The battle royale game H1Z1 and its professional league were actually on the verge of collapse. But now fresh money is coming into play. The LA Times and Daybreak want to save H1Z1 and establish it as a PC eSport. This is yet another reboot for the franchise.
Hardly anyone wanted to see the professional league for H1Z1: As reported by the site VeSports, the professional league of H1Z1 was a flop in its first season. The “H1Z1 Pro League” ran from April to September and faced severe issues:
The league is streamed on Facebook, not on Twitch. Viewership numbers ranged from 2,000 to 12,000, but there were reportedly many bots among the viewers.
Only a few fans showed up at the live events, leaving seats empty – hence the venues were darkened, it is said.
There were also significant organizational difficulties.
And due to force majeure at Daybreak, payments were missed.
Money apparently ran out: Although there were no exact statements as to why no more payments were made, observers believe it is due to the difficulties faced by the company “Columbus Nova”. Columbus Nova is owned by a Russian oligarch, who is under investigation. In this context, the US assets of the company were frozen.
It was believed that Daybreak belonged to Columbus Nova. Daybreak denied this.
It was quite a mess in April 2018. We reported extensively on what was going on.
In any case, Daybreak seemed to be struggling, and H1Z1 as an eSport appeared nearly done. Things looked bleak for H1Z1 until yesterday, but today everything is different.
LA Times as a savior in distress – Z1 as a new eSport
This is supposed to become the “revitalized” PC game “Z1 Battle Royale” as an eSport.
New beginning for Z1 on the PC
LA Times as an important partner: For the new success, H1Z1 wants to collaborate closely with the LA Times, which also belongs to the new parent company. The LA Times wants to heavily invest in eSports, build an event center for eSports, and then cover all relevant games.
Apparently, “Z1 Battle Royale” is meant to serve as the new flagship. Jace Hall is likely to be appointed as the responsible person. He is expected to be the PC lead. Z1 will then be the new brand.
The PC lead says: This is now a reset; something new is starting.
What is the new plan? According to Jace Hall (via Forum), the plan is now:
To bring back the Pro League in 2019
To rename H1Z1 on PC to Z1 Battle Royale
The new Z1 will then belong to NatG Mobile – and no longer to Daybreak
PS4 version and PC version of H1Z1 go separate ways
What about the PS4 version of H1Z1? The new eSports plans seem to be mainly focused on PC. The question is what happened to the PS4 version, which enjoyed short-term high popularity. It seems to continue to be developed only by Daybreak.
This is what it’s about: H1Z1 had its heyday as a battle royale in the second half of 2016 and the first half of 2017. With the rise of PUBG, H1Z1 began to decline as the battle royale front-runner on Steam and Twitch.
But apparently, there is hope for success, and they have managed to convince financially strong partners to step in now.
We have reported here on the tumultuous history of H1Z1, which has already seen several reboots:
