“After four years of sell-out crowds, incredible esports moments, and fantastic memories, it’s time for Hi-Rez Expo to grow bigger and better than ever before.”
That was the main statement on the Hi-Rez Expo website when the studio famous for creating games like SMITE, Paladins, and Realm Royale announced that its annual event would now take place at DreamHack Atlanta.
The decision was made to allow more fans to experience the SMITE and Paladins World Championships in person, while also giving the studio more room to host panels, cosplay contests, meet-and-greets, and let fans try the games at playable stations.
The main event of the weekend, however, will be the SMITE World Championships taking place Nov. 16 to 18. With eight teams ready to face off in an epic tournament to see who takes home not only the title but their share on $1 million, the stage is set.
For the Season Five Championship, there are several returning teams, including the Season Four champions, eUnited.
The eight teams in the final bracket of the main event all survived rigorous trials to qualify by either placing highly in the 2018 Fall Season or doing the same in one of the Championship Qualifiers.
Things will kick off at 10:30am in the Georgia World Congress Center with Hi-Rez Presents, followed by the start of the best-of-three matches. The opener will see top-seeded Dignitas taking on Spacestation Gaming.
The other competitors include NRG Esports, Splyce, Obey Alliance, Team RivaL, and Trifecta.
The second day will switch matches over to a best-of-five format for the semifinals. It will also host the NACE SMITE College Finals—a best-of-three between the University of Illinois (UC) and Carleton University. The winners will receive $8,000 in scholarships for each player on their roster and the runner-up will receive $2,000 per player.
The SMITE Final will be a best-of-five on Nov. 18 with the winners being named the 2019 SMITE World Champions.
Throughout the event, the SMITE Console Wars event will also be taking place. For each of the first two days, there will be one best-of-three semi-final match leading into the best-of-five SMITE Console Final on Nov. 18.
Every event will be streamed on the official SMITE Mixer channel, and if you link your Hi-Rez and Mixer accounts you will earn in-game swag just for watching.
So be sure to tune in starting at 10am CT on Nov. 16 to catch all the action.
