It seems that the battle royale shooter H1Z1 is in crisis. Since the summer, the game has lost 75% of its users. Apparently, there is no longer room for the shooter between PUBG and Fortnite.
H1Z1 has a turbulent development history: Originally, it was a zombie survival MMO – launched in 2015 in a shaky early access. But alongside that, developer Daybreak Games took a new direction. They hired battle royale specialist Brendan Greene who recreated his game mode for H1Z1, which was later spun off as “King of the Kill”.
With new game mode “Battle Royale” hit gold
In late 2015, they made an effort to make this mode the new hot thing on Twitch, advertising with large sums and events. With the $170,000 H1Z1 Invitational, they attracted streamers, hoping that they would bring their viewers with them.
The actual survival MMO fell behind, quickly overshadowed by the battle royale mode of the game.
Many criticized: You only look at Twitch and neglect the actual development of the game. A planned port to PS4 and Xbox One has been absent until today. There has also been little heard since September 2016 about leaving early access .
But: Now success was there.
Peak of success reached in July 2017 – parallel to PUBG’s rise
The big success came in summer 2017, as player numbers exploded, reaching their peak in July 2017. By then, former employee Brendan Greene had long ceased working on H1Z1 and was working for Bluehole on the then-new battle royale game “PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds.”
In August 2017, H1Z1 thought: “We can coexist alongside PUBG.” They were confident there was enough room for two battle royale games:
- PUBG, Daybreak Games thought, leaned more towards simulation.
- H1Z1 itself would lean more towards arcade.
But even though they initially fought bravely, PUBG quickly shifted into the fast lane. The new battle royale game broke all records – streamers who had previously streamed H1Z1 switched to the new game.
No room for H1Z1 between PUBG and Fortnite?
Now, half a year later, it appears at H1Z1 that this plan to be the arcade alternative next to PUBG probably didn’t work out. Player counts have plummeted, and even free2play trials don’t change anything. The name change from “H1Z1: King of the Kill” to just “H1Z1” doesn’t seem to have brought a turnaround.
Compared to July 2017, H1Z1 now has 78% fewer players.
In the meantime, Fortnite: Battle Royale has emerged as an arcade alternative to PUBG and H1Z1 – which, along with PUBG, may have stolen the player base from the old-timer H1Z1.
Impressive success story likely coming to an end
Mein MMO says: It is a tough situation for H1Z1, as the enormous success has long masked the fundamental problems of the game.
- H1Z1 has from the beginning, traits of a “quick shot”, was essentially a kind of mod, quickly put together to ride the zombie survival wave of the time, and has never really overcome those fundamental technical issues. Bugs and polish problems have existed from the start. They quickly ended the initial early access hype in 2015. Now, it seems they are facing the consequences compared to newer games.
- Since 2016, many former fans have been angry at Daybreak Games because the successful battle royale part of H1Z1 has nothing to do with the game they promised them in 2014. The zombie part “Just Survive” undoubtedly suffers from its success.
- However, those who have come to love H1Z1 for the battle royale part also complain about deficiencies in polish and further development of this part. Much developer time has likely gone into the “Twitch” component of development and not into the actual game.
Now that the Twitch fame has faded, the lasting problems of the game are becoming more apparent. However, it must be said fairly: That H1Z1 is still relevant in 2017 and even had a peak at this time is already a major success for the battle royale Twitch strategy. In mid-2015, hardly anyone cared about H1Z1 – it was on the verge of sinking into the early access swamp.
More on the topic:
Fortnite: Battle Royale and PUBG compared – Which game is better?
