It would take “about 246 person-years of work” to port the skins
Smite 2 is a complete departure from the original game, and it will not include all of the content you may have purchased in the MOBA over the years. As a result, developer Hi-Rez Studios is refunding every penny you’ve spent in Smite.
“For every Gem that you’ve ever spent in Smite 1 – free or purchased – you’ll receive a Legacy Gem in Smite 2,” the devs explained “Legacy Gems can be used to pay for 50% of the price of most in-game purchases in Smite 2 – so things like skins, Battle Passes, and events in Smite 2 will be half-off until you spend all of your Legacy Gems.”
So you basically get half of what you spent in Smite 1 back in Smite 2. If you buy a Smite 2 Founder’s Pack, your Legacy Gems will be doubled, thereby making this incentive a full refund in-game money. Hi-Rez Studios hasn’t said how much those Founder’s Packs will cost, but if you’ve spent a lot of money on Smite over the years, it could be a good deal.
Smite 2 promises a “multi-generational leap” over the original, switching from Unreal Engine 3 to Unreal 5, which means the developers had to rebuild everything from scratch. As a result, the sequel foregoes much of the original game’s content.”To just port every skin to Smite 2 would take about 246 person-years of work,” the devs explained. “And we couldn’t both do that and make Smite 2 as amazing as we knew it could be if we focused on starting anew.” For the time being, Smite 1 will continue to operate independently of Smite 2, which will launch its first alpha test in spring 2024.