Paladins has always been pretty popular but it turns out the Early Access release on Steam has proved exceptionally so. The official press release by Hi-Rez today states that:

“The Paladins Open Beta had an explosive first weekend with well over 100,000 new accounts created in the first 24 hours”,  said Todd Harris, Hi-Rez Studios co-founder and COO. “We’ve also seen a very strong interest in Paladins from competitive players and esports organizations worldwide and are therefore extending the Paladins Invitational to include more regions and more teams.”

Those numbers don't look unrealistic, especially when you take a look on the Steam Most Played right now and see there's over 50,000 concurrent players battling it out. That's unquestionably a huge number and is enticing enough to see me install the game again. 

On top of its success on Steam, there's also an upcoming tournament partnership. 

Hi-Rez Studios global partners Level Up, Double Jump, and Tencent will be overseeing regional tournaments in Brazil/Latin America, Australia/New Zealand, and China respectively to determine which teams from those regions will make their way to the $150,000 Paladins Invitational in Atlanta, Georgia. The opening matches of the Paladins Invitational will feature 8 teams battling it out to see who eventually makes it to the finals and the ultimate crowning of the best Paladins team in the world will be broadcast live from the Cobb Energy Center.

About Paladins

Paladins is a team-based shooter with strategy elements and deep character customization through it’s unique use of collectible cards. These cards amplify and augment a character’s core set of abilities in many interesting ways. Paladins will be free-to-play for PC and current-generation consoles and is currently in beta. www.paladins.com