Smite Announces Summer Finals With No Path For Australia To Compete

Smite has announced the available spots for the competition to conclude its next split, the Summer Finals — and there’s no path for Australia to participate.

The massive competition will be held at Dreamhack Valencia on July 13-15, and has four spots reserved for European teams, three for North American teams, and one for a South American team, which will be the winner between a Brazil vs Latin America faceoff.

Conspicuously absent is Oceania (and the rest of the world, for that matter), which rings as odd considering Hi-Rez’s previous support for the game in this region. While LG Dire Wolves earned the respect of players and casters with its performance against NRG, it did drop out of the competition early. Could this be a reaction from Hi-Rez after early competition crash-outs? It should be noted that participation in the seasonal events aren’t exactly the norm, but it was seen as a step forward when we were allowed to go to the Masters event.

One would hope the priority at Hi-Rez would be increasing the international experience and competence of other Smite regions, and there’s only one way to do that. Even for non pro players, it’s important to believe there’s at least a potential path to greatness. Even if it means we have to battle other regions for a seat at the table, a la The FIFA World Cup.

The responses on Twitter weren’t happy, as you’d imagine (it’s a banter-heavy community), but they came from both Australian and overseas sources. Even those in the major regions recognise that global inclusivity is how the game grows.

motivation for smite went from 100-0 real fast. Cya at SWC in like 8 months maybe ?

— Ochita (@Ochita) May 3, 2017

Why is there 3 NA 1 SA 4 EU and no Aussie? it should be 3 na 3 eu 1 AUS and 1 SA for dreamhack

— Mask (@Mask33d) May 3, 2017

@SmitePro @DreamHack Why only 1 SA team? I’d like to see more from the international teams, what about AUS why aren’t they going to Valencia?

— Poddy McQuade (@McQuadePoddy) May 3, 2017

before this tweet: ?
after this tweet: ? https://t.co/splyv1JQE2

— Ochita (@Ochita) May 3, 2017

@Ochita Showed at Masters that you guys can compete at the high level and proved people wrong. In return, oce gets no invite to Dreamhack 🙁

— Logan Smith (@Tegdim2) May 3, 2017

@SmitePro @DreamHack At least buy me dinner first before you fuck me

— RichardCastle (@DWRichardCastle) May 3, 2017

So what is there to keep Oceanic teams occupied between this weekend’s IEM and the next Smite World Championships in 2018? Locally, Cybergamer has a competition in July, and the official Smite Split 2 will also lead up to a LAN final on June 24-25 for $25k prize money. The top teams will get seeded into Split 3, which provides a path to the Smite World Championship.