H1Z1, the battle royale ’em up that Brendan “Playerunknown” Greene labored on earlier than making his own Battlegrounds, is now going free-to-play. Developers Daybreak Game Company have introduced that H1Z1 will change to free-to-play at 10am PST (6pm UK time) right this moment, which is a shock coming solely eight days after the sport left early entry. It appears a wise transfer, given dwindling playercounts within the face of stiff competitors from Plunkbat and particularly Epic’s free-to-play Fortnite Battle Royale. Hell, I’ll now obtain it to a minimum of have a go at that new Auto Royale mode which locks 4 gamers right into a automobile as a squad battling with different fightcars.
“Not only does this decision allow us to share our version of Battle Royale and Auto Royale with even more players, but it signifies the next step in making H1Z1 a must-watch esport,” H1Z1 common supervisor Anthony Castoro mentioned in right this moment’s announcement.
Daybreak are launching their H1Z1 Pro League on April 21st, see. 15 groups are lined as much as duke it out, with two matches broadcast reside every week from the Twin Galaxies Esports Arena in Las Vegas throughout two 10-week splits.
I’m not shocked to see H1Z1 go F2P, because it has misplaced a staggering quantity of gamers over the previous 12 months. Public Steam numbers present H1Z1’s highest concurrent participant depend was round 150,000 in July 2017, making it some of the populous video games on Steam, but it surely has dropped massively. Over the final 30 days, it peaked at 15,000 gamers. Going free-to-play might assist flip it round, although the sport’s not with out issues or competitors.
People who’ve purchased H1Z1 earlier than the change will obtain an “H1Z1 Appreciation Pack” containing some garments, a automobile pores and skin, 10 Victory Crates, and 10,000 Skulls (that are in fact a forex, as a result of video video games).
This free-to-play change doesn’t embrace H1Z1’s zombie sandbox survival aspect, to be clear, which was spun off right into a separate sport (regardless of being the unique mode) some time again and is now identified merely as Just Survive.
H1Z1 is on Steam.
