Smite entered the MOBA game later than many other titles, launching even a year after Dota refreshed the series with Dota 2. Despite this late start, the cross-mythology pantheon of gods captured gamers’ imaginations, and the game quickly became a favourite among players looking to avoid frustrating mechanics (like having to last-hit minions to get credit). A decade later, publisher Hi-Rez Studios have decided to unleash a sequel, Smite 2, which is a rare event for live service games like MOBAs.
In this article, we’re looking at the debut success of Smite 2 on live streaming to see how the online community have reacted to the new title, and taking a broader view of Smite among MOBAs.
Smite 2’s Beta Welcomed by Live-streaming Community
Smite 2 launched in beta on the 14th of January, which for many of the game’s pre-existing players marked their transition to the new title. Live streaming audiences followed, and in its first week alone Smite 2 generated 1.5M hours watched. To put that in perspective, that’s roughly 3X the average daily viewership that Smite had been receiving throughout 2024 – a much needed shot in the arm. The average viewership of 44K suggests a healthy, sustained interest from fans of the series, but not as much traffic from curious onlookers from other MOBA games.
Smite 2’s launch success was partially helped by a well-run Twitch Drops campaign wherein viewers tuned in to participating streamers to collect in-game loot. Many of the top streamers of Smite 2 can attribute their viewership to their participation in this campaign, such as top streamer Weak3n who pulled in 126K hours watched. Every top streamer for the game came from Twitch, reinforcing the stereotype of MOBAs being popular on the platform. On a positive note, the lack of any single creator among this list propping up viewership shows that Smite 2 has a healthy, diverse fan base of dedicated players rather than transient bandwagoners.
Smite Has Relied Upon Esports and Creator Collabs for Peak Viewership
Looking at the original game’s viewership on live streaming, it’s clear to see why the publishers felt the series needed a fresh start. Ever since the pandemic-era peak of 8M monthly hours watched back in January of 2021, viewership has steadily declined before finally settling at just 602K hours watched in December of 2024. In fairness, much of this decline came after Smite 2 was announced in January of 2024, with audiences migrating away as they waited for the new title to launch. Also, the peak of 8M came off the back of Smite’s annual January celebrations, which have consistently seen far higher-than-average monthly viewership for the past four years in a row thanks to new in-game loot.
Outside of these celebrations, Smite has relied upon esports events and creator collaborations for its viewership. The Smite Pro Leagues in 2019 and 2020 both saw huge jumps up to 5.2M and 6.2M hours watched, respectively. In fact Smite Pro League 2019 was particularly helped by the now-defunct live-streaming platform Mixer, which accounted for 62.6% of all viewership in April of 2019 (3.3M hours watched). When Mixer shut down, it seems that the platform-specific niche community of Smite lovers unfortunately also dissolved with it. There was still hope for a dedicated community of players to emerge however, with the OTK Smite Tournament in June of 2022 bringing in 7.2M hours watched.
Older MOBAs are Tough to Compete with on Live Streaming
If Hi-Rez Studios hopes to reinvigorate Smite 2’s live-streaming community, it will need to double down on these kinds of high-energy events and make new reasons for players to band together. While this is important for any live service game, it’s particularly important for MOBAs which already have several titles with entrenched audiences. Riot Games’ League of Legends, for example, brought in more watch time than every other MOBA combined in 2024 with 1.9B hours watched. Meanwhile, games like Mobile Legends: Bang Bang and Brawl Stars carved out their niche by appealing to mobile MOBA players and more casual MOBA players, respectively.
There is some hope here, however. Every MOBA title saw increases in viewership last year compared to 2023, with the only exception being Smite (down by 46%) due to the aforementioned migration in anticipation of Smite 2’s release. This demonstrates that MOBAs are growing in popularity, which means new audiences and new opportunities to capitalize upon niches that still have substantial player counts. Smite 2 needs to make active strides in using this relaunch to show MOBA fans how it’s different from the competition in simple terms that can catch players losing interest with pre-existing titles.
Live streaming is the easiest way to broadcast out this message. Smite 2 could consider partnering with streamers of other MOBAs to get their message to the widest possible base, and entice players into the game with limited-time events. To stand out from the pack, Smite 2 needs to take radical action before other options like Deadlock launch in the near future and steal its thunder. Stream Hatchet will be watching as Smite 2 creatively engages with the live-streaming community in the coming months.
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