On Paladins 2 and the future of the game

[cakeulovesu]

paladins 2 is a possibility (see the CEO talking about "smite 2 and paladins 1" in a linkedin post) but you have to be realistic...

paladins has been on a downwards trend for years now. Evil Mojo's team has been shrinking on a yearly basis, and it's probably due to the decrease in profits

the only reason Smite got a sequel is because it never lost any playerbase and always remained profitable. Paladins has much less of a reason to get a sequel

making a sequel for Paladins is a massive bet. HiRez is unsure if it will blow up, or if it will slowly die like the current game
making a sequel for Smite was a sure bet. the game has been steadily growing, and although isnt massive by any means, it attracted its niche and kept it going for years. the sequel only increases its potential to grow

a man can dream but when the hero shooter scene is THIS crowded (two hero shooters releasing this year, and others having been online for ages like Overwatch, Apex, Valorant, etc) there's virtually no place for Paladins.

the ideal scenario would've been for Paladins to not suffer the backlash it did on release (OW comparisons) and to not screw up a billion times (Essence, Cards Unbound, PPL Facebook exclusivity, Helvian drama etc) to keep the small playerbase it had.

unfortunately there's no coming back.
maybe we will get another Hero Shooter from HiRez, taking Paladins' mechanics with a more modern aesthetic like Rogue Company's, merging their two failure games into a possibly successful one.