Please support Game Informer. Print magazine subscriptions are less than $2 per issue
Why Smite Is A Huge Score For Xbox
At Gamescom 2014 it was announced that Hi-Rez Studios’ free-to-play third-person MOBA Smite would be coming to Xbox One. It was revealed alongside a smattering of other excellent titles, but it may be the most significant of the batch. Why? Consoles need a MOBA, and while there have been attempts to stick the popular PC genre in the console space, Smite has qualities that make it a perfect fit.
Isometric, top-down MOBAs that are rooted in the RTS beginnings of the genre can be awkward to control with a controller. There are tons of abilities and activated items to keep tabs on, auxiliary units to control, and most important, the constant moving of the screen to keep the action focused. This is accomplished by keyboard or mouse dragging on PC, and it’s an unneeded part of the process thanks to the unique third-person shooter feel that Smite brings to the table. It’s going to be easy to translate the action to a console perspective, and this will help Smite immensely.
The console space has room for a big ticket MOBA, and although Dota 2 and League of Legends may rule the PC scene with droves of newcomers looking to break into the genre, those titles will be much tougher to translate to the control schemes and style of the console. Smite already plays perfect with console control schemes and sensibilities.
The free-to-play model is still picking up steam on current-gen hardware, and Smite is poised perfectly to take advantage of the online MOBA console space. As a fan of the PC version, I can’t wait to see how it performs on the couch.
I’d like to ask you to support Game Informer’s continued coverage of games with a subscription. For less than two dollars per issue, we mail you a full year of 10 print magazines, each with cover stories and preview features filled with exclusive details about the most exciting upcoming games. We profile and interview game creators. We look back on the rich history of gaming, and we celebrate what’s next.
Here on the website, we offer much of our content for free, including game reviews, daily news, videos, event coverage, and more – all with minimal ads.
We do so with a small editorial team, alongside contributing paid writers from around the world – over 65 individuals from 9 countries around the world, just in the last couple of years.
It’s not possible without support.
In a time when game makers and games coverage have faced hard struggles and layoffs, the future of this 30+ year magazine and community is at risk. Our new standalone magazine subscription is the number one way you can keep us alive – and we believe you’ll get a pretty fantastic gaming magazine in your mailbox every few weeks for your trouble.
Thank you.
