PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds has been hugely successful since it hit PC early access last year, smashing Steam concurrent user records and surpassing 30 million units sold. Considering the game's massive popularity, it's no surprise that other studios have copied the battle royale formula, with Hi-Rez Studios being the latest to throw its hat in the ring by adding a battle royale mode to Paladins: Champions of the Realm later this year.

Paladins: Champions of the Realm, a game strikingly similar to Blizzard's Overwatch, will have a battle royale mode called Battlegrounds that will look to imitate PUBG's battle royale gameplay. However, the key difference between the games is that Paladins is a hero shooter, meaning the 100 characters running around will all have special abilities that they can utilize to mix things up quite a bit.

Check out the trailer for the new Battlegrounds mode coming to Paladins: Champions of the Realm later this year.

While Paladins getting a battle royale mode is plenty exciting, some fans may be more excited about what this could mean for Overwatch. After all, Paladins and Overwatch are very similar games, to the point that some have accused Paladins of ripping off Blizzard's game. If Paladins, a game from a much smaller studio, can add a battle royale mode, then there's no reason why Overwatch can't do the same.

Hi-Rez could potentially draw in more players to Paladins: Champions of the Realm in 2018 thanks to the Battlegrounds mode, but if it wants to keep those players, it will need to improve the Paladins experience by addressing issues like the current pay-to-win controversy plaguing the game.

Unless Overwatch is able to get out a battle royale mode of its own before Paladins can launch Battlegrounds, this new mode could be huge for Hi-Rez's hero-based shooter. In the meantime, fans should keep an eye out for more information on the new Battlegrounds mode later this year.

Paladins: Champions of the Realm is available now for PC, PS4, and Xbox One.