not sure if this was the way

[@balthasargerard7246]

their greed and gluttony have rightfully come back to bite them

[@HookahOtaku]

@@balthasargerard7246 yup. awful administration.

[@ImmortalMarshmallow]

​what greed and gluttony?

[@evo3212]

​not even league or overwatch had the balls to tell their communities they will essentially lose all their stuff with the sequel or "upgrade"

[@wandererchan]

People need to understand that Epic DOES NOT support unreal engine 3 at all. It using program language that is not used any where else(unreal scripts). The current unreal engine 3 is heavily modded. I am pretty sure Hirez was the one trying to keep the engine alive without proper support from Epic. Plus programmers are not learning unreal scripts no more. No point in it, being it not supported by Epic.

[@Jimmyvdpost]

Never gonna work. Better start posting about other games soon Inters3ct. Sad for all of the people who got fired.

[@Magnum__Dong]

I'm not surprised. Hi Rez is doing a horrible job handling Smite. Won't be surprised if 2024 ends up being one of the worst years financially for Hi Rez. They should have never made Smite 2 public. They were never going to attract new players with paid early access when the game is lacking so much when compared to the F2P Smite 1. Killing off the Smite 1 pro league but doing tournaments for Smite 2 alpha just feels like a bad move. Smite 2 is not in a state where competitive play can be taken seriously. Essentially the Smite 2 announcement caused people to lose interest in Smite 1 and Smite 2 is not in a state where it can attract new players. At the rate that they are adding gods to Smite 2, it will take over 3 years for them to add all current Smite 1 gods to Smite 2. Smite 1 does need the engine upgrade but they should have announced it once it was ready for open beta, not after a small dev team created what was essentially a proof of concept.

[@MrBuns-yi2hk]

Yeah. I'm pretty dissapo8nted in the way the way all hi-rez games have been managed. Like... they just drop any game that isn't an instant multi-million dollar hit when most games require a lot of investment and time before they make money.

[@dangerbeans9639]

I'm not surprised. So many people have been playing Smite for so long and invested so much time and money into that game that it's a hard sell to leave all that behind for a sequel. Esspeccially a sequel that doesn't have all the cosmetics that Smite has.

[@RexToeEnjoyer]

Yikes. Not surprised seeing as the CEO has shown on multiple occasions his incompetence.

[@johnny2shoes75]

Ive been saying ever since they announced smite 2 that it was going to be released too early and they needed to wait and keep people entertained with smite 1 for a while until smite 2 was actually ready

[@blackorcshagrat8587]

Disappointing. Didn't they consider that 1. For some people, the new game may require getting a new computer, which they might not be able to do anytime soon? 2. Some people might only want to get really involved with the new game once they've got most of the things working? 3. Both?

[@sunshineandrei2569]

They only did layoffs for the cosmetics and marketing teams, if you only play for cosmetics you're not the majority 😂

[@GoodChimkin]

as someone who was interested in Smite 1 in the past but don't like it because it's just felt super mediocre to me, i'm dissapointed for how Smite 2 just looks like Smite 1 with a new coat of paint atleast for someone looking from the outside like me.

[@sunshineandrei2569]

@@GoodChimkin smite 2 can't be a different game too much or it'll lose tons of players because alot of people don't want a game that's so vastly different where their previous skills don't apply. Imagine if overwatch 2 made every role equal and made the main gameplay a looter shooter... It'd die overnight

[@GoodChimkin]

@@sunshineandrei2569 i'm not asking to make Smite 2 into a completely different genre though? But atleast i'm fine now, because i can play Deadlock. I always wanted a Moba that utilize full 3D perspective not just for the sake of it's being 3D. I'm very selfishly despise smite not because i hate the game, but because i wish it was something more. And i'm pretty sure i'm not alone in this regard. If Hi-rez want it to stay that way and is okay with a super niche playerbase, good for them! 👍 But i hope no one is expecting that Smite 2 will bring any new player at release, at best it will probably just gonna bring back old players who haven't played Smite in a while.

[@Godfadda]

Love it when he says that its his responsibility these people got laid off but Im sure upper management didnt get cut at all.

[@manurr5287]

Welcome to how most companies work

[@revolution4189]

​@@manurr5287 Not in Japan

[@sharkhammr]

@@revolution4189 They said "most"

[@CyrodiilCome]

Why tf would I pay for smite 2 when smite 1 is still free on xbox?

[@alexaxy3328]

You don't have to. The founder's pack offers a bunch of other stuff tho.

[@HiHi-yk1mv]

@@alexaxy3328a bunch of nothing

[@fatcat2015]

DOTA 2 and League of Legends: Does absolutely nothing, millions of dollars and players Hi-TitanForge-Rez: make half a dozen trend chasing cash grabs that all flop instead of supporting their main game, make sequel to their main game instead of upgrading or supporting the original, dies. How?

[@misttermd6299]

It's like they hated Smite or something. I swear they didn't want it to succeed

[@ingni123456]

It's been ten years, the new game was kinda necessary.

[@justjameeee2383]

​@@ingni123456 it was not necessary at all what makes smite smite is the graphics and how they made the items on top of the atmosphere

[@fatcat2015]

@@ingni123456 I want to agree with this because on some level it’s true, but then I look at League.

[@ImmortalMarshmallow]

So over 12 years of consistent updates, content, community events and Esports hasn't been "upgrading" or "supporting"?

[@skylarutd]

Smite 2 was supposed to be exciting but the way hirez are moving, it's actually baffling

[@FrostBeam009]

I dont know what is exciting about them scamming you with the legacy gems but it does make way more sense now... Hi-Rez dying.

[@jetvoidweller]

@@FrostBeam009 lol i really dont think its scamming. you need to relax

[@HookahOtaku]

@@jetvoidweller it doesnt matter at this point, the deed is done and the death spiral is real. people feel scammed and you cant take that feeling away from them. people invested thousands into their favorite game, and now their favorite game is getting sunset to be forced into playing a lesser quality version of what they love, and not keep anything they purchased. legacy gems dont mean shit when the items in the cosmetic store in S2 cost way more than S1. its not a scam clearly, but people now have a bitter pill to swallow if they want to go to S2 thus why they are leaving all together or playing S1 till the pop fizzles out.

[@ImmortalMarshmallow]

​@FrostBeam009 getting thousands of dollars worth of in game currency I've spent over the last 10 years and being able to use it to help pay for brand new content in a new game.. Is scamming?

[@famousmortimer7933]

Players numbers suggest otherwise.

[@Kajnake]

Hirez curse Literally any project they take up besides Smite eventually gets dropped, including Smite 2

[@ImmortalMarshmallow]

Smite 2 isn't getting dropped at all

[@famousmortimer7933]

It’s DOA 😂

[@Ninkavbed]

I doubt it’s a “heart breaking decision” it’s probably just to save money but what can you expect from a company like hi rez I’ve always hated this company. They never give back to content creators that keep their games relevant. They also have been fumbling for many years now like realm royale they heads at hi rez are really out of touch with their game communities. I feel bad for the ppl getting laid off. I hope the best for the people getting laid off . Hi rez is gonna get karma served so hard in the future. Support the creators and devs not the soulless corporation that just wants your money. Edit: The devs and the smite team literally say to buy from currency and gems from creators nexus page which shows how hi Rez employees feel about their own company. 😅

[@nathaniels9141]

Hi-Rez probably makes a higher percentage or same money off the Nexus page. Steam, Sony, and Microsoft take over 30%.

[@Ninkavbed]

@@nathaniels9141 I already know abt that but still they aren’t getting a higher percentage

[@sufcblade2786]

Smite 2 has killed smite Completely, used to love playing smite pretty much every day, even grinded to get every smite got rank 10, but just seems like smite in general is dying

[@POWDERPACKS]

Fun for me

[@JustCallMeCeles]

I'm still in Smite 1. Glad i'm still there.

[@POWDERPACKS]

😂😂

[@raven_knight_076]

For now

[@Lmaofunnyman]

What is maintenance mode?

[@aegismalkav8057]

Ive already grinded enough money and time that i wont recover on Smite 1, not gonna waste neither of those on the sequel.

[@HookahOtaku]

yep

[@dragomondirector]

Tina.... 😥

[@-8h-]

They needed to just focus on smite and paladins, and stop jumping on the newest trend with all of those side project cashgrab games. They did that when they were doing well, and then sunk money into games that they mismanaged and killed. And now they have nothing left.

[@BrotherShaw]

Bad decisions up top, negative consequences for everyone below. My heart goes out to all the devs and the rest on the team.

[@turtlenator6249]

Incompetent CEO, DEI page, history off failed games, Yep, all checks out.

[@MrWEST1]

Hopefully Hi-Rez makes it, on their current track its do or dont now. In a few years we'll look back and be sad of what could've been because it failed, or we"ll be playing Smite 2 complaining about bugs but having fun playing

[@doppelsauger1334]

im kinda high as fk and i thought about it too man its crazy i been playing this game for 10 long years, i got kids now and im super excited for them be bigger so they can join me and play some smite 2 but now its like what if it fails and smite closes forever damn that would surely suck this its about only game ive played seriously for past 10 years lol

[@hotwings18]

To the shock of no one smite 2 ate shit

[@DemarcusSutton-hl3ve]

smite 2 dies, smite is gone in general

[@JustCallMeCeles]

@@DemarcusSutton-hl3ve No.

[@ultimatex1334]

​@@JustCallMeCelesYep. The pros have confirmed that devs like Ajax had said Smite only has a couple years left before they have to cut support.

[@hotwings18]

@@ultimatex1334 lawl

[@ImmortalMarshmallow]

Smite 2 hasn't eaten shit at all. It hasn't even been released.

[@francisconeto1780]

i wish i could play smite 2, but my pc does not run it good

[@amoxon6881]

I knew immediately upon release, that smite 2 is how this game and company dies. To see that theyre doubling down is heartbreaking. R.I.P. Smite.

[@ARo151]

They shoulda just kept SPL around and continued pushing Smite 1, until next January/February, and then released Smite 2 when it was far closer to actually ready. They made a big mistake by making Smite 1 basically irrelevant, while also not having a proper pro league, and then trying to have people pay for early access to a game that wasn't ready instead of trending alongside Smite 1's finances for one more year

[@luizfernandodesa4910]

I mean, half of the players hated and warned their take on smite 2 was shit. once again they ignore and double down on it.

[@SchnookieC]

Stu needs to step down, 0 actual accountability for how disasterous his leadership has been for hi-rez, if the company is gonna survive the next 12 months, they need strong new leadership

[@TXIN-zz8km]

kinda sad how hirez realized that theyre just the smite company, theyre probably gonna merge titan forged and the other ones into just hi rez again

[@sunshineandrei2569]

Good decision, paladins was successful but died when OW2 came out as a f2p

[@baller2085]

​@@sunshineandrei2569 paladins died lonnggg before that

[@Sacred9000]

@@sunshineandrei2569 paladins died when evil mojo became a thing.

[@-8h-]

​@@sunshineandrei2569nope, thats actually when paladins was at its highest peak in years. It died because of mismanagement. They really just didnt care about the game, and it never got what it deserved when it needed it.

[@logancooper1327]

@@-8h-

[@FlyManChimera]

As I said, smite 2 will die before smite 1

[@DemarcusSutton-hl3ve]

if smite 2 dies, smite 1 is dead as well, noone wants to play a dated game with no future

[@lumpytoad1357]

Oh wow. I hope they are right, that they have a good grip on transitioning gods from 1 to 2, and release new gods soon. Smite 2 will be kind of crazy, constant new game mode updates and new characters flooding the game for the next year at least. I think it could gain momentum, and content creators could have their hands full. It's a gamble for sure.

[@SimonCleric]

Sad about people, of course. It's been happening too often lately in the gaming industry. But at the same time - fuck Smite 2.

[@RogerERodriguez1k]

All they needed to give us was more characters. And maybe more game modes. Im sticking around though.

[@TheElectrikCow]

My friends and I are just waiting on 3v3 Joust to return before we really have any interest in playing the game. Though I'd be more interested in at least tinkering around in Arena or Conquest if I wasn't kinda bummed with the extremely priced skins. I know they're just cosmetics, but I like my cosmetics and it takes away my enthusiasm to play when I can't justify spending what amounts to a fully developed full priced Indie game for the price of a simple cosmetic. I am one of the few though who are excited for the item changes in the game and hope to see Smite 2 actually take off, despite everything.

[@Syesan]

Maybe stop trying to be a greedy company and actually make a great game. Focusing too much on skins and stuff.

[@-8h-]

I hate to break it to you, but if you think thats why, then you have no idea. Thats what makes the money in f2p live service games

[@aegismalkav8057]

​@@-8h-Hate to break it to you but people are already fed up with live service games, the numbers dont lie.

[@abelgonzalez158]

F for Tina

[@kevinking795]

First

[@aannggeelliinn]

u.u sad

[@Jeraco24]

My heart goes out to tina i loved her and when she would show up.....

[@natelangston3262]

Idk if I would’ve rather seen smite just slowly die and fade into irrelevance but this kinda just confirms that was my hope. I get the idea smite wasn’t a viable business strategy, but this just feels like a Hail Mary from our own 1 yard line. smite 2 has close to 0% chance to improve on business model more so than just praying smite 1 had strong peaks and would hopefully just continue to serve a faithful audience. 8 years of playing smite, almost 1 year of play time and can say smite 2 was the final nail in the coffin from Hi Rez. Pretty much cemented the statement new players mean more than long faithful backbone players

[@BeautyBeastRC]

I mean, I'm STILL waiting on scylla!!

[@naonuk6206]

I dont think firing a bunch of people while they were already spreading their resources thin was the smartest play here. Now there's less people working on smite 1 and smite 2 and given hirez's atrocious record with other games, we might be fucked. Also giving away money for a tournament for a game in ALPHA was very stupid.

[@AlterStrifeo]

Tbf smite 1 doesnt need ppl atp, the tournament is pretty normal, still feel horrid for the layoffs obv

[@nathaniels9141]

It’s people sitting around not doing anything. There is nothing for marketing team to do while Smite 1 is dying and Smite 2 is unfinished. The Smite 2 tournaments are to stop all the pros from going to Deadlock.

[@AlterStrifeo]

@@nathaniels9141 that is NOT why s2 has tourneys LMFAO

[@filozof90]

It's mostly people working on skins, which they don't need right now.

[@farmnation1153]

Seeing Tina be layed off really brought a tear to my eye. Really shows they care more about pumping out smite two than the community

[@gorrvaskr5963]

After the Punk Duck & Mythymoo incident then now letting go of more talented individuals when the entire problem with SMITE has always been “why are we getting another Neith skin every other month” is insane. I hope HiRez dies and stops making games. Every single game they’ve made can be watered down to a cash grab.

[@Redchoo]

Unfortunate, hirez is a terrible org once again

[@HiHi-yk1mv]

Smite 2 was a literal failure I been said this in your other video

[@grr-OUCH]

To be fair, some of the Smite players are rather mean to newer players. I was playing in a party and someone wasted time to chat to the other player to uninstall instead of trying to win.

[@Ace....]

dead game lul

[@Bot-Gaben]

Looking at all the smite creators, seems like views for smite are way down. Interest in the game is completely gone it seems and smite, unfortunately, i think ain't gonna make it much longer

[@johnnymurkbro]

i think why there are not that many players in early, is becasue you have to pay to play, its a free moba who wants to pay?

[@sunshineandrei2569]

I hope they got referrals to other companies and a severance check, they deserve it most definitely. I like that they're avoiding the gamblig skins and shit for the early days to get a strong framework, VERY smart idea.

[@sunshineandrei2569]

@@Revanchriste I don't work for them enough to know the inner company problems. But I expect layoffs to come with severance pay. You don't get new hires otherwise.

[@famousmortimer7933]

They only did that because the game is dead. It’s too little and far too late.

[@LizardWizard403]

Smite 2 starting to smell like those games that release dead smh.

[@rentacar5]

I want Smite 2 to succeed but its slowly becoming an Overwatch 2. I'm trying to get my buddies to play since they played the first one but they mainly play arena and miss all the gods and skins. I've told them its in alpha but it's really a hard sell. The other games they play R6 Siege and Fortnite have maintained their live games while updating the engine, i feel like smite should've done the same. Me and my buddies aren't hardcore smite players and i feel trying to convince them to rebuy stuff they feel they bought already is whats hurting getting players to return to smite 2. I'll stay optimistic but in my anecdotal friends circle smite 2 isn't being touched by anyone but me unfortunately.

[@-8h-]

Uh, have you played OW2 or even be around for its whole story? Smite 2 is definitely not OW2 even in the slightest. Just get them to try it when it releases.

[@rentacar5]

@@-8h- If most gods and skins arent there on release date they are not getting it at all and i assume alot of others feel the same. Also saying it shares no similarities at all to smite 2 is coping.

[@Ace....]

U right lil bro ow2 only has 40k more players on steam alone🤣

[@AmLycanThat]

Honestly saw this coming a mile away. I love Smite 2 don't get me wrong, but it's simply, just not ready. People who can play Smite 2 aren't returning to Smite 1, and those that can't play Smite 2 are abandoning Smite 1 as they know any monetary or time investment they make is pointless. For example; I've put near to 6k hours into Smite 1, the second I could play Smite 2 I deleted Smite 1 instantly and never looked or plan on going back, even with the vastly inferior god pool. And those that play Smite 2 are being turned away by the relatively slow or unimpactful updates, the game breaking bugs or lacking content (alpha stage aside). HiRez fucked themselves attempting to appease the skin-nuts by promising to support Smite 1 alongside Smite 2, they're just competing with themselves which is stupid business practice and pleasing neither side. This 'focus' Chisam is talking about should've been the notion from day 1, not almost 2 months into Smite 2's life, as there's no gain to be had monetizing a game that nobody wants to play. It's sad really, because I do enjoy playing Smite 2, the god changes are great, the 2 new gods are insane, the revamped item system makes building actually fun, the mastery changes are amazing and I fucking love the active items. It's clear the design team behind the game, actually care, are talented and are trying new and exciting things to spice up the game. But once again, akin to Smite 1, and almost every other HiRez title, the leadership is failing it and causing the game to die. Smite 2's alpha should never have released, Smite 1 should've had 1 more year - end on a banger of a competitive season with the $1 million prize pool coming back, like it had in S2-S3, make some buzz for the game, then use that buzz and attention to announce and reveal Smite 2. Then release the Beta midway 2025 and shutdown Smite 1 at the end of 2025. And don't even get me started on how fucked MM is, not like that should really matter in an Alpha, but it's clearly a huge topic within the community and is turning what's left of the regular player base off the game alongside newer players. I guarantee by the end of the year, if Smite 2's situation has not improved we'll either see HiRez abandon this sinking ship entirely, or jump ship to Paladins as it appears to be their last bastion of relative stability. It would suck for it to end like this, but fuck it, I have Spacemarine 2 and Helldivers 2 to be enjoying over the mess that is Smite 2.

[@davidmanous]

Paid 100$ only played it for like 3-4 hours been playing smite 1 for like 8 years now

[@danb347]

I got banned from smite 1… not playing smite 2 because of that.

[@ignightroad]

Been playing since Smite 1 and It's such a shame they're putting all their eggs in one basket AND counting them before they hatch. A lot of the layoffs were people who drove the company and made people WANT t keep playing. Smite 2 is......not great. Paladins was promising. What Stew's done is ridiculously frustrating and my heart goes out to those laid off.

[@raijinenel3116]

Not monetising? It's just business, not a wake haha chill mate.

[@raijinenel3116]

Keep smite 1, give us 2 when finished, is it that difficult to follow?

[@sunshineandrei2569]

They ARE Oh my God is this the newgen of gamers? Entitled dipshits?

[@dougdimmadabs5001]

Hopefully Tina is gone. I can’t stand her

[@DLJeeves]

I stopped playing SMITE altogether once they said they won't be importing old skins. This is my first SMITE-related video I've watched in several months. I simply have no interest in either game now that I know the skins won't be imported.

[@FlyManChimera]

The lack of God's that I actually care about is what did it for me. The skins are just the icing on the shitcake.

[@MrWEST1]

Its crazy ppl still think like this. Smite 1 was out for 10+ years and was its own title. Smite 2 is a new game, and they even made a method that gave people half off the new skins in Smite 2, and for the last year have released pretty good skins that are going to be cross progressional. There's no other gaming studio that would do half of what hi rez has done in regards to skins. You had 10+ years give or take to use the skin you bought, it's a digital item that you don't own forever. Hi-rez has stated that it's virtually impossible to add every skin to smite 2. If your this dumb man, don't come to smite 2 and leave the smite game in total. Or stay in assault, we don't need you feeding in our games.

[@DLJeeves]

@@MrWEST1 Path of Exile is importing all of their skins into PoE 2, which is why I'm playing that now.

[@MrWEST1]

@@DLJeeves Good for you buddy, that's probably more of a graphic and system overhaul than a new game. And that game looks far easier to do that along with being a much bigger studio.

[@aegismalkav8057]

​@@MrWEST1Keep riding Hi Rez 🍆 while it last, if they dont value the money we've spent on them then we wont value their sequel and just by the looks of it were not the only ones who thinks lile that.

[@POWDERPACKS]

Sad but ue3 devs with no ue5 roles should probably be trimmed

[@AlterStrifeo]

Me when im ignorant

[@POWDERPACKS]

@AlterStrifeo you are ignorant

[@AlterStrifeo]

@@POWDERPACKS youre under every single s2 post and making the game and community look bad. Please. Leave it

[@POWDERPACKS]

@@AlterStrifeo blow me idiot

[@Bowie.]

Considering the state of the tech industry, this honestly isn't that bad. The fact that they're continuing with Smite 2 is very positive and shows they plan to stay around. Many companies are pulling the plug on new projects.

[@MrBuns-yi2hk]

The game is still in closed alpha and has only been out for a couple of months. I don't get why they are making such a massive decision when the game hasn't had the time to actually make returns.

[@BradTheThird]

Good, the Elon Musk approach. Get rid of all the useless roles like DEI departments.

[@raijinenel3116]

exactly. a load of women who contribute nothing but a wage bill.

[@abelgonzalez158]

You musk worshippers must go on his space joy rides immediately plz

[@BradTheThird]

@@abelgonzalez158 Can you use a worshiper booster?

[@brandoncue3013]

They released a moba with 30 Gods what did they think was going to happen. Smite 1 is in perfect condition right now. There is no reason to release smite 2 without at least 100 Gods. Should of just taken a year and done it

[@spirosmakris7142]

Who actually likes hirez games lmao ? rogue company is cs + valorant but just worse than both , Realm royale was just terrible all around , paladins was overwatch but way worse and even smite is dota 2 but worse . These people have generally made 0 good games thein entire careers

[@memelordgourd5094]

Layoffs, that's their response to anything less than overwhelming praise and parades for an early access game? Pathetic

[@abelgonzalez158]

First time dealing with investors?

[@sunshineandrei2569]

Someone clearly is just a mindless hater 😂