Hi-Rez Studios, a leading developer of free-to-play online action games, has today officially released their MOBA SMITE in North America and Europe. The free-to-play, mythology-themed game has accrued over 3 million registered players during its extended Open Beta phase. A cinematic teaser for SMITE has been released to coincide with the launch. The game also includes localized versions in French, Spanish and German.

Hi-Rez is celebrating the launch with a $200,000 Launch Tournament that will take place Friday, March 28 through Sunday, March 30, 2014, in Atlanta, Georgia in front of a live audience. Half of the $200,000 prize pool is community contributed, based on sales of exclusive in-game merchandise. The Launch Tournament includes the top four teams in Europe and the top four in North America that have qualified from the SMITE Weekly Tournament Series that began on January 4, 2014. The event will be live-streamed worldwide via twitch.tv/smitegame.

SMITE is the online battleground of the gods. Players choose from a diverse cast of deities and use their unique powers to triumph over the opposition in player-vs-player matches. SMITE is a new take on the MOBA genre; rather than observing the action from above, a third person perspective puts players into the thick of combat. Instead of clicking the mouse to move, players use the familiar WASD keys to move and fight their way through SMITE’s dynamic battlegrounds.

Further information on SMITE tournaments can be found on esports.smitegame.com.

For more information, and to play SMITE for free, go to www.SMITEgame.com. Tutorials, game play videos, and more community content can also be found at www.youtube.com/smitegame.