Smite 2 shoots to the top of Steam's top sellers entirely through pre-order founder packs
The free-to-play moba has made a big splash on Steam, and it's not even out yet.
Smite 2 has just popped up on Steam, and has already soared all the way up to the platform's Top Sellers list. The game has yet to get its initial release date. It doesn't even have an open beta available. This surge of interest comes entirely through pre-ordered founders packs.
There are three of these founders packages in total - the founders edition, the deluxe founders edition, and the ultimate founders edition - which range from $30 to $100 in value. While the game will be free-to-play on launch, the basic pack will get you all the Smite 2 Gods (characters) forever, some exclusive cosmetics, as well as a 2x bonus to any legacy gems you bring over from the original Smite.
As for the higher tiers, they provide additional skins and cosmetics as well as ascension passes (which are basically paid-for progression passes for individual Gods). All these, which don't even ensure access to the game's alpha nor beta tests, were enough to supercharge Smite 2's sudden ascent to the top of the Top Sellers charts.
In case you aren't aware, Smite 2 is a faithful sequel to the original third-person action MOBA, in the sense that the core gameplay will remain largely the same aside from various overhauls and god reworks. The major upgrade with Smite 2 is the leap over to Unreal Engine 5, which certainly makes the game more pleasant to look at than its Unreal Engine 3 predecessor.
While players of the sequel will be losing a lot of their cosmetics and unlocks from Smite 1 (a revelation that proved controversial when announced back in January), the game was absolutely due a modern update.
It goes to show there's still a lot of community hype around Smite 2. Smite is one of those games that keep marching along in its own lane, even if it isn't the hottest new multiplayer game that gets talked about too much these days. With the launch of Smite 2, this might just be the opportunity for a new wave of players to jump in. Judging by the popularity of these packs, there's certainly an appettie for it.
Will you be picking up one of these founders packs, or have you done so already? Let us know below!