It’s been a long time coming, but the SMITE 2 open beta has been officially announced by the Hi-Rez development team. Now, all players who want to try out the game before it officially releases can have a chance to see every new change from the first SMITE.
SMITE 2 has been out in a closed alpha since May, and open closed alpha since Aug. 27, giving players who purchased to play the game in its unfinished state several months to get used to everything. There have been multiple changes to how items work, gods and goddesses, physicals, and gameplay mechanics, alongside monthly updates to reapply player feedback. It’s been a long road, but now everyone has the chance to give it a try for free. Here’s what you need to know about when the open beta for SMITE 2 begins, and how you can join.
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When does SMITE 2 open beta start?
It has been officially announced by the SMITE 2 team that the game will be free-to-play starting on Jan. 14. Anyone who wants to jump into the game and try it out for themselves will have a chance to download and begin playing.
The team has not shared the exact time when the beta goes live. However, given the routine moment the SMITE 2 servers go down for their updates, we can estimate the open beta begins sometime in the morning, shortly after 9am CT. The servers typically go down for an update around this time and depending on how much downtime the development team needs before they take care of everything and come back up after.
For example, the most recent SMITE 2 update on Jan. 7 took place at 9am CT, and the servers were down for three hours. Hopefully, switching to an open beta for other players won’t take this long. It’s better to expect to encounter downtime and some server issues than jumping into the free-to-play game.
How to join the SMITE 2 open beta
Because SMITE 2 is going free-to-play, all you have to do is download the game, make an account, and start playing. You can find the game available on Steam, and you should be able to download it when Jan. 14 rolls around. The various editions and options for purchasing the game are also available, which should remain when the open beta starts. If you like the game and want access to more mastery paths for gods, purchasing the standard, Deluxe, or Ultimate Founder’s Edition might be a viable option for you.
Even though SMITE 2 is entering its open beta, the game’s final stages have not been completed yet. We can expect the 1.0 update to launch sometime in early 2026. Although the team has been giving the game monthly updates, there’s still a lot to do, such as bringing over additional gods and goddesses from the standard SMITE game. The team has been doing this regularly every few weeks, adding two or three of them in steady waves.
Not only has the development team been converting old characters to the new system, but the team has been focusing on new characters as well. Launching alongside the open beta date is Aladdin, who uses the power of the Genie to traverse the battlefield and engage in one-versus-one fights inside the Genie’s bottle. This will be one of the many characters you can play as in SMITE 2, and expect many more updates throughout 2025 as the Hi-Rez team prepares for the game’s official release, likely in 2026.
Published: Jan 7, 2025 05:37 pm