Hi-Rez Studios has been the subject of much controversy with Paladins: Champions of the Realm, especially when it comes to the Cards Unbound system. However, the developer seems to have focused its efforts elsewhere with the announcement of Paladins: Battlegrounds.

The Battle Royale-esque mode introduces squad play only but will still have 100 players duking it out on a map. When will this mode be available? According to Hi-Rez CEO Erez Goren and COO Todd Harris in conversation with DualShockers, it will be within the first quarter of 2018.

Harris stated that, “We want to put it in real players’ hands by the end of this quarter, so that’s what we are shooting for.”

Goren was more specific though plans still seem tentative. “So hopefully, by end of February (March timeframe at the latest) we will have people testing it externally. I don’t know if it will be wide release at that point.”

At this point, we can just assume that the beta for Paladins: Battlegrounds will be available within this quarter. We don’t know how hero abilities, cooldowns, cards, leveling up and progression will play a part in the new mode. But it is free to play. That to count for something.

Battle Royale is currently the “in” thing and Hi-Rez Studios is the latest developer to cash in on the craze. It recently announced Paladins: Battlegrounds, a Battle Royale twist on its free to play hero shooter. Speaking to DualShockers though, Hi-Rez Studios’ president Stew Chisam talked about how the name was actually an homage to MMOs.

When asked if the “Battlegrounds” term was inspired by other Battle Royale games on the market, Chisam said that the naming is unrelated to PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds (the undisputed leader in the market). With its team-based compositions and mounts for transportation, there’s a strong belief that Paladins: Battlegrounds is more like an MMO battleground. As such, Chisam and his team spoke to their attorneys to make sure there were no issues with the naming.

As such, the term “Battlegrounds” is meant to apply to a game mode and not to a game (thus it can’t be trademarked). Chisam also said that this is an evolution for a mode that was previous scrapped from Paladins: Champions of the Realm so the terms are fairly separate.

Paladins: Battlegrounds is out in 2018 as a free to play mode but stay tuned for more details on when exactly it will land.