Meet Hi-Rez E-sports Manager: Bart

We sat down with one of the Hi-Rez Studios e-sports managers, Bart to learn more about his role at Hi-Rez and discuss the current and future competative scenes of SMITE. Incase you aren't familiar with Hirez or Smite, Bart is one of the main people running the esports sides of things and he's also a great streaming personality. Let's find out more about him!

 

How long have you been working at Hi-Rez studios? How did you come to join the Hi-Rez team?

Bart: I’ve been with Hi-Rez for nearly 3 years. I actually started with Hi-Rez as a business and marketing analyst. My primary responsibilities were originally website traffic analysis.

 

What is your primary role within Hi-Rez Studios?

Bart: I am the eSports manager and with Kelly, the face for projects that Adam, Duke, Gavin and the rest of the community team work on.

What is your usual day like at Hi-Rez?

Bart: I usually catch up on emails in the morning and am available on VOIP for the players. After lunch I’m working on projects and planning for future projects. Sometimes I get to playtest or talk about God balance/design which is of course awesome. Outside of that I stream and complain about Neith primarily.

 

What is your favorite part of working at Hi-Rez?

Bart:  The best part of working for Hi-Rez is definitely the game communities we get to be a part of. Game developers for better or for worse get lots of very targeted feedback about their product. When things work it feels really good.

 

SMITE has grown significantly over the past year, did you ever expect it to grow as quickly as it has?

Bart: I am most closely following the tournament and twitch.tv/smitegame stream numbers. They have grown very well. The game is exceeding anyone’s expectations. Except Erez, I think he knew...

 

SMITE has evolved significantly since over the year, which change do you think most impacted e-sports within the SMITE community?

Bart: The most impactful change to the game from an eSports perspective is most recently the spectator camera and art changes. The presentation aspect of the game has evolved a lot recently. Balance or design wise, I think the jungle consolidation and mid xp camps have had the most effect.

 

How do you feel the recent league system will affect the e-sports scene of smite?

Bart: I think we will know more when players are sorting into the top ranks. It will help teams identify top players. Hopefully in the future there will also be team leagues!

 

If you could change any one thing about the current SMITE e-sports scene what would it be?

Bart: I would make the new website (esports.smitegame.com) feature complete today! Some of the stats diving features are really neat. I’m excited for the datas!

 

Although SMITE has grown significantly over the past year, are there any plans in place to try and catch up with current e-sports and MOBA giants such as League of Legends and DOTA 2?

Bart: Theres not much of a feeling of catching up. We are really happy with our numbers for where we are in the product’s life. Eyes are now on China now for how big the future might be!

 

DeamonMachine recently held a team building/making event to try to increase the amount of teams in the weekly tournaments, does Hi-Rez have any other plans to increase weekly tournament participation?

Bart: Specifically we are considering extending prizing down the bracket and changing some things around with prizing. We will continue supporting community tournaments as well!

 

Is there anything coming in the future that you're excited for, and can share with us?

Bart: Ah-muzen-cab is going to be pretty interesting. We will see how a DoT [Damage over Time] based Hunter will pan out against the burst/cc kits of Neith, Apollo, and Anhur.

 

Out of all the gods currently in SMITE which do you think is your favorite?

Bart: Ymir. Simple and Deadly. The Zapman hunter.

What would you say is your favorite game mode in SMITE at the moment?

Bart: Conquest. Though in the past if primarily played Joust and Arena at certain points.

 

What games do you like to play outside of SMITE?

Bart: Recently, Binding of Issac and GTA V have taken up some time. Occasionally DoTA2 as well.

 

Do you have any hobbies outside of gaming? If so what are they?

Bart: Cooking and reading. I’m so domestic.

 

Is there anything else you'd like to say to our readers?

Bart: Raise your dongers!