SMITE 2
HiRez Studios iconic game SMITE is getting a sequel and there's a bunch of news to keep up-to-date with. We're still at least half a year out until SMITE 2 could officially launch, however, that doesn't mean you need to wait that long in order to play it.
Release Date
The full release of SMITE 2 should hopefully/will likely be early 2025 in January, when new SMITE seasons always begin; however, it technically does not have an official release date, at the moment.
If you go to the SMITE 2 store page on Steam, you may see that it says July 30, 2024 as its release date. That is because that's the day they are hoping to put it in closed beta and due to store limitations it needed a release date set in order for them to start selling the founder's editions.
Alpha Testing
HiRez is doing alpha testing in waves up until the game's closed beta starts. There have been two already and the third is set to start on June 27.
You can request access on the SMITE website or on the Steam store page, but that is not a guarantee. The only way to guarantee access to the alpha is to purchase one of the founder's editions.
The alpha has a limited pool of gods available for testing and alpha servers are only available to play on during weekends.
Beta Testing
As mentioned above, July 30 is the currently planned day for SMITE 2 to go into closed beta. The only way to guarantee closed beta access is to purchase one of the founder's editions.
It's currently unknown if gaining access to the alpha by requesting it and having it granted to you WITHOUT purchasing the founder's edition, also means your access will get carried over the closed beta, too.
The beta will have a larger pool of gods testable with the goal of having 1 new god added each week and will run 24/7 instead of just on weekends.
The Launch
Hopefully, SMITE 2 releases fully in January 2025. The current goal set by HiRez is around 50+ gods available at launch. Obviously, it's still a live-service game and more gods will become available over time after the game fully releases.