“If you don’t know Isaiah and myself, we’re just a ‘PARA’ community managers for SMITE,” HiRezSt3alth jokes in the clip as the camera zooms his face for the emphasized word.
“Sometimes you don’t know what you’ve got until it’s ‘GON’,” HiRezIsiah quips. “That’s why we’re happy to invite players from all walks of life, from all platforms and all communities, to join us for our fifth year and season of SMITE’s release.”
“Wow,” HiRezSt3alth replies. “Five years? That sounds like one ‘EPIC GAME.'”
Interestingly, the Paragon Reddit, or what’s left of it, isn’t really outraged over the video; the upset seems to have mild and come from SMITE players on Twitter who thought it in poor taste, along with a popular streamer who merely called it “embarrassing” and cringey while pointing out that Hi-Rez probably shouldn’t be bragging about longevity given the fate of Tribes: Ascend. (Or Global Agenda, for that matter.)
Regardless of who stands where on the issue, the community managers apologized and pulled the video.
“Everyone is welcome in our community,” reads an official tweet signed with the real names of the community managers. “We wanted to offer a warm welcome with some Hi-Rez humor, but we missed the mark on the video. We’re sorry that we caused offense. We hope to see you on the Battleground of the Gods.”
Hi-Rez COO Todd Harris added an apology too.
“Our team made a video intended as good fun and not as disrespect. We’ve had to shut down games before and so we know first hand it is crushing for both the dev-team and the community. Sorry for any offense caused and we’ll continue to push positivity.”
The video. P1 pic.twitter.com/HkiU40xyLL
— STR BRRTLE ✪ (@BRRTLE) January 30, 2018
