Paladins: Champions of the Realm is set to get a new battle royal-style game mode called "Battlegrounds," and now Hi-Rez Studios has explained why it went with that name.
Since it was announced, the developer behind it has been drawing flak over how it's similar to the popular PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds of PUBG Corporation not only in terms of gameplay but also in name.
Battlegrounds Is An Homage
At the Hi-Rez Expo 2018, Hi-Rez Studios president Stew Chisam told PC Gamer the thought process the team had in coming up with the new mode's name.
"Do we call it Battle Royale, do we call it Battlegrounds, do we call it something else? We thought if we call it something completely out of the blue people might not know what it was, or if we call it Survival which we previously had [as a mode] people might think it was the previous version. But Battlegrounds — we actually settled on Battlegrounds because — I don't know if you got the same feeling when you played but when we got to actually playing the mode, you're in your four-person team with your classes, it felt like an MMO raid party."
He also continues to explain that Paladins: Battlegrounds is reminiscent of the "old MMO battlegrounds," saying that the moniker is an homage to those settings. In other words, "battlegrounds" is more of a natural choice instead of "battle royale" in that context.
On an interesting note, Chisam is aware that the appendage "battlegrounds" will create some noise in the industry and that it'll leave little room for doubt on what gameplay to expect from it.
It's also worth mentioning that if Hi-Rez Studios went with "Paladins: Battle Royale," then Fortnite: Battle Royale could be the center of attention instead of PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds. At the end of the day, it seems that what the company wants to make clear here is that "battlegrounds" shouldn't be a trademarked term but simply a game mode.
Now it should also be noted that PUBG Corporation had a tussle with Fortnite developer Epic Games over Fortnite: Battle Royale before because of how the latter used PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds to promote its game without getting a go-ahead to do so. The takeaway here is that PUBG Corporation isn't trying to claim ownership of battle royal gameplay or anything else along those lines.
What Is 'Paladins: Battlegrounds'?
To put things into perspective, Paladins: Battlegrounds will pit players against one another in a huge map that's larger than the usual ones in Paladins: Champions of the Realm, which a fog will reduce in size slowly as a match progresses. The players are also tasked with gathering resources and gears from outposts and zeppelins.
From that, users understandably drew the comparison between Paladins: Battlegrounds and PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds beyond the name.
Paladins vs. Overwatch
This isn't the first time that Hi-Rez Studios was accused of copying another game. Back when Paladins: Champions of the Realm was just starting out, many said it was a clone of Blizzard's Overwatch.
The company's cofounder and chief operating officer Todd Harris stepped in to clear things up at the time, similar to what Chisam did regarding the "battlegrounds" dispute.
Paladins: Battlegrounds is scheduled to roll out for the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC sometime this 2018, and it's going to be free-to-play. For the record, Paladins: Champions of the Realm has been available for the same aforementioned platforms since 2016.
