Mark your calendars for June 12, because that’s the day Nintendo airs its big E3 Direct presentation, during which it will almost certainly announce that Fortnite is “available now” on the Switch eShop. That’s still speculation territory (though a data-mined eShop update practically confirms it), but June 12 also marks the confirmed release of Hi-Rez Studios‘ hero shooter Paladins on the Switch.
Paladins will offer 60FPS gameplay and cross-platform multiplayer with Xbox One players, but not Sony PlayStation 4 users. The game is currently available for XB1, PS4 and PC. A related Battle Royale mode exists, but that has evolved into its own title called Paladins Realm Royale, which has not been announced for Switch.
While it’s currently a free-to-play title on its existing platforms, the hero shooter will initially launch on Switch with a $30 “Founders Pack” which includes all current and future champions and Switch-exclusive cosmetic items. Later this summer it will launch on Switch in its free-to-play form.
Paladins launched in 2016 amidst accusations of it being an Overwatch clone, shipping with a multitude of similarities to Blizzard’s enormously popular hero shooter, including heroes with striking resemblances to characters like Hanzo, McCree, Mei and others. However, Hi-Rez COO Todd Harris was quick to defend those accusations in a statement saying:
“Game development is an interactive process with ideas coming from many past projects. For the hero shooter genre, the game that deserves the most credit is Team Fortress 2. We released a TF2 inspired class-based shooter called Global Agenda way back in 2010. Paladins was conceived as a fantasy version of Global Agenda and of the approximately 85 combat abilities currently in Paladins, the vast majority are from the game Global Agenda we made 10 years ago.”
Fans were also eager to defend the game, with many citing Paladins’ deeper roster of heroes and extensive loadout customization as distinguishing characteristics.
