Titan Forge Games, a division of Hi-Rez Studios and the developer of third-person MOBA game SMITE, has announced a series of sponsors for the upcoming Smite World Championship Season X.
PC peripheral brand SteelSeries, PC and laptop manufacturer Alienware and furniture brand Herman Miller are among 11 partners for the event, taking place at the Esports Stadium Arlington in Texas, US from January 12th-14th.
Although not as globally popular as some of its competitors in the MOBA genre, SMITE has kept a strong presence ever since its launch in 2014. The last World Championship event, which took place in early 2023, had a prize pool of $415,000 (~£326,551) and saw around 80,000 peak viewers according to Esports Charts.
This time around, SMITE’s top tournament will see notable endemic partners support it. This includes custom PC builder Starforge Systems, notably owned by members of OTK Media, DELL’s gaming division Alienware and supplement company ADVANCED, which recently launched a new energy drink with esports brand Sentinels called Hopium.
Esports platform RallyHere, record label Monstercat, networking company i3D and sci-fi miniatures retailer Titan Forge are also announced as partners of the event. SteelSeries, a Danish esports-focused hardware brand will act as the tournament’s official peripheral partner and will be joined by Herman Miller, a globally recognised furniture manufacturer that recently entered the esports and gaming markets.
The SMITE esports scene has a unique structure in that all teams that participate in the Smite Pro League, the top-flight competition in the game, are owned and operated by the game’s developer.
This decision was made during Season 8, prior to which traditional esports organisations participated in the scene. The change meant all players receive the same salary, which is supplemented by prize money won from tournaments, a move Hi-Rez said it made to keep the SMITE ecosystem stable.
