We have some bad news for Paladins players in mainland China. The game will no longer be supported in the country, with servers shutting down on Nov. 30. Since 2017, Paladins has been distributed in China by Tencent. They made the announcement of the game’s impending closure yesterday on Chinese social media site Weibo.
According to the statement, Tencent negotiated the end of their Paladins contract with developer Hi-Rez. Neither party was sufficiently interested in extending it, unfortunately. Consequently, the game’s support in mainland China is ending.
Paladins‘ history in the country has been a rocky one from the start. The game found itself on a list of ethics standards violators last December, when a Chinese advisory body, the Online Ethics Review Committee, recommended the government ban it. Other offenders included PUBG, Fortnite, and to a lesser extent Blizzard’s Overwatch.
If you currently play Paladins in China, make sure to log in during the final week of September. The closure announcement states that players will receive some compensation for their unspent in-game currency, if any. It’s not perfectly clear what this compensation is exactly, but it sounds like it might come in the form of in-game rewards for other Tencent titles. The compensation can be claimed by logging in at any time between Sept. 24 and Nov. 30, when the game shuts down in China for good.
Paladins cross-play extends to PS4
On a more positive note, Hi-Rez recently announced some good news for PS4 players. Earlier this month, Paladins cross-play expanded to include the console into its network. PS4 players can now join their friends playing on Xbox and PC. This includes full cross-play functionality, including voice chat. As of yet there is no cross-progression between platforms, but Hi-Rez is working on it, according to the official announcement.
Stay tuned to Daily Esports for more Paladins news and content!
Published: Sep 24, 2019 12:04 pm