Paladins: Battlegrounds Mode Will Be Available in Q1 2018 for Beta Testing

Paladins: Battlegrounds Mode Will Be Available in Q1 2018 for Beta Testing

Lou Contaldi January 5, 2018 1:45 PM EST

Paladins: Battlegrounds will be available soon -- specifically before the end of March 2018, according to Hi-Rez's CEO and COO.

Paladins: Champions of the Realm’s recently-revealed battle royale mode is the major news coming out of Hi-Rez Expo 2018, with the game getting revealed alpha footage on the livestream earlier today. And although there is no official release date for Paladins: Battlegrounds, the game mode will be available for testing before March 2018.

Speaking directly to DualShockers, Hi-Rez’s CEO Erez Goren and COO Todd Harris answered about a prospective timeline for it getting into players hands:

Lou Contaldi: Do you have any timetable where we can expect players to get their hands on Paladins: Battlegrounds, be it full release or beta? Todd Harris: We want to put it in real players’ hands by the end of this quarter, so that’s what we are shooting for. Erez Goren: So hopefully, by end of February (March timeframe at the latest) we will have people testing it externally. I don’t know if it will be wide release at that point.

At yesterday’s Hi-Rez Expo 2018 keynote, the new game mode was revealed with a brand new trailer. Unlike other battle royale games on the market, Battlegrounds instead looks to instead merge class-based action with the popularized survival gameplay. Hi-Rez Studios discussed the name “Battlegrounds” with DualShockers yesterday, stating the naming choice was coincidental to any other game on the market.

Paladins: Champions of the Realm is available currently in beta form for PC, PS4, and Xbox One; the Battlegrounds mode is slated for a 2018 release.