Hi-Rez marks Smite's one year anniversary with a sale

Hi-Rez Studios is celebrating the one year anniversary of the launch of its MOBA Smite with an AMA on Reddit and, more practically, a sale on skins, gems, and the Ultimate God Pack, plus free access to all Gods in the game over the coming weekend.

I say "more practically" because the AMA will focus primarily on the looming launch of Smite on the Xbox One, and odds are that if you're reading this august organ then you're only interested in the PC version. So instead, we'll just eyeball the deals: All pre-launch skins, which is to say those that were released prior to the game's full release, are half-price, and all gem packs will come with bonus gems during the duration of the sale. All Gods will be free to use over the March 27-29 weekend, and players will earn worshippers at twice the normal rate.

Finally, for those who are (or go on to become) big fans, The Ultimate God Pack, which includes access to every God in the game and every God that will be released in the future, is on sale for $20.

Smite, in which players do battle as one of 63 Gods taken from various pantheons both past and present, went live on March 25, 2014 (I suppose that's rather obvious under the circumstances), and we declared it to be actually quite good. It lags far behind League of Legends and Dota 2, but has managed to carve out what appears to be a fairly stable niche: Hi-Rez says the game now has over seven million players, which should be enough to keep the lights on for awhile.

Andy has been gaming on PCs from the very beginning, starting as a youngster with text adventures and primitive action games on a cassette-based TRS80. From there he graduated to the glory days of Sierra Online adventures and Microprose sims, ran a local BBS, learned how to build PCs, and developed a longstanding love of RPGs, immersive sims, and shooters. He began writing videogame news in 2007 for The Escapist and somehow managed to avoid getting fired until 2014, when he joined the storied ranks of PC Gamer. He covers all aspects of the industry, from new game announcements and patch notes to legal disputes, Twitch beefs, esports, and Henry Cavill. Lots of Henry Cavill.