The former Battle Royale hit H1Z1 is at risk of disappearing against the tough competition from Fortnite and PUBG. Since the competition in the genre increased, H1Z1 has lost 91 percent of its players compared to its peak.
H1Z1, formerly known as “H1Z1: King of the Kill,” is the vastly more successful Battle Royale spin-off of a zombie survival game that was also named H1Z1. Brendan “PlayerUnknown” Greene was even involved in the development of King of the Kill back then, before he moved to Bluehole to develop PUBG.
A fateful moment. While H1Z1 thrived in 2016 and the first half of 2017 without Greene, the rise of PUBG in the second half of 2017 marked the decline of H1Z1. It reached its lowest point in 2018.
H1Z1 in free fall, no room in the genre
At the beginning of the PUBG era, H1Z1 developer Daybreak Games still thought that their game would take the place of the more action-packed, arcade-style Battle Royale game. PUBG would attract the realism fans among the Battle Royale fans. It was believed that both games could coexist.
However, the many bugs and issues that plagued H1Z1 from the beginning became increasingly apparent. According to many fans, the game still felt unfinished and cobbled together even after a long time in early access.
As a result, prominent streamers switched to PUBG, and player numbers plummeted.
By December 2017, 75 percent of players had already vanished.
Fortnite continues to siphon off players
Meanwhile, the situation for H1Z1 looks even worse. Instead of sharing the top of the Battle Royale food chain with PUBG, the cheeky and colorful Fortnite: Battle Royale came along and took the place that was originally intended for H1Z1.
Fortnite, the colorful shooter with the building system and quirky outfits, fit much better into the scheme of the arcade Battle Royale shooter. Additionally, it has been free-to-play on PC, as well as on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One from the start.
So far, PUBG is only available on PC and Xbox. H1Z1 has never made it from PC to consoles despite many promises.
New low reached, only about 10,000 players online at the same time
Alongside the two genre giants Fortnite and PUBG, H1Z1 is increasingly disappearing into oblivion. Currently, about 91 percent of the original player base has vanished. They are probably playing PUBG or Fortnite.
On Steam, there are usually fewer than 10,000 players during peak hours. The peak number of concurrent players on Steam was only 14,000 in February. That is a far cry from the old glory days, when as many as 150,000 gamers could roam the servers.
On Reddit, players are now venting their frustration towards developer Daybreak and especially their former CEO John Smedley, who had pushed for the Battle Royale mode. They feel that the zombie MMO H1Z1 was ruined and buried because of this. The failure, therefore, seems to be well deserved.
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