‘Paladins’ Announced For Nintendo Switch, Which Seemingly Confirms ‘Fortnite’ Leak Too

A recent leak showing Fortnite, Paladins, and other titles were to be announced for the Nintendo Switch at E3 2018 was seemingly confirmed Thursday. Via Twitter, Nintendo and Hi-Rez Studios confirmed Paladins is coming to the hybrid console next week, validating the previous leak.

Paladins: Champions of the Realm is a free-to-play hero shooter that shares many similarities to Blizzard Entertainment’s hugely popular Overwatch. The title originally started development prior to Blizzard’s announcement, but the comparisons between the two have been plentiful with some similarities more obvious than others.

The fact that Paladins is a free-to-play title is a huge differentiator. Its hero roster is handled like League of Legends where a selection of characters is free-to-play every week. However, players can purchase individual characters using in-game and real-world currency or elect to unlock all existing and future heroes via packages that start at $30.

Individual Paladins heroes can be leveled up to unlock new and more powerful abilities and, of course, there are microtransaction options to purchase various skins.

Paladins is coming to #NintendoSwitch! Experience the fantasy team-based shooter at home or on the go. Become a Founder and be one of the first to play on 6/12! pic.twitter.com/gbUXPc0Gc8

— Nintendo of America (@NintendoAmerica) June 7, 2018

The Nintendo Switch version of Paladins is due to land on June 12 for those who purchase a Founder’s Pack. There’s no word yet on when it will be open to all Switch owners.

The development of Paladins has been a rocky road full of ups and downs since it was first released to open beta on the PC and later to the Xbox One and PlayStation 4. The most recent down came with a change to the progression system, which Hi-Rez Studios has largely backed away from in recent updates. The title is in a better place now and the ability to choose Hero loadouts and progress them through a match gives the game a little extra depth.

Nintendo Switch owners should also be happy to hear Paladins will support cross-play with the Xbox One. Executive Producer Chris Larson confirmed via Twitter cross-play is limited to the Xbox One as Sony still has no desire to support the PlayStation 4 playing with other console platforms. PC cross-play is also out for Paladins as the mouse and keyboard likely give PC gamers too large of an advantage over console players.

A leak of Nintendo’s E3 showroom plans also confirmed Fortnite plus other unannounced like a port of the arcade title Killer Queen, Ubisoft’s Starlink, Overcooked 2, and EA Sports’ FIFA 19. There has still been no announcement from Epic Games or Nintendo concerning Fortnite, but the Paladins announcement all but the Nintendo Switch into adding what is currently the most popular game across all platforms to its lineup.