The free to play early access for the game "Paladins" has reached a total of 5 million subscribers and they're just getting started. The game is still on early access which can be downloaded through steam.
Paladins: Champions of the Realm is a first person shooter released on September 16, 2016, as an early access free to play online game. "Paladins" used the same tactics by "Overwatch" in introducing the game. Within two days after the game was launched as an open beta, the game was already downloaded 800,000 times.
The reason behind the game being tagged as an "Overwatch" clone is that the game was said to have characters with the same abilities as with the ones in "Overwatch." The allegations were disputed by Hi-Rez Studios COO Todd Harris stating that: "While Overwatch is a fine game, it was not the inspiration for "Paladins." 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," Harris also noted that "Given the marketing of Overwatch many people do not even realize that some of our champions, like the minigun mech (Ruckus) and the ice block character (Evie), were available and playable in the Paladins Beta long before similar character abilities were shown in Overwatch," according to IGN.
"Paladins" hitting the 5 million milestone mark from 230 countries worldwide, with 37 million radiant chests opened, 478 million cards collected, 236 billion credits earned, only proves that "Paladins: Realm of Champions" is worth it. Regarding originality, most video game developers get their idea from other video games and making it better.
It would be unfair to tag "Paladins" as a copycat or clone of "Overwatch" without going through every bit by bit details of the game. What's important is that the game provides players with fun and excitement, which is why video games exist in the first place.
