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Games

Inside the Competitive Gaming World of 'SMITE'

VICE goes behind-the-scenes with the world's best SMITE gamers as they prepare for DreamHack Summer in Sweden.

Since launching in 2014, multiplayer mythological game SMITE from Hi-Rez Studios has eaten up more and more of the professional multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) market, bringing a higher level of competitiveness to a playing field previously dominated by League of Legends and DOTA.

In this documentary, part of our new series Versus, VICE follows some of SMITE's top-tier professional players in the lead-up to one of 2016's biggest eSports events, DreamHack Summer in Jönkoöping, Sweden. Along the way, we learn how the sheer enjoyment of the game transformed average players into top competitors and how, at the end of the day, SMITE isn't forming an exclusive audience of pro gamers but is a MOBA game for everyone.