Hi-Rez ditches official forums in favor of social media alternatives

Michael Dunaway
By Michael Dunaway, News Editor Posted:
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In less than 24 hours Hi-Rez studios will be shutting down the forums for all their titles. This includes SMITE, Global Agenda, and Tribes: Ascend. In their place, Hi-Rez is recommending players visit social media sites like Reddit, Facebook, Twitter, Youtube and Twitch.

In a post which appeared on each of Hi-Rez's official sites, the company said they had noticed an increase in players visiting the aforementioned social media outlets in lieu of the official sites. To this I politely say, "bullshit!", not because I think social media sites don't produce community discussion, but because official forums are often the FIRST place players visit if they are experiencing any technical issue. Furthermore, many players are not socialites (we are after all gamers) and do not use or even know how to use sites like Reddit effectively.

As you can imagine, the gamers affected by these changes are not pleased and for good reason. A development company with several currently successful titles should not seek to rely on unofficial venues as middlemen between the developers and gamers.

Relative forum threads can often last for weeks on the front page, remaining relevant while possibly receiving intermittent dev updates all the while. By contrast, a popular Reddit post will usually only last a few days at most and will quickly be replaced. Searching for resolutions to issues which have since been archived may also prove challenging due to Reddit's search parameters.

And what happens when one media outlet no longer becomes relevant? Will there be another shift in where players must go? It's just really hard to see how this is beneficial to anyone other than Hi-Rez.

The company has stated it will continue to interact with players through their own live streams and community-based channels. They also plan on having more Youtube content that will increase connectivity between Hi-Rez staff and players. Links to the each game's respective social outlets and the full post can be found here.

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About the Author

Michael Dunaway
Michael Dunaway, News Editor

Michael Dunaway has been part of the MMOBomb team for years and has covered practically every major Free-to-Play MMO title since 2009.

More Stories by Michael Dunaway

Discussion (30)

Charles 10 years ago
This is utter bullshit. It takes 90% less time to type 'SMITE TWITTER' in google, and click the first link... than it does to go to practically any video games webpage, then forums, then search server status and read through everyones issue. Forums are great for long-standing debates & discussions, but they are HUGELY inefficient when you want information quickly.

warshadow412 10 years ago
i hate reddit :) hardly use twitter only for warframe alerts XD and i think forums are much more "fun" to talk in :) not like there is 54895639 facebook post and u get every single f**king notification for every single player that writes something after you .. well i got bored of their games after 1-2 hours xD so i cant say its affecting me any way its just not fair for their community :)

Johnnyan 10 years ago
Seriously Matt, you don't see the issue with this ?

MattDaManiac 10 years ago
I dont really see that big of an issue with this? For a player like myself i dont really feel the need to go on the forums. This will not affect me in anyway shape or form and i cant seem to understand why everyone is so upset with this. Do you honestly have that much technical problems with there games that you have to have an official forums dedicated to it? I dont, and i never have nor will. Big deal, now i have to use google to find a solution to my issue. How on earth will i make it through it?! You all are blowing this way out of proportion.

Plumpkitters 10 years ago
they must of asked the dude from war z for tips on how to piss people off

ugurano 10 years ago
when this game getting facebook, im no more play tribes or smite

Koagz 10 years ago
Bad move.

chefmadness 10 years ago
To those of you bitching about the launcher! Quit your crying & just use Steam. Most of there games are available on Steam!

View 1 reply
chefmadness 10 years ago
W.T.F. I hate social sites like facebook & twitter. I will never use a HiRe studio game again. Getting rid of all of them now!

kaRRRRam 10 years ago
stfu all- give me ga2 NOW ( without faggbots)

extasist 10 years ago
i asked them about "updater that scans your pc" on FB, my post was deleted and i got chat ban, no private msg with any explanation why i got chat ban, it was STFU, i bet it will be easier for them track what post they want to be on wall and which is unwanted .

View 1 reply
Name (Required) 10 years ago
I always had an eerie feeling from Hi-Rez. The MOBA Smite is too into Sun worship and just taunt with Guan Yu. "A new age is coming Dont say I didnt warn you" I guess a paradigm shift is due but why are you talking about it in your sun worshipping game?

Bic Boi 10 years ago
You know what this is? A blatant attempt to dodge the heat they took recently and destroy the evidence. Walk away, guys. Hi-Rez is corrupt.

View 1 reply
Marvelouz 10 years ago
need these Comapny E-Mail Address in order to contack them.?
I am trying to look all over the internet for these company e-mail addresses but it is difficult on finding them...
remember, I need there E-mail and not there Link to one so if you so kindly....please type in there e-mail here.

here is a list of companys that I am trying to get there e-mail of...


Nexon, Aeria Games, Gamefuse, ignited Games, Hi-Rez Studios, Gamesamba, Gpatato, netmarble,
Trion Worlds, Perfect World Entertainment, ogplanet,, game campus, est games,
killer3rcombo, en masse entertaiment, netgame.

View 1 reply
reavermyst 10 years ago
Oh two services I refuse to use. Welp, guess Hi Rez is getting nothing out of me then.

Shaznek 10 years ago
This has no positive effect on the community and i dont use social media to discuss games and stuff,plus the forums are more mature than reddit,i m really disappointed as a Smite player.

Jowns 10 years ago
So what do players do in need of technical support.
That's the biggest loss I see of this happening.

View 4 replies

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