Paladins Now Free to Play as Open Beta Begins on Xbox One. Paladins is now 100% free for everyone to download and play on Xbox One! With the open beta starting today, you can download Paladins from the Xbox Store and enter the Realm right now. Don’t worry about the “beta” tag — Paladins will be free to play forever and you won’t lose any progress once we launch later this year. In even more exciting news, we’re celebrating open beta with the release of a new cinematic trailer (see above)! Watch as Ruckus chases down the magic crystal that powers his mechanized suit… and get a taste of Paladins’ lighthearted humor. Never heard of Paladins ? It’s a fantasy team-based shooter, where you become a legendary Champion like Androxus, who soars through the skies with a cursed pistol, or Ying, who creates illusions with her magical mirror. Even better, customize each Champion to play exactly how you want to play with our card-based loadout system. We want to thank the hundreds of thousands of fans who have already entered the Realm on Xbox One during our closed beta. And to those of you learning about Paladins for the first time, welcome to our community of more than 8.5 million passionate Paladins players from around the world. To celebrate we’re throwing a double gold weekend through Wednesday, May 3 to Sunday, May 7! Simply log in to play and watch the bonus gold roll in to unlock new Champions and Radiant Chests! If you like Paladins , there’s no better way to enter the Realm than with our Founder’s Pack. You’ll unlock all 24 Champions, a ton of bonus beta content, and every Champion we ever release in the future. That even includes Seris, Oracle of the Abyss, a haunting new support Champion coming to Xbox One in just a few weeks! Are you a competitive player who always wants to prove you’re the best on the world? We’re supporting Paladins as an international esport on Xbox One and your team could qualify for a free trip to our first major tournament at DreamHack Valencia in Spain! Check our esports blog for more information. From all of us here at Hi-Rez Studios, we’d like to close by extending our heartfelt thanks and appreciation to the entire Xbox One community. We’ve enjoyed getting to know you all through our first Xbox One release, SMITE, and we hope you enjoy Paladins just as much. Paladins is Coming to Console! Paladins: Champions of the Realm is coming to console — and you can sign up for the Closed Beta starting today! From day 1 of development, Paladins was designed with console in mind. We’ve enlisted some big-name console gamers to make sure the control scheme feels just right. Name any big-time multiplayer shooter that you enjoy most on console and Paladins stands right there alongside them. Except Paladins will continue to be FREE on console, just like it is on PC and Mac! Sign up for the Console Closed Beta here: Featured Article. Featured News , News. Last Chance Sale: All Common and Uncommon Cosmetics 50% off! Recent News. Join the Paladins Global Series! Want to win your share of $350,000 and earn your spot on stage? Here’s how to join the Paladins Global Series! Step 1: Find Your Tea. Featured News , News. Paladins Season 2 Coming This Spring! Last August, we introduced Ranked 2.0, a wide-sweeping update of Paladins’ Competitive mode. Complete with a more welcoming introduct. Update: Changes to Radiant Chests & Cosmetics. After talking with our community members and looking at better options to correct the Radiant Chest Gold exploit, we’ve decided i.

Paladins xbox one

Paladins is a free to play online hero shooter there are 3 game types here Onslaught which is capture and hold, Paladins. Paladins is a free to play online hero shooter. there are 3 game types here Onslaught which is capture and hold, payload which is an escort game and siege where it’s a mix of the 2. You try to capture a point on the map and escort the payload. the first team to 4 points wins… Theres a great deal of variety in character select, currently 28 champions total.. The game gives you 8 of the 28 from the start. its up to you to unlock the other 20 and unlock other perks and cosmetics along the way… The gun play here is great.. There’s a damage class, frontline, flank, and support… my favorites being damage and flank… The other 2 I just couldn’t get to work for me in the given game modes. Each champion has their own set of special attacks with cool downs… and one super move you can unleash once you’ve accumulated enough damage. and there are in games boosts and perks in the form of cards that you purchase throughout the match with the currency you get as you work on completing objectives… You can change your card loadout and unlock new cards from chests that you’ll get naturally as you play the game… And this is a free to play so of course there are chests focused more on character cosmetics that can only be bought with crystals. and you earn crystals by logging into the game consistently or just buying them of course. you can unlock champions with these crystals as well… or you can just grind for them… And this is where the free to play model hurts this game. champions cost 5000 coins to unlock… from matches you’re going to get about 200-400 coins.. meaning it’s going to take around 15-25 matches minimum to unlock just one character… or about 4 and a half hours… you’re looking at around 120 hours to unlock every character in this game… There is not even close to enough content here… not interesting enough maps, not a variety of enough maps.. Not fun enough match structure to make that 120 hour grind worth it… And it’s a shame because again the gunplay is so good. im either really great at this game which I doubt or the game is so accessible that it can make anyone feel great at it.. I had fun playing with the different champions… but even after only a few hours I was already tired of the maps as the objectives are always at the same spot, require hardly any tactics and the maps are so small that you’ll get to these points on your sweet stallion in a few gallops… which I do appreciate… the siege mode in particular feels fast and hectic thanks to it. The problem here isn’t the gameplay.. The game doesn’t rewarded quickly enough to hook the average player and incentivize them to go for more characters… 25 matches or 4 and half hours for 1 single character is ridiculous… aint nobody got time for that… With more maps, which the devs are working on as you can even test them once you reach level 15. and a grind cut by about 75% and there’s something here… until then it’s a grind fest that you’ll most likely lose interest in before you have a chance to play with everything. Paladins: Champions of the Realm Coming to PS4, Xbox One. Hi-Rez Studios' team-based shooter Paladins: Champions of the Realm is getting a closed beta on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. Just like on PC and Mac, Paladins will continue to be free on consoles. If you're on PS4, you can sign up for the beta here. Xbox One players can sign up here. "From day one of development, Paladins was designed with console in mind," the developer wrote on its website. "We’ve enlisted some big-name console gamers to make sure the control scheme feels just right." Similar to Smite, another Hi-Rez Studios game, Paladins uses a "fair free-to-play model." Players can unlock each of the current 17 champions and all of those released in the future for $20. Conversely, you can unlock every hero for free just by playing the game. The fantasy-themed first-person shooter already had an open beta on PC, which was played by more than 1 million people. What's more, it's "consistently one of the top 10 most-played games on Steam." Earlier this month, the developer responded to criticism that Paladins copied aspects of Blizzard’s Overwatch. According to Hi-Rez’s COO Todd Harris, the game's characters, who appear to mimic Overwatch heroes, "were available and playable" long before similar characters were shown in Overwatch. Michael Passalacqua is a freelance writer for IGN. Chat with him on Twitter about the New York Giants’ surprising start to the season. © 1996-2018 Ziff Davis, LLC. We have updated our PRIVACY POLICY and encourage you to read it by clicking here. IGN uses cookies and other tracking technologies to customize online advertisements, and for other purposes. IGN supports the Digital Advertising Alliance principles. Learn More. Team-based Shooter Paladins Enters Closed Beta on Xbox One. We’re excited to announce that our award-winning fantasy team-based shooter Paladins is entering closed beta today on Xbox One! Paladins has already made a huge impact on the PC gaming world, with more than 7 million registered players and hundreds of thousands logging in every day. That’s because Paladins is the only team-based shooter where you can play exactly how you want to play. First you pick your Champion from 22 diverse fantasy-inspired characters (with 15+ more Champions scheduled for release in 2017)! These Champions offer a different twist on fantasy, ranging from shotgun-wielding monks to mech-piloting goblins and renegade monster hunters with assault rifles. But you’re not stuck with the Champion we designed. Through our unique collectible card system, you can create a loadout that enhances each Champion’s core set of abilities to play exactly how you want to play. Focus on defense, offense, mobility, or your own unique mixture… it’s up to you! And you can look exactly how you want to look. Our multi-part skin system lets you customize each Champion’s head, body, and weapon from an ever-growing range of cosmetics. To help start your training, the Paladins Founder’s Pack is on sale now on Xbox One for 25% off! You’ll get instant access to the closed beta, plus every Champion we ever release. That means the Founder’s Pack becomes an even better deal every time we release a new Champion… and we’re on track to release more than 15 Champions this year! You can also gain access to the closed beta by signing up here. We’ll see you in the Realm, Champions! Pick from a group of 22 diverse fantasy-inspired characters, ranging from shotgun-wielding monks to mech-piloting goblins and renegade monster hunters with assault rifles. Paladins Founder's Pack. Unlock every Champion in Paladins, now and forever! Plus get bonus beta content. Founder's Pack Includes: - All current and future Champions - 10 Radiant Chests - All Standard Champion Voice Packs - God of War Fernando Collection - Infernal Warhorse Mount - Fernando Ares SMITE Skin If you have previously purchased Champions with Gold or Crystals, you will be refunded the Gold cost of each Champion upon purchase of the Paladins Founder's Pack. Thanks for your order. We'll try to push-to-install this on your home Xbox One. If you’ve blocked automated downloads, you might want to enable them. On your Xbox One, go to Settings > System > Updates > Keep my games & apps up to date . By the way, you can find this and anything else you’ve installed in My games and apps . Trying to install on your home Xbox One. We'll try to push-to-install this on your home Xbox One. If you’ve blocked automated downloads, you might want to enable them. On your Xbox One, go to Settings > System > Updates > Keep my games & apps up to date . By the way, you can find this and anything else you’ve installed in My games and apps . Get an Xbox Live account. To play this game, you need an Xbox Live account. Get one here. Online Interactions Not Rated by the ESRB. Paladins Founder's Pack. Works with. Infernal Warhorse Mount. Fernando Ares Skin. Rating: 4.19999980926514 / 5. Front Line Pack. Realm Pack. Rating: 3.59999990463257 / 5. God of War Fernando Collection. Rating: 4.19999980926514 / 5. Paladins VIP Pack. In this bundle. Fernando Ares Skin. Rating: 4.19999980926514 / 5. Infernal Warhorse Mount. Paladins Champions' Pack. God of War Fernando Collection. Rating: 4.19999980926514 / 5. Alternate Editions. Front Line Pack. Paladins VIP Pack. Description. Unlock every Champion in Paladins, now and forever! Plus get bonus beta content. Founder's Pack Includes: - All current and future Champions - 10 Radiant Chests - All Standard Champion Voice Packs - God of War Fernando Collection - Infernal Warhorse Mount - Fernando Ares SMITE Skin If you have previously purchased Champions with Gold or Crystals, you will be refunded the Gold cost of each Champion upon purchase of the Paladins Founder's Pack. Available on. Additional info. Age rating. Online Interactions Not Rated by the ESRB. Report this product Report this product to Microsoft. Thanks for reporting your concern. Our team will review it and, if necessary, take action. Sign in to report this product to Microsoft. Top add-ons. Realm Pack. Rating: 3.59999990463257 / 5. Ratings and reviews. To rate and review, sign in. Your review. Thanks. Your review will post soon. There was an error posting your review. Please try again later. All user reviews. great game. i think this game is great. Ilove it almost as overwatch. I think the characters are unique. Also I love my flaming horse and everything i got in this pack. At first I thought about this game otherwise. I was wrong. I recommend this for people who like TF2 and multi player shooters. Also if u like riding horseeeeeez. GET THIS GAME. 19 out of 20 people found this helpful. IF YOU WANT TO HOW TO GET CLOSED BETA AFTER PURCHASED. ONCE YOU BUY FOUNDER PACK. IT NOT JUST A ADD-ON IT FREE ACCESS TO THE CLOSED BETA. YOU WILL HAVE TO GO TO THE ADD ON MANAGE IT WILL SAY PALADINS THAT IS THE CLOSED BETA GAME. THIS WILL HELP YOU GUYS WHO ARE HAVE PROBLEMS GET ACCESS TO THE GAME ENJOY HAVE FUN. 🎮🙂 304 out of 382 people found this helpful. El DEVIL DOG 75. Good Competitor. This game by far has been the best competitor to Overwatch. It has such addicting gameplay that it has me hooked. I actually got the game for free, but once I tried it out, I just had to buy the founders pack. This game is very well made and I think if people looked past the over used excuse of "Overwatch Copy" and actually sit down and try the game, they would enjoy it. And to address the complaint some people have about having to play pve until level 5, that was put there so people could enjoy the game and learn it at a smooth pace without having someone yelling at you for how much "you suck." Overall, this game has the potential to rival big games in it's genre, like Overwatch. The developer, HiRez, is known for challenging big games with it's own version. Smite rivals Dota and LoL. Having friendly competition between games means that developers try harder to make their game better, which is a win for us gamers, as this means more content! So I say this game deserves playing. 321 out of 406 people found this helpful. Deserves A Fair Chance. Paladins is a great game, the game has a huge amount of variety due to the in game item shop and card deck system to fully customize the play style of a character. Now yes, you do have to unlock characters to play in game and only start out with about 5, plus the weekly hero rotation, so some grinding is necessary. Sure there are bugs in the game, but this game is in BETA so it's expected. And the game does do updates every 2 weeks adding constant balance changes, new characters to the roster as well as new skins, maps, etc you get the point, updates are frequent and fast. Also unlike triple A games the graphics are cartoony but it just works, the only thing I can say about the game that I hate is the essence system which is a bit grindy, also the turtorial in the game isn't really good, let alone helpful at the moment, so you'll have to figure out the basics on you own. FYI you face bots til Lv.5. 506 out of 663 people found this helpful. Excellent F2P FPS MOBA. Similar to Overwatch, but different enough. The card system adds to the fun and customization. I feel as if it is faster paced than Overwatch, but not as polished. Blizzard is extremely good at that! Hi-Rez definitley did a great job here and if they support it like they have SMITE, along with community support, it has legs. 26 out of 31 people found this helpful. its in closed beta. if you go on twitter to the palidans verifed account theres a gamespot giveaway for closed beta keys you put your email in and they send you one i just got mine happy playing everyone. 23 out of 27 people found this helpful. before you say rip off. Let me save you the step that makes you look ignorant. smite is made by the same team as this. now overwatch is like paladins but blizzard kinda took from hi rez and paladins was in development 1st. before you say paladins stole from blizz, widowmakers and meis guns were 1st seen in global agenda which hi rez owns. Lets not forget phara pretty much straight ripped the ex raider class from tribes guess what hi rez owns that too. i love OW, Paladins and TF2 lets face it they both got inspired from valve. Paladins is a great game hope to play with you all. ❤❤❤❤ 127 out of 176 people found this helpful. I havent played yet but, it didnt install properly the first time. If this happens to you go to it in the store. click manage . delete . then re install. It will download properly. 67 out of 90 people found this helpful. Don't spend any money on this. I bought the founders pack on both xbox AND playstion, AND also bought booster pack on BOTH consoles, while my PAID booster was active, I had 3 out of 4 chests give me an error message. I contacted Hi Rez many times about multiple issues regarding this same thing, but this time my money was spent. They REFUSE to ever compensate, EVEN IF YOU HAVE SPENT MONEY and was screwed. 161 out of 236 people found this helpful. 9/10 Fantastic Game. Overall, amazing game with a great studio behind it. Yeah, it's similar to Overwatch but, Paladins is free. The extensive character customization is great. It makes every champion feel different. Can't wait to see this game develop more. Keep doing your thing hi-rez! 80 out of 113 people found this helpful. Translate to English. Язык Microsoft Store: United States - English. Вас интересует язык Microsoft Store: Россия - Русский? Перевести на русский. You are shopping Microsoft Store in: United States - English. Are you looking for Microsoft Store in: Россия - Русский? Paladins. Enter a fantasy world of ancient technology in Paladins, a team-based shooter with strategy elements and deep character customization. Through a unique collectible card system, players can amplify and augment a character’s core set of abilities to play exactly how they want to play. Thanks for your order. We'll try to push-to-install this on your home Xbox One. If you’ve blocked automated downloads, you might want to enable them. On your Xbox One, go to Settings > System > Updates > Keep my games & apps up to date . By the way, you can find this and anything else you’ve installed in My games and apps . Trying to install on your home Xbox One. We'll try to push-to-install this on your home Xbox One. If you’ve blocked automated downloads, you might want to enable them. On your Xbox One, go to Settings > System > Updates > Keep my games & apps up to date . By the way, you can find this and anything else you’ve installed in My games and apps . Get an Xbox Live account. To play this game, you need an Xbox Live account. Get one here. Friends who play this game. Online Interactions Not Rated by the ESRB. Included in. Front Line Pack. Paladins VIP Pack. Paladins Founder's Pack. Screenshots. Description. Enter a fantasy world of ancient technology in Paladins, a team-based shooter with strategy elements and deep character customization. Through a unique collectible card system, players can amplify and augment a character’s core set of abilities to play exactly how they want to play. Available on. Capabilities. Online multiplayer (1-10) Online co-op Xbox One X Enhanced 4K Ultra HD. People also like. Gigantic. Rating: 4.30000019073486 / 5. Dungeon Defenders II. Raiders of the Broken Planet. Rating: 3.20000004768372 / 5. Happy Dungeons. Rating: 3.79999995231628 / 5. Clicker Heroes. Rating: 3.40000009536743 / 5. Rating: 2.59999990463257 / 5. Rating: 3.90000009536743 / 5. Slime Rancher. Rating: 4.59999990463257 / 5. Game clips. Broadcasts. Additional info. Approximate download size. Online Interactions Not Rated by the ESRB. Install on your home Xbox One console plus have access when you’re connected to your Microsoft account. Thanks for reporting your concern. Our team will review it and, if necessary, take action. Sign in to report this game to Microsoft. Top add-ons. 200 Paladins Crystals. 400 Paladins Crystals. Paladins Founder's Pack. 800 Paladins Crystals. Realm Pack. Rating: 3.59999990463257 / 5. 1500 Paladins Crystals. 2500 Paladins Crystals. 3500 Crystals. 8000 Paladins Crystals. Ratings and reviews. To rate and review, sign in. Your review. Thanks. Your review will post soon. There was an error posting your review. Please try again later. All user reviews. El DEVIL DOG 75. Good Competitor. This game by far has been the best competitor to Overwatch. It has such addicting gameplay that it has me hooked. I actually got the game for free, but once I tried it out, I just had to buy the founders pack. This game is very well made and I think if people looked past the over used excuse of "Overwatch Copy" and actually sit down and try the game, they would enjoy it. And to address the complaint some people have about having to play pve until level 5, that was put there so people could enjoy the game and learn it at a smooth pace without having someone yelling at you for how much "you suck." Overall, this game has the potential to rival big games in it's genre, like Overwatch. The developer, HiRez, is known for challenging big games with it's own version. Smite rivals Dota and LoL. Having friendly competition between games means that developers try harder to make their game better, which is a win for us gamers, as this means more content! So I say this game deserves playing. 321 out of 406 people found this helpful. Deserves A Fair Chance. Paladins is a great game, the game has a huge amount of variety due to the in game item shop and card deck system to fully customize the play style of a character. Now yes, you do have to unlock characters to play in game and only start out with about 5, plus the weekly hero rotation, so some grinding is necessary. Sure there are bugs in the game, but this game is in BETA so it's expected. And the game does do updates every 2 weeks adding constant balance changes, new characters to the roster as well as new skins, maps, etc you get the point, updates are frequent and fast. Also unlike triple A games the graphics are cartoony but it just works, the only thing I can say about the game that I hate is the essence system which is a bit grindy, also the turtorial in the game isn't really good, let alone helpful at the moment, so you'll have to figure out the basics on you own. FYI you face bots til Lv.5. 506 out of 663 people found this helpful. Excellent F2P FPS MOBA. Similar to Overwatch, but different enough. The card system adds to the fun and customization. I feel as if it is faster paced than Overwatch, but not as polished. Blizzard is extremely good at that! Hi-Rez definitley did a great job here and if they support it like they have SMITE, along with community support, it has legs. 26 out of 31 people found this helpful. before you say rip off. Let me save you the step that makes you look ignorant. smite is made by the same team as this. now overwatch is like paladins but blizzard kinda took from hi rez and paladins was in development 1st. before you say paladins stole from blizz, widowmakers and meis guns were 1st seen in global agenda which hi rez owns. Lets not forget phara pretty much straight ripped the ex raider class from tribes guess what hi rez owns that too. i love OW, Paladins and TF2 lets face it they both got inspired from valve. Paladins is a great game hope to play with you all. ❤❤❤❤ 127 out of 176 people found this helpful. Don't spend any money on this. I bought the founders pack on both xbox AND playstion, AND also bought booster pack on BOTH consoles, while my PAID booster was active, I had 3 out of 4 chests give me an error message. I contacted Hi Rez many times about multiple issues regarding this same thing, but this time my money was spent. They REFUSE to ever compensate, EVEN IF YOU HAVE SPENT MONEY and was screwed. 161 out of 236 people found this helpful. 9/10 Fantastic Game. Overall, amazing game with a great studio behind it. Yeah, it's similar to Overwatch but, Paladins is free. The extensive character customization is great. It makes every champion feel different. Can't wait to see this game develop more. Keep doing your thing hi-rez! 80 out of 113 people found this helpful. My opinion. lol, alot of these kids saying its a overwatch ripoff. Its not a overwatch ripoff, it might be similar to it but still not a ripoff. You guys need to appreciate hirez for giving us a free game. In my opinion, this game should have been 20-30 dollars. Just appreciate their effort. Thanks hirez🙂❤⚔ Btw its still in beta, the game will develop overtime. 78 out of 115 people found this helpful. A great first-person-moba. Paladins delivers on all of it's promises, but is weighed down by some balance issues. First, I think that all of the characters are well balanced. That's very important, so I'm glad they did it well. Siege is a great gamemode! No complaints there. Payload, however, really needs to be fixed. Even if both teams reach the exact same point with the payload, the team who does it second wins. This means that one team has to do better than the other team, while the other team only has to do just as well. I think both teams making it to 100% should be a draw. As it stands, whoever is pushing the payload second has a pretty big advantage. Survival is even, but ultimately pretty forgettable. I would be fine if survival wasn't there at all, but there's really no reason to get rid of extra options for players. Paladins can be stingy with it's cosmetics for characters. Thankfully, it gives out the coins used to get new characters at the perfect pace. Overall, Paladins is a great game. Go play it! 47 out of 67 people found this helpful. What happened Hi-Rez? Let's start with the elephant in the room, is it an overwatch ripoff? In the early stages probably not, but in its current direction its a yes. Prepare for 2+ hours against poorly programmed bots with annoying aimbot priorities before you can actually face off against real players. All of the menus are counter intuative and confusing, and 75% of the voice acting comes off as obnoxious or uninteresting. I guess if you like the plasticy "made in unity" aesthetic the game looks alright but most good things in this mess are made to hide the fact its pay to win from the start. This dull katamari of "borrowed" traits does have some good elements like the interesting card system (even if you don't own half the characters you'll get cards for, don't worry you can BUY them). It is also free, but ask yourself if its worth inevitably buying stuff to make a free game enjoyable or buying a better game in the first place. 128 out of 195 people found this helpful. Needs Improvement. I downloaded Paladins because I play it on my computer. I'm an experienced player on the computer version and am above level 30, owning and playing all the champions. Being addicted to Paladins on computer, I thought that I would've liked the Xbox version just as much. However, I am disappointed with its underdevelopment. I realize that HiRez is still working on its development and that Paladins is early access or in beta, but there are to many issues with the game that make it unenjoyable to play.There are server errors ending some games in matches, as well as issues with champion controls. The only reason why I'm rating this 4 stars is because I see this games potential. It is currently not in the best state, so I recommend that if you're looking for a serious MOBA/shooter you're better off playing something more developed than this. 92 out of 138 people found this helpful. Translate to English. Язык Microsoft Store: United States - English. Вас интересует язык Microsoft Store: Россия - Русский? Перевести на русский. You are shopping Microsoft Store in: United States - English. Are you looking for Microsoft Store in: Россия - Русский? Blocked IP Address. Your IP address has been temporarily blocked due to a large number of HTTP requests. The most common causes of this issue are: Using a script or add-on that scans GameFAQs for box and screen images, overloading our search engine Running a "scraper" or "downloader" program that either does not identify itself or uses fake headers to elude detection Using a badly configured (or badly written) browser add-on for blocking content Overusing our search engine with a very large number of searches in a very short amount of time. If you promise to stop (by clicking the Agree button below), we'll unblock your connection for now, but we will immediately re-block it if we detect additional bad behavior. If you do not understand what is causing this behavior, please contact us here. Also on GameFAQs. Help - Answers to the most commonly asked questions about GameFAQs. FAQ Bookmarks - Access and manage the bookmarks you have added to different guides. FAQ Bounty - Write a FAQ for a Most Wanted game, get cash. Game Companies - A list of all the companies that have developed and published games. Game Credits - A list of all the people and groups credited for all the games we know of. Most Wanted - The Top 100 popular games without full FAQs on GameFAQs. My Games - Build your game collection, track and rate games. Rankings - A list of games ranked by rating, difficulty, and length as chosen by our users. Top 100 - The Top 100 most popular games on GameFAQs today. What's New - New games, FAQs, reviews, and more. © 2018 CBS Interactive Inc. All rights reserved. Why Paladins needed to come to PS4 and Xbox One. Sure, Overwatch has made $1 billion dollars, but it isn’t the only team-based shooter that you should check out. Paladins is Overwatch’s free-to-play counterpart. And while it may not be the giant success story that Blizzard’s team-based shooter has been since its May 24 launch, Paladins has still had more than 8.5 million downloads on PC. And its player base is about to grow thanks to Paladins’ recent open beta launch on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. Paladins has been in closed beta on PC since November 2015, but the open beta started last September. Millions have played it despite it not being an official release yet. It’s a big success for Hi-Rez Studios, which also created the free-to-play shooter Tribes: Ascend in 2012 and the free-to-play multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) Smite in 2014. GamesBeat interviewed executive producer Todd Harris about why Paladins’ console expansion, combating the Overwatch comparisons, and he believes so strongly in the free-to-play model. GamesBeat: Your open beta only started this week. How’s it’s going? Todd Harris: It just started [May 3] on console. We’ve been in open beta now since September on the PC, but we just launched open on Xbox One and PS4 yesterday. So far so good. We’ve had great inflow of new players. We’re adding servers and waiting for community feedback. So far we’re pleased. GamesBeat: You’ve been in closed beta for months now. Have you noticed any difference in the way console players play the game? Harris: Not really? Retention in closed beta has been really strong. Our closed beta activity was probably around 25,000 daily active users on each platform. Enough to get a meaningful population. Response has been good. No significant differences from the PC. GamesBeat: Was this always on the road map, to do the PC first and then move on to console versions? Harris: In this case it was planned from the beginning. It’s different from our experience with Smite. In the case of Smite, our action MOBA game, we started with the PC version, and once it found success we looked at a console version. That meant doing a different user interface for the console and a few other things that were specific to the console that we hadn’t planned the first time around. But with Paladins, being a first-person shooter — console audiences traditionally enjoy first-person shooters. We designed it with the idea that it would be multiplatform from the beginning. That includes having a common user interface between PC and console. Also, when it came to the design of champions and the feel of gameplay using a controller, we had console in mind from the beginning. We just tend to start on the PC, because we’re very community-driven and iterative in our approach, especially in closed beta. PC lets us patch very frequently without requiring certification. We start on the PC until the gameplay finds itself, but then we release multiplatform. That was the goal from the beginning with Paladins. Above: Paladins’ champions pack some serious firepower. GamesBeat: You guys have experience releasing a free-to-play game on consoles with Smite, but the free-to-play market is newer there than on PC. Did the experience with Smite help you with launching Paladins on console? Harris: It did. We’re definitely helping pioneer free-to-play on console. There are technical requirements. There are certification requirements. There are pricing and business model considerations, support for microtransactions, a whole host of things that we’ve worked closely with Microsoft and Sony on in the case of Smite to really, I guess, lay the pavement for free-to-play release and updates on console. Because of that, Paladins benefits. Again, both in terms of technology and also process. GamesBeat: Do you have an idea of how much longer you’ll be in open beta? Harris: No. Our expectation, if things go well, is that we would release this calendar year, in 2017, but we tend to be very metrics-driven and community feedback-driven as far as when we move to the next phase. A lot will depend on the reception we see in open beta. GamesBeat: Do you find that the open beta concept is harder for console gamers to grasp? Harris: I’d say that it’s true that — we wanted the open beta product to be a bit more polished. There is a higher expectation of overall quality, no matter what label the developer puts on it, beta or whatever else. I’d say we’re also still working to educate the console audience about how the game is actually free, or at least freemium. Even once we come out of beta, it’ll still be free. There’s still a bit of education there. Players of Smite and other free-to-play games understand that, but there are still console players who expect that they’ll have to pay $60 before they find out if they like the game. We don’t believe in that model. GamesBeat: Why don’t you believe in that model? Harris: One, for a multiplayer game, which is the type of game we make, these games benefit from having the largest player community possible. There’s a lot of reasons for that, but a simple example is matchmaking. If I’m playing a 5-vs.-5 game it’s the best experience when the teams are evenly matched. The system has an easier time doing that with a large population, especially when you start to also divide by, say, region. Sony’s European player base is segmented from the North American player base and so on. Once you get into specific regions, the game is trying to matchmake and create a balanced experience, and it benefits from a larger population. It’s no fun to be on a side that’s not balanced. Well, maybe it’s fun one time, but it’s not fun over time. Second, we think that gamers these day ultimately — it’s the quality of gameplay that keeps them for the long term. If we can get them in the door with something free, rather than spending a lot of resources on a huge marketing campaign, that, again, allows us to put those resources into delivering quality gameplay. The third benefit would be — if free-to-play is done right, not in a pay-to-win manner, it gives you basically infinite pricing flexibility. The person who enjoys the game, but can’t afford $60, can play for free. Someone who enjoys the game so much that it becomes a hobby and a passion and they really want to support it financially, they can do that. It’s a pretty flexible pricing scheme when it’s done right. GamesBeat: Early on you drew a lot of comparisons to Overwatch. It seems like that’s not brought up as much now. Paladins has its own identity. Was that something you were planned for, or did that just happen on its own? Harris: I think it’s just the internet being the internet. There’s an initial reaction when people just see a screenshot or a video. But I think it’s primarily because people who actually play the game, Paladins, they’ll acknowledge that it has some similarities to other team shooters, but to a person they’ll also say that it has a unique identity. There are champions in the game and systems in the game that are only in Paladins, most specifically the amount of customization around your play style. That’s unlike any other team shooter out there. Once they play it, people get an appreciation for that. GamesBeat: You’re doing a console tournament for Paladins, which is unusual for team-based shooters. They all have competitions and esports events, but they tend to focus on the PC side. Why are you giving console players some of the spotlight? Harris: Number one, we’ve run a console esports scene with Smite and we’ve seen that community respond. That’s in our background. We do believe there will be a good competitive appetite for Paladins on the console. The nature of the game is that we can’t really do cross-platform between PC and console and have fair competition. Keyboard and mouse is just not comparable to controller. But we can support a separate scene for people who want to play Paladins using a controller, whether an Xbox One controller or a PS4 controller. That’s why we’ve taken what’s a bit of an unusual position, supporting competition not just on one console, but on both of them. Overwatch-Like Shooter Paladins Headed to PS4 and Xbox One. Beta sign-ups have begun. Last updated by Chris Pereira on November 16, 2016 at 11:49AM. Please enter your date of birth to view this video. By clicking 'enter', you agree to GameSpot's. You are now subscribed. Paladins, the new shooter from Smite developer Hi-Rez Studios, is coming to PS4 and Xbox One, the company has announced. Having launched in early access on Steam earlier this month, Hi-Rez announced console versions and opened beta registrations for both new platforms today. A release date for the beta was not announced, with a press release simply saying that those on consoles would be able to play the game "soon." You can sign up for the PS4 beta here and the Xbox One beta here. Hi-Rez was insistent that Paladins will be a good fit on both systems, as it "was designed with console in mind from day one of development. The control scheme was polished by big-name console gamers, ensuring Paladins feels just right to console shooter enthusiasts." Access to the PC version is open to everyone on Steam for free, though a $20 Founder's Pack is also available for sale. It's proven to be popular so far; Hi-Rez said it attracted more than one million players in its first 10 days in early access, and it's been a mainstay in Steam's top 10 players list. Being a team-based shooter where you play as different characters, each with their own look and abilities, there has been no shortage of comparisons to Blizzard's Overwatch. Hi-Rez disputes the idea that it's a clone, saying it instead owes more to Team Fortress 2 and one of Hi-Rez's previous games, Global Agenda. It does admit it's taken some notes from Overwatch, though it emphasizes the game has been in the works for some time and that a closed beta first started last year.