The open beta for SMITE on the Xbox One kicks off this week, Thursday, July 8th to be exact. But here’s the interesting thing: it’s launching with Australian servers from the get go.
Aussies have often put up with higher ping to be able to play the games they love, but in a fast paced game like SMITE reaction times can be critical. The Xbox One version of SMITE has been in closed beta for a while, but getting local servers going for the public launch gives SMITE a greater chance at success here in Australia.
“As SMITE grows, we continue to expand servers into key regions so that we can provide the best service and performance for our international players” said Todd Harris, Chief Operating Officer of Hi-Rez Studios. “The Australian community has always been very vocal and supportive, and we are excited to improve the game experience for the community in this region”.
Hi-Rez Studios also had quite the appearance at PAX Australia last year and is expected to return again for another round. SMITE already has quite the following in eSports with Oceanic competitions being organised through CyberGamer and Reddit.
SMITE expanding to the Xbox One could be a great transition for the series. The MOBA genre has been very PC focused in the past due to its roots in Real-Time-Strategy games. SMITE is built to be quite accessible, with a control system that can lend itself to work well with a traditional controller.
Though it’s rumoured the Xbox One version of the game will be using similar servers to the PC counterpart (Instead of the usual Xbox/Microsoft Azure) there are no plans for cross-platform play for balance and technical reasons
